Lydbrook Band News - 2011
20th December 2011
With Christmas only a few days away it’s time perhaps to reflect on the year past. It’s been a great year for the band both playing wise and on the social front. Lydbrook has always been a very sociable band - long may it continue.
During the summer the band performed at bandstands in Stroud, Ross, Pershore and Malvern and, of course, at its own garden party in Lydbrook - a tradition going back over 40 years.
The Proms and Christmas concerts at the Forest Theatre were again successful events, but the highlight of the concert year was most definitely the one at St. Mary’s Church in Lydney with Philip Wilby. What a great evening - one to remember for sure. Read more about the concert here.
We attended contests at Porthcawl, the Area at Torquay and finished the year with a double win at the Gloucestershire and Wessex Brass Band Association contests, with multiple soloist prizes for various players and sections. Conducting us for all this was, of course, our principal conductor, Ian Holmes who has directed the band with great enthusiasm and passion and we are all very grateful to him for his hard work.
I would just like to mention Remembrance Sunday - my 50th Last Post at Lydbrook - an emotional morning for me.
Last but not least are the band members who give up their time to attend rehearsals and jobs, at no little expense sometimes, with the cost of fuel these days. We enjoy excellent attendance at rehearsals and this is reflected in the standard of our performance.
Behind the band we have our two committees; the band committee which looks after the playing activities of the band and the general committee which assists with fundraising and social events. The general committee started back in the 1970’s when the band was raising funds to build a new bandroom and since then it must have raised tens of thousands of pounds for our band funds. Thanks to Dorothy & Eric, Pauline & Harold, Bryn, Dave, John and new members Mark and Julia.
The Training Band has progressed well although a little short on numbers at the moment, but plans are in hand to put this right. They played well at the GBBA contests gaining Gold and Silver awards over the year and look forward to competing at the GBBA and Cross Keys contests early next year. Concerts have been given at Gloucester Salvation Army, Highnam Court and finished with a fantastic Christmas concert at Lydbrook Church with Lydbrook Primary School.
Many of them now play in the Gloucestershire Youth Band and it was indeed a proud day to see our Training Band members performing at the Royal Albert Hall in November with Emily Harding, Otis Williams, Ryan Morgan, Kieren Morgan, Oliver Pugh, Jack Lythaby, Ieuaf Griffiths and George Stratford and last but not least, Osian Griffiths on Percussion. Of course, Emily and Osian are senior band members.
And so to the social events - Bands on Bikes organised by Steve “The Bike” and Lucy was a great day out playing at beauty spots in the Forest of Dean and this was followed by overnight camping (by some) before the Fun Day at Pauline & Harold’s. Many other biking events have been organised by Steve and if you want to exercise after Christmas meet at 1.00 p.m. at the Cycle Centre on December 26th and 28th. Hope to see some of you there on 28th (I’m resting on 26th!!). Read more about this bike ride here.
A great band dinner was organised in early December by Phil and Ali at the Whitminster Hotel - another enjoyable evening socialising with fellow members and friends.
And what about our new website, launched in the summer by Sally and Emily Dodsworth and assisted now by Mark Lythaby, the website is one to be proud of. The picture gallery is tremendous and we will try and put some dates on the History photographs in due course. A big thank you to Sally, Emily and Mark for their work with this.
2012 will be interesting I’m sure with the contest highlight being the Area Contest at Torquay on Sunday, March 11th playing The Devil and The Deep Blue Sea. Arrangements are going well for the Queen’s Diamond Jubilee Celebration on Saturday, 2nd June at the Speech House. A ‘Proms in the Park’ spectacular with events starting at 2 pm and going on until 10.00 p.m., climaxing with a fireworks display to end the day. Watch this space for more details.
We always plan well ahead at Lydbrook and 2013 is our 90th anniversary year. A reunion dinner is planned (provisional date Saturday, 14th September, 2013) and a band tour, hopefully to Florida, costs permitting.
Don’t forget the New Year’s Day walk - meet at Rob and Barb’s at 11.00 a.m. The walk will take about 2 hours (not suitable for pushchairs) and finish up with a pie and a pint at The Courtfield Arms. Let me know if you want to stay for the food, if not just turn up for the walk.
Well, that’s it for now folks. Thanks for your support and a Merry Christmas and Happy New Year to you all.
Robert Morgan
Secretary
27th November 2011
Well, well, well!! What a great weekend for our band, families and supporters. It all started on Sunday, 20th November at the GBBA Annual Contest at the Forest Theatre, Five Acres. First of all, the Training Band played in the unregistered section where adjudicator Stephen Roberts gave them a Silver Award for their performance of Star Lake and London River. This was a great effort by everyone and congratulations to Alice Gwynne-Duggan (2nd Horn, aged 8) for winning the Youngest Player Award for the second year in succession.
