Sherborne Town Band

The band are delighted to have recorded their second CD, with the help of Phillip Littlemore and of course Musical Director Paul Cosh.  It was a hot and sticky few days in the band room, but the outcome will be fantastic.  A little preview of the CD is on our YouTube site, with a glimpe of what happened throughout the day also!

[youtube http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=RpOR-hoOT7U]

It was a fantastic day had by all, and we look forward to the final CD being produced sometime over the Summer period, 2012.  Keep an eye on the website for purchasing details.

Enjoy!

Sherborne Town Band, during its 50th year, achieve 3rd place at this year’s West of England Championships (part of the National Brass Band Championships of Great Britain). The band – who have recently celebrated their Golden Jubilee – on Sunday 11th March went to Torquay to play in their section at the annual brass band contest. The band played a piece of music called ‘The Devil in the Deep Blue Sea’ by Derek Bourgeois and competed against other brass bands in the South West area, such as Bournemouth, Camborne, Flowers, Woodfalls, St Austell and St. Dennis. The band have been competing in the Championship section (the highest of the brass band sections) for a number of years now, but have not achieved a result as high as this ever before!

It was a delight to hear the adjudicators announce that  Sherborne Town had won the 3rd prize in the Championship section –  the band and its supporters roared and cheered from the audience, almost in  shock as they realised what a fantastic achievement the band had made, to  achieve their highest ever result.  The band had been rehearsing the  test-piece for months, under the baton of Music Director Paul Cosh – tiresome  and long practice evenings, alongside hard work and commitment from band  members have obviously paid off on this occasion, as the Town Band celebrate a  much deserved win!

The band’s Chairman, Sean Beechey, summarises: ‘What a great result  Sherborne Town Band had on Sunday, coming 3rd in the West of England  Championship section; all our hard work has been royally rewarded. A good  result, a great band and fantastic people!’

Full result and more reports / comments at 4barsrest.com.

The 50th Anniversary Concert was a phenomenal success, with the return of many old faces and the band performing an exciting array of music. Among the evening’s entertainment was the Sherborne Youth Band, Seven Deadly Sins Jazz Band, and of course old friends, the Yetties.

The evening was sensational, and really captured the banding spirit and community feel that has always been evident within the band. Many photographs and videos were taken, and I am currently in the middle of compiling all of these wonderful moments, so beautifully captured on film. Please visit back in the next couple of weeks to take a look for yourself, but for now you can take a sneak peak, with a short video of Cyril White (first conductor of the band) conducting the march “The Bombardier” on Saturday night.

[youtube http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=JIN52rry7Zo&w=560&h=315]

A big thank you must go to all players, supporters, audience members, staff at Sherborne School, band committee members, Paul Cosh (conductor), and many many more people.

Please visit back at a later date for pictures and videos, but for now, please take a moment to read some of the comments made regarding Saturday’s big concert.

“A great success Joe and all the team.   Just the right mix of serious and light hearted music and items past and   present. All the performances sounded really good from the gallery where we were   sitting and heard only positive comments from the rest of the audience too. Well   done everyone involved!”

“It was an excellent show, and was back   to the “good old days” at the Weavers Club afterwards! Lovely night, really glad we   came.”

Well, we have come to the end of the first ever Easter Brass Break!  It was an absolute success and featured some fantastic moments of educational excellence (in my opinion!)

I was there for two out of the three days and of course for the finale concert at Cheap Street Church. 

All the days I was there were superbly organised and I must say the feedback from parents returning for the 2nd and 3rd day was great to hear – it looks like the kids really did enjoy it and get something quite valuable from it – which is good, this is what Paul and Dave intended to do all along.

Overall a great succes and next year’s dates are already being looked into!  Thanks goes to all members of the band who helped out, and also sponsers, including Terry Bartle, and the Sherborne Lions club. 

All info and more pictures and videos are on the band website:  www.sherbornetownband.co.uk and also at the YouTube pages @ www.youtube.com/sherbornetownband.  And don’t forget to keep up-to-date with the band at Twitter.  Follow @stbsherborne. 

Well, over and out for now.  Enjoy the pics and vids…

J

Well, Woodfalls got the top position this year, with Sherborne coming in at 9th place, with 186 points.  This was a great result for the band and all were happy at the end of the day!

We had a great day out and had the chance to listen to some superb performances by top bands.  And, if anything learned a little more about the competition that we face for next year’s contest!  There were some truly spectacular performances – including our own band, who started the contest off to fantastic start with a “shiver down the spine” rendition of God Save the Queen. 

The full results are as follows:

Results:
Adjudicator: Colin Hardy

1. Woodfalls (Gareth Pritchard) – 196
2. BTM (Tom Davoren) – 194
3. Mount Charles (John Maines) – 193
4. Flowers (Paul Holland) –192
5. Tongwynlais Temperance (Philip Harper) – 191
6. Aveley & Newham (Nigel Taken) – 190
7. Camborne (Kevin Mackenzie) – 189
8. Friary Guildford (Chris King) – 188
9. Sherborne (Paul Cosh) – 186
10. St Austell (Gareth Pritchard) – 185
11. St Dennis (Darren Hawken) – 183
12. Wantage Silver A (Philip Bailey) – 182.

Best Soloist: David Cornelius (Horn) – BTM Best Soprano: Mark Pye – Woodfalls
Best Section: Bass Section – Mount Charles

________________________________________________________________

My personal favourite band being Tongwynlais band, under the superb baton of musical director Philip Harper!  What a wonderfully inspiring conductor he is! 

Anyway – a great day was had by all, and what a cracking experience for the band.

We look forward now to practicing like crazy for the upcoming Regional Area championships in Torquay in March.  Another road trip here we come! 

Full results and report of the Yeovil Contest are at http://www.4barsrest.com/news/detail.asp?id=12889 – take a look. 

Also – twitter and Website updated:  www.sherbornetownband.co.uk.

Over and out…

J

Well, the YouTube channel is thriving as ever, and I have had some lovely comments from the local community about the sound of the band on the YouTube channel – so excellent news, keep visiting!  I have just put a new clip up, which I had forgotten I had recorded at the Abbey Concert, December 5th 2010.  Take a look; not the greatest of quality, but nonetheless a good tune and beautifully played:

[youtube=http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=YsHQLLuquj0]

In other news, the Band’s annual concert with Aveley and Newham Band will take place on Friday 4th Feb this year, at a different location – Gryphon School Conference Centre, Bristol Road.

It is sure to be a night of high class entertainment and music, with the Youth Band doing a stint as usual, which (having been to Youth Band rehearsals recently, is sure to be a great performance, with some new music.  I look forward to that one.

For more info about the concert, be sure to check out the website, and visit the Events page.  www.sherbornetownband.co.uk.

Over and out for now.

Joe