The result guarantees Aldbourne Band’s return to the Championship Section , the highest national grading, for 2006’s West of England Championships. In addition, Aldbourne represents the West of England at the National Finals in Harrogate in September 2005 to compete for the First Section National title against the winners and runners-up of the other 7 regions across the United Kingdom.
Despite a busy contest schedule, nationally, Aldbourne Band frequently performs for local concerts and functions. The next concert is with the Kentwood Choir in the Devizes Corn Exchange on April 23rd - tickets are available from;
Devizes Books, Sidmouth Street,
Devizes Visitors' Centre,
Jerry King - 01380-723830.
Tickets will also be available at the Corn Exchange Box Office on the night - If not already sold out
Informal concerts are held monthly throughout the summer adjacent to the pond in the centre of Aldbourne village. The “Pond Concerts” held at 7pm on the first Sunday of the four summer months, are extremely popular, relaxed, entertaining – and free!
For information about Aldbourne Band and their concerts, please contact Publicity Officer, Rob Williams on 01672 540506 or visit the Band’s Web-Site www.aldbourne-band.co.uk.
Adjudicator: John Maines
Test Piece: Comedy Overture – John Ireland
1. Aldbourne - Melvin White, 4, 190*
2. Cinderford - David Lea, 5, 188*
3. Sherborne Town - Paul Cosh, 3, 187
4. Lydbrook - Steve Sykes, 11, 186
5. Poole Borough - Phil Randell, 6, 185
6. Chalford - Steve Tubb, 10, 184
7. Solent Concert - Wesley Garner, 8, 183
8. Otterbourne Brass - Lt Col Chris Davies, 7, 182
9. Ocean Brass - Nick Grace, 9, 180
10. Swindon Pegasus Brass - John Winterflood, 1, 179
11. Helston Town - John Hitchens, 2, 178
Bendix Kingswood - David Shead, w
* Qualifiers for finals
December 2004
Band Members celebrate New Years with free for all Fancy Dress!
Photo's courtesy of Clare Smith.
A fair number of Band Members made the long trek to Carl and Clare's place in Swindon for a new years party. The theme was just "fancy dress", meaning that people
could come dressed in anything they wanted (clothes were mandatory however!).
Dean Jones (Second Trombone) was very tastefully dressed up as Andy Pipkin from Little Britain (see top right), whilst others inlcuded "Spock", One of the Blues Brothers, and "I'm a Lady!!" also from Little Britain - although
there was a remarkable resemblence to another member of the band!
Band play throughout the night on Christmas Eve.
Photo courtesy of Ron Morley.
I've played with the band on Christmas morning for the last 12 years and still enjoy it!.
Christmas eve usually starts off around 7pm at Browns farm, then once the final parts of the village have been covered, we attend a couple of private parties before gatecrashing the pubs.
Rick Bendle usually entertains the crowds with "Music Man", plus a couple of stand-up stints. Beer flows readily and everyone enjoys themselves.
Some of us never actually go home to sleep between Christmas Eve and Morning, prefering to busk and drink in private lockins until 03:45am before meeting up at the Memorial Hall just before 4am, where various supporters like to walk around with us, some bring their kids and dogs as well!
The path taken around the village on Christmas morning has always been the same. Starting halfway up Baydon Hill, we then do the length of Lottage Road, up Cook Close, down on to the Grasshills track heading towards the village green, the green itself, back lane and West street before stopping at Li Barnes's mums at 5am for much needed tea, coffee and biscuits!.
Then it's off up to the start of Westfield Chase, Top of Whitley Road, Castle Street, Marlborough Road, Butts, end of Garlings, Farm Lane and South Street before getting back to the square on or around 6-6:15am.
Then, weather permitting, the people who can make it up the church tower with their instruments and all manner of lighting gear make the long climb up. The village is so peaceful at the top, usually its slightly misty. Then we play a few carols pointing out into the darkness before finally making the trek home for some well earned sleep.