The senior band then took the stage and gained a clean sweep of prizes under principal conductor Ian Holmes. For their march the band played Paul Drurys quick march, Jubilee and followed this with Philip Wilbys Paganini Variations. The band won the march contest by 8 points and the test piece contest by 5 points. We then moved on to the special awards for the day and these all went to Lydbrook players as follows:-
Best Cornet- Phil Storer
Best Flugel- Emily Dodsworth
Best Horn Section - John, Paula, Mark & Emily
Best Bass Section- Nigel, Andy Shepherd, Trevor & Andy Kyle
Best Percussion- Osian, Andrew Brooks & Andrew Manning
And to complete the prizes, Alison Millin who won Best Instrumentalist in the Section, Best Euphonium Player of the Day and Best Instrumentalist of the Day.
Finally, the Conductors Award went to our very own Ian Holmes who worked us hard on the music during the past couple of weeks.
All in all a great day and the challenge was then set to come up with another good performance at the Wessex Brass Band Association Contest in Weymouth on Saturday, 26th November. However, the challenge would be much more difficult with the defending Wessex Champions and West of England Champions, Woodfalls competing.
After an early start from home everyone arrived safely at a bright and breezy Weymouth. Playing number 6 from a 19 band field, we went on to give another fine performance of Paganini Variations for adjudicator Captain David Barringer. The result announcement was a tense time for us all, hoping that the adjudicator would recognise our performance as the best of the day.
In the end we need not have worried as another first prize came our way. There were special awards again for the Percussion and Bass Sections, Best Euphonium of the Day to Alison and Best Instrumentalist to Phil.
Woodfalls are a great band with a long history of success in Wessex and the West of England and so to beat them on their own patch was especially pleasing. Special thanks to Ian Holmes for his enthusiasm and dedication, not just for the past four weeks but throughout the year. We look forward to a challenging time ahead with Devil & the Deep Blue Sea for the Area Contest next year in Torquay.
And so the contest season has ended on a triumphant note and now its down to some serious fundraising over the Christmas period. All our Christmas playing is now shown under the events section of this website.
Many thanks to Mark Lythaby for putting all the bands old photographs on the website and I hope you are enjoying them - many more to come.
We are now all looking forward to a relaxing Christmas Jolly and Alis 40th birthday celebration on Saturday, 3rd December at the Whitminster Inn where Im sure we will have time to celebrate our victories.
If you havent got your tickets yet for the Christmas Concert on 10th December, time is running out fast. Please contact Barbara on 01594 860944 to reserve your seat. It will be a great evening Im sure with our special guests The Great Western Chorus and guest Conductor, Philip Harper.
One more update before Christmas - well done the band!
More news soon.
Robert Morgan
Secretary
31st October, 2011
Some very good news to start with in that the band has been successful in its grant bid for new instruments to the Gloucestershire Community Foundation and in particular, The Midcounties Co-operative Community Fund. Last week I represented the band at The Chase Hotel in Gloucester and gratefully received a cheque for 2,000 towards our instrument fund.
The Forest of Dean was well represented with grants also awarded to Lydney Stroke Society, Drybrook Allotments and St. Briavels & Hewelsfield Bee Keepers. The grant will go a long way towards our 13,000 target.
Jo and Pauls wedding last weekend was a great success and in due course we will have some photographs on the gallery. Im sure everyone who attended enjoyed the day and well done to those who played in the group and put the rehearsal time in to make sure we did a professional job. What a great place Hampton Court Castle is. It really oozes class and hopefully we may do something else there in conjunction with the proprietors during the next 12 months.
Its always good to see ex-members at concerts and therefore it was a great pleasure to meet up with Brian McNealey at Stroud Bandstand during the summer. He works in America and tells me that he keeps in touch with the band via the website. Brian has gone down in folklore in the band, as during the tour to South Africa and Zimbabwe in 1999, he missed a concert at Victoria Falls because he was doing a bungee jump from a bridge over the Zambezi!! Look forward to seeing a message from you soon Brian on the guestbook!
Sunday, 13th November will see the band at the Cenotaph in Lydbrook for the annual Act of Remembrance Service. The numbers who attend the service seem to have increased in the past few years and if youre free the service starts at 10.45 with the two minute silence at 11.00 a.m.
More news soon.
Robert Morgan
10th October, 2011
What a great evening for Lydbrook Band at St. Marys Church, Lydney last Saturday with our guest Professor Philip Wilby. It was a fantastic occasion for the band and a full report from Emily is on the website now, click here to read.
