News
Caravan Club
The band performed it’s last concert for the summer period yesterday evening at the village Hall in Bletchington. A group of people that were residing at the local caravan site came along to rehearsal and were given a demonstration of a rehearsal and were treated to a sneak preview of the forthcoming entertainment contest pieces for Wychavon. The evening was thoroughly enjoyed by the audience and by the band with one brave lady even taking the baton from Nigel at one stage. (She was far better!!)
Wychavon
The Band is now practicing for the Wychavon Festival of Brass Entertainments Contest which takes place on 21st September. We are competing in section four against eleven other bands. CLICK HERE for further details about the competition and the draw.
Joint Concert with Gloucester Brass
On the 18th October the band will be performing in a joint concert with Gloucester Brass at the Marlborough School in Woodstock, tickets will be priced at £4.00 and will include a ploughmans supper. There will be a licensed bar and raffle. The evening will consist of a small programme from both bands culminating in a rousing performance by the massed band. It is a very enjoyable evening and we would love to see as many people as possible. If you would like to book a ticket in advance please contact a committee member or email us. Contact details can be found HERE. Click on Gloucester’s Logo to visit their website.
XMAS 2008
NOW TAKING BOOKINGS FOR XMAS 2008 PLEASE CONTACT US IF YOU WOULD LIKE TO MAKE A BOOKING
October News
We have now completed our summer programme and have taken a number of bookings for Christmas. The Band took place in the annual Wychavon Festival of Brass Entertainments Contest on 21st September. We competed section four against eleven other bands. Unfortunately we didn’t come away with any prizes coming a lowly ninth place.
On the 18th October the band will be performing in a joint concert with Gloucester Brass at the Marlborough School in Woodstock, tickets will be priced at £4.00 and will include a ploughmans supper. There will be a licensed bar and raffle. The evening will consist of a small programme from both bands culminating in a rousing performance by the massed band. It is a very enjoyable evening and we would love to see as many people as possible. If you would like to book a ticket in advance please contact a committee member or email us www.bletchingtonband@btinternet.com
Check out our Engagements page for details of our forthcoming jobs for the rest of the year and 2009
As ever we are still in need of new players. If you are interested in learning to play a brass instrument we would love to see you at our training band on Friday Evenings at 6.30pm in the Village Hall (Instruments Provided). If you can play why not come along to main band. We rehearse at 7.30 on Tuesdays and Fridays in the Village Hall. In Particular we require Percussion, Bb & Eb Basses and Bass Trombone. All Players and instruments welcome!
The long awaited joint concert between Bletchington Silver and Gloucester Brass took place in front of a full house on the 18th October 2008 and was once again a resounding success. The Band from Gloucester were conducted by former Bletchington Band player Roger Pearman. Gloucester Brass outnumbered Bletchington by a fair number and it was touch and go as to whether the whole band would fit onto the stage at the MEC.
The two bands were first brought together in 2002 when Bletchingtons President Mr Sid Pearman had an idea that they should play alonside “Our Rogers Band” in a joint concert. At the time it was considered to be quite a task to bring two bands together in one place without any rehearsals. Sid got his wish and since then the bands have met every two years alternating very successful concerts between Gloucestershire and Oxfordshire
Bletchington took to the stage first playing American Trilogy, Alpine Polka (Featuring Laura Gratwohl, Charlotte Burgess and Mikaela Barwick), A Little Prayer (Featuring Will Taylor), The Ashokan Farewell and completing with Marching to the Movies.
After a short interval and a rearrangement of the Chairs on Stage, Gloucester performed the following programme. The Bombadier, Jupiters Theme, The Tops (Featuring Dave Bunce, Mark Knight, Emily Pearman, Dave Knight and Rebecca Skinner), And All That Jazz finishing with the Great Escape.
Next was the mammoth task of arranging the stage to accommodate 60 odd players and needless to say they all did not Fit!. There were 6 Tuba’s 6 Euphoniums, 8 Trombones and about 20 Cornets to name but a few, assembled and ready to play! The joint force then performed Bletchington Green, Masters of the Universe, The Irish Blessing, When You Say Nothing at All and Best of Bond to finish
We have received a lot of comments on how enjoyable the evening was and would like to thank everybody for attending. Also A special Thanks go to Liz Saunders and Dave Walker for running the Bar, Debbie Taylor for Running the Raffle and the Door and to the Ladies in the band for preparing the Ploughmans!
We look forward to the next concert!
Check out the Photos Page for some images of the concert.