I'm not particularly religious but often feel that I've contributed something special every time I stand on that Church Tower.
Long may it continue.
Richard Hughes,
Band Secretary.
Aldbourne celebrate Wessex win
Melvin White leads Aldbourne to victory to round off the year in style.
The Aldbourne Band rounded off its contesting year in style on Saturday 4th December by winning the Championship Section of the Wessex Association Contest at Weymouth. This was the band's second victory in as many weeks following on from its success at the Leicester Contest.
On both occasions the band palyed John McCabe's "Cloudcatcher Fells" and feels that the hard work put in by MD Melvin White and the players has been well rewarded.
At the Wessex contest, the band also claimed the two new special awards, the "Conductors Trophy", awarded to Melvin for the most musical interpretation of the score and also the "James Winter" Trophy for the best percussion section. The latter award was received by Luke Barnes, Liz Masson and Rob Williams and fully reflected the effort put in on the difficult percussion line.
A busy Chrismas period follows for the band with three concerts in three days, then the challenge of getting to grips with "Comedy Overture" and "Connotations" for Blackpool next year.
Finally, the band would like to extend its gratitude to Lyndon Baglin, Ralph Rowden and Ian Barnes for their assistance in recent weeks.
Thanks to Carl Smith
November 2004
Competitions
The last few months we entered two competitions, one in Leicester, and one in Weymouth. For Leicester we could pick our ‘Own Choice’ of piece to play, and for Weymouth all Bands entering had to play ‘Cloudcatcher Fells’
As Cloudcatcher was already picked for Weymouth we decided to use this for Leicester also. The musical piece was composed by John McCabe and originally came from a poem by David Wright. The work is associated with various places, mostly mountainous, in the Lake District which have particular personal significance for the composer. The emphasis is on the Patterdale area, though other parts of the Lake District are also referred to. If you have ever walked this region of the country you may be familiar with Griesdale, Striding Edge and Haystacks.
As a stern test for most bands, Cloudcatcher took months of hard work – especially for the cornet section and the Timpani player (Liz). And we were fortunate to work with a number of talented Musical Directors including Nigel Seaman, David Hayward, Steve Sykes, Phillip Harper and Jason Glynn during this period. Final honors went to Melvin White, who directed the majority of the rehearsals and both stage performances.
The Leicester competition was run by the South Leicestershire Brass Band Association, and held at Wigston College. This was the first time that we had entered this contest, so we really did not know quite what to expect. The line-up of seven Band was mainly made up of local Bands with one Band from Yorkshire and ourselves.
The Venue was a Theatre central in the college, a long narrow hall with seating rising high up to the back. Unusually for a competition this was ‘Open Adjudication’ – this means that the Adjudicator sits in full view of the Band and is able to see exactly who each Band is during the performance (it is usual for adjudicators to be placed in enclosed boxes to prevent them seeing the Band and being swayed by any particular pre-conceptions for knowledge of the Bands playing). So just as he see us, we also see him – as it was noted that he started writing his remarks after the first couple of notes – and sometimes this is not always a good sign!
The performance moved along fairly well, just a few clips and minor errors, and the applause from audience (and adjudicator alike) rewarded an overall solid performance. As we returned to the bar for a few after performance refreshments rumours were already circulating of our ‘winning’ performance.
As the prizes were awarded the majority of the Band were sat in the theatre, and the top 3 prizes were announced in reverse order, so by the time that 3rd and 2nd had been announced the butterflies really start – as it now all or nothing. However 1st place was justifiably awarded to us, but the best surprise was Jim Bell winning Best Instrumentalist of the competition – reward for months of hard work from Jim who had only recently returned to Soprano Cornet upon joining Aldbourne Band in the summer.