Moving on, well done to the Training Band for their concert at Gloucester Salvation Army on Sunday, 2nd October. The band performed brilliantly and all the soloists played really well, so congratulations to: Stephen East and Oliver Pugh (Cornet), Ryan Morgan (Trombone), Otis Williams (Euphonium) and our famous Tuba pair of Ieuaf Griffiths and George Stratford. It was also good to hear Ben (Stratford) playing so well; he was guest soloist for the evening and played very well indeed, as we have come to expect.
The sad news this morning that Dr. Roy Newsome has died was a great shock, although I knew he was seriously ill. He encouraged bands to flourish at home and abroad, spending many weeks in countries like Switzerland, Norway and Japan, helping them to develop their own brass band culture.
I had the pleasure of playing in the Sun Life Stanshawe Band when he was their professional conductor and enjoyed a great tour to Switzerland during that time. Only last year Roy conducted the Sun Life reunion concert when Lydbrook was represented by myself, Ian Holmes on Tuba and Alison Millin on Euphonium. It was a fantastic evening and one to be remembered by all who took part.
The band now moves on to the autumn contest scene where we will compete at the GBBA Contest at Five Acres on Sunday, 20th November and the following Saturday at Weymouth for the Wessex Brass Band Association Contest.
My apologies to Steve Barnett who was omitted from the last website update when talking about the British Open in Birmingham. Steve was a member of the band for many years, as was his dad before him. He is now principal percussionist with Tredegar Band as well as a percussion tutor in and around the Forest of Dean where we now have a number of young percussionists who have been taught by him. Once again, apologies for not including Steve in my previous update.
Tickets are now available for our Christmas Concert on Saturday, 10th December at the Forest Theatre, Five Acres where our guests will be The Great Western Chorus from Bristol and their conductor Linda Corcoran. More details of the chorus can be found on their website: www.greatwesternchorus.com.
The band will be conducted for the evening by Philip Harper who will be returning for his third Christmas Concert with the band. It will be a great evening Im sure and tickets can be obtained from Barbara Morgan on 01594 860944. The concert starts at 7.00 pm and tickets are 9.00 each.
More news soon.
Robert Morgan
Secretary
21st September 2011
Im pleased to be able to tell you that the website picture gallery is now up and running. Thanks again to Sally and Emily and a special thanks to Mark Lythaby for his technical input. If you have any photographs for the site please speak to webmaster Emily Dodsworth. The Guest Book will be up and running soon.
With principal conductor Ian Holmes unavailable for a couple of weeks the band is pleased to welcome back David Williams to take rehearsals for the next two Wednesdays. David was born and bred in St. Briavels and started his banding career with Coleford Band. At the age of 16 he moved to Oxford to play with Morris Motors Band. He later became Solo Horn with the Sunlife Stanshawe Band winning many honours with them including best soloist in the BBC Best of Brass series. Since retiring as a player David has had a very successful conducting career working with many bands in the region.
The Training Band will perform at the Gloucester Salvation Army Citadel on Sunday, 2nd October in an event in aid of the Sue Ryder Foundation. The band will be joining the Gloucester Salvation Army Band & Songsters as well as our old friend and ex-member, Ben Stratford, who is the guest soloist. The concert starts at 6.30 p.m. Entry is free with a collection for the Sue Ryder Foundation during the evening.
A small group from the band will be performing at Monmouth Golf Club this Saturday (24th) at a private function. Its always good fun at the Golf Club and Im sure this weekend will be no exception.
Finally, good luck to our principal trombone player, Nigel Howard, when he conducts Daventry Brass at the National Championships in Cheltenham on Sunday 25th.
Hot off the press, the test piece for next years area is Devil and the Deep Blue Sea by Derek Bourgeois - should be interesting.
Robert Morgan
Secretary
Sunday 11th September - Priory Park, Malvern
Lydbrook Band returned to Malvern Park at the weekend to end the summer series of concerts. Good fortune seemed to be on side as the afternoon began in bright September sunshine, however luck soon turned and rain poured from the skies causing the loyal audience members to huddle under the trees for protection. Being underneath a bandstand, you would assume the players would escape the downpour. This does have some element of truth but poor Osh, sitting on the edge of the stage, was absolutely drenched but soldiered on and continued to play without a single moan!
The band performed a variety of music from traditional marches to music from stage and screen. The band also featured several soloists including Phil Storer who wowed the audience with a rendition of “Tico Tico” finishing on a note that should not be physically possible to play on a trumpet! Also Nigel Galliot entertained the crowds enormously with a performance of “The Bare Necessities” from The Jungle Book. Despite all sections of the band taking turns to steal Nigel’s limelight, he succeeded in winning the audience’s appreciation when he disappeared from the stage only to return “wearing” a sousaphone to finish his performance.
Ending on a serious note, the concert took place on Sunday 11th September, the 10th anniversary of the 9/11 disaster in America. Lydbrook decided to mark this occasion by dedicating a performance of of the reflective “Swedish Hymn” to the memory of the victims of this tragic event. To conclude the concert, Lydbrook felt it fitting to unite the two nations by performing The National Anthems of both The USA and Great Britain.
September 2011
I hope you are finding your way round our new website and enjoying the content as Sally and Emily gradually develop the site.
Weve have had a month off rehearsals during August but during that time have carried out engagements at Pershore, Stroud and Malvern (we are back in Malvern again on 11th September - 2.30 pm start).
Rehearsals started again on Sunday, 4th and its heads down now rehearsing for our concert at Lydney Church on October 8th. Details of this event can be found by clicking here.
September will see the return of one of our old boys when Nigel Howard takes over the principal trombone seat. Nigel, who last held this position some 10 years ago, is also the conductor of Daventry Brass and we wish him and the band well for the forthcoming National Championships in Cheltenham. Nigel replaces Rhiannon Symonds who has had to relinquish her position owing to commitments with various school, county and national youth orchestras. Many thanks to Rhiannon for her 12 months with the band and we wish her well for the future.
Emily Harding will also be leaving us early in September to further her studies at Wells Cathedral School. Emily has been a great member and we have seen her playing develop tremendously during her time with the band. She will continue to help the band out but we hope her time at Wells will be enjoyable and rewarding.
Thirteen members of the band and committee, plus two Vice Presidents, enjoyed a weekend in Birmingham at the British Open Championships. Congratulations to Cory on their win and it was good to see a number of ex-Lydbrook players taking part; Brett Baker with Black Dyke, Stewart Baglin with Fodens, Stuart Pollard with Tongwynlais and our own John Jemmett, loaned out to Desford for the day.
More news soon.
Robert Morgan
Secretary
Proms in the (Priory) Park - Monday 29th August
Despite the cold, windy weather we have come to expect on an August Bank Holiday in Britain, last Monday saw Priory Park, Malvern filled with an energetic audience supporting the afternoon’s entertainment. The Mayor of Malvern’s “Bank Holiday Bonanza” was set up to raise money for St. Richard’s Hospice and brought together performers from the fields of dance, music and gymnastics to present a showcase of local talent. The event was headlined by Lydbrook Band who concluded the day’s performances with a rousing “Last Night of the Proms” feature. The band, lead by Robert Morgan, donned their Union Jack hats to lead the crowd in the popular Fantasia on British Sea Songs, Jerusalem, Rule Britannia and Land of Hope and Glory; creating a real “Proms in the Park” atmosphere. People of all ages stood to sing along and wave their flags, capturing the true British promenade spirit.
August 2011
Welcome to Lydbrook Bands new website, designed and installed by Sally and Emily Dodsworth. Our thanks go to both for their hard work in providing us with the new site and during the next couple of months more information and photographs will be added. Many thanks to John Jemmett for his work with the old site during the past couple of years.
The summers nearly over now but we have been busy raising money for new instruments and the purchase of a trailer to transport band equipment. The trailer has been purchased via ebay and the band is now the proud owner of a trailer that will be used for all engagements. Our thanks are due to Mark Lythaby for his research and for the work and modifications that needed to be carried out.
We still have two summer jobs to complete, both at Priory Park in Malvern. On Monday, 29th August we will take part in Malverns Proms in the Park. There is a full afternoon of entertainment with the band starting at 3.40 p.m. On Sunday, 11th September we return to Malvern when we will give our regular bandstand concert starting at 2.30 p.m.
Many thanks to everyone who helped with our two special fundraising events this summer; the band garden party at Lower Lydbrook was a huge success and on a beautiful afternoon hundreds of people turned up to support the band. Thanks to our helpers and general committee members for their hard work in making the day so successful and to Mrs. Hayes for again allowing us the use of her garden.
Our sponsored bike ride, organised by Steve and Lucy Haighway, was good fun and raised over 1,000 for band funds. Our thanks go to the Forestry Commission for their co-operation in the organisation of this event and to all members of the band who took part. We had some great publicity from the event with photographs in all the local press.
Its been a busy summer for new babies and we send our congratulations to Jo, Rob and baby Millie, Steve, Lucy and baby William, Wendy, Dave and baby Edward. We wish them all well and look forward to having the children in the training band in the future!
On October 8th we are giving a special concert in Lydney Church which we are very excited about - please click here for more details.
I hope you enjoy our new website and another update will be posted in a few weeks.
Robert Morgan
Secretary