October 2004
A Russian Extravaganza
We set an ambitious Theme for this year’s Themed Concert. ‘A Russian Extravaganza’ was a Theme picked by Nigel Seaman earlier in the year, and even when he became too ill to conduct the music we decided to continue with this plan. However we soon realised the challenge that we had taken – many black notes being noticed on the music across the Band. This all resulted in a tremendous amount of practice and rehearsal effort required by all.
The concert was directed by David Hayward, who we have worked with on a few occasions. David brought his great enthusiasm and drive to the music and helped us put a top-class performance on.
Tchaikovsky, Rimsky Korsakov and Shostakovich were featured strongly and presented quite a forceful and detailed performance. ‘Romance’ from the Gadfly, a regular feature on Classic FM, was played beautifully by Chris Lewis. The Sugar Plum Fairy from the Nutcracker, Lara’s Theme from Dr. Chivago and the Adagio from Spartacus added much contrast and the performance had begun to take a much more lighter fell than perhaps the audience had envisaged. Kalinka got the band moving, from a slow-stepping dance, through to a full-tempo finish to the first half. Calvary of the steps added an almost Christmas feel to the music. There was no more fitting finale than the 1812 overture to present a full-dynamic number. We apologise for the lack of fireworks, however feel that Rob Williams caning the Bass Drum full belt was certainly enough to bring the cannons to the fore for a big finish.
We were also joined by Claire Hughes whose family has quite of lot of history with the Band in the last 20 years. She finally made her debut to play the Tubular Bells in the 1812. Rick Bendle also did a great job helping on percussion.
There has been a fantastic responses from our audiences and it has been suggested that this has been our best Themed Concert yet – in 9 years.
We are looking for Ideas for our 2005 Themed Concert so if there is a particular theme which is likely to have a large number of brass arrangements for then please let us know.
September 2004
Forthcoming Concerts
We have set an ambitious Theme for this year’s Themed Concert. ‘A Russian Extravaganza’ was a Theme picked by Nigel Seaman earlier in the year, so we have decided to continue with this plan.
The date is also earlier than in previous years, for the 9th October.
We will be presenting a concert of music from Russian composers and artists including Tchaikovsky,
Rimsky Korsakov and Shostakovic. Items on the programme include Scheherzade, Festival Overture, Little Russian, Symphony Number 4, and the 1812
Overture as a finale. Tickets will be available on the door, priced at £7 each, including programme and
refreshment.
It’s also that time of the year when we pre-empt Christmas – sorry.
We are performing 3 Christmas concerts this year. Friday 10th of December at 7.45 is the Chiseldon Christmas Concert in Chiseldon Church and tickets are
available on the door. We then play at the Haydonleigh Community Centre, Haydon Wick, on Saturday 11th but tickets for this concert will only be available from Band members due to huge interest.
Our final concert is a joint concert with Aldbourne WI Choir and the Choir of St Michael’s School on Sunday 12th December – this concert is free of charge.
This year we also join the Kentwood Choir in the Wyvern as part of their “Christmas Cracker” show. Two concerts are being presented on Sunday 5th December at 5pm, and 8pm and tickets will be available at the Wyvern box-office.
We are not featuring a concert programme, but are playing carols as part of the musical programme.
The Kentwood Choir are an excellent outfit, so it is worth getting further details from the Wyvern.
August 2004
Nigel Seaman
We, unfortunately bring bad news. Nigel Seaman, our current Musical Director, has had major health problems, initiated by a heart attack in July.
After many operations he is still in Hospital in Cardiff, and is unlikely to return to Aldbourne in the near future, and he is also unlikely to continue his position of Principal Tuba in BBC Wales Orchestra.
Our previous Musical Director, David Williams, has done a sterling job - temporarily stepping in for the August and September Pond, however, dependent on Nigel's recovery, we may be forced seek a new ‘Man in the Middle’ to lead us for the foreseeable future.
We wish Nigel the best of health for the future and will be in regular contact.
Summer Concerts
David Williams directed us at St. James Park, in London. We played two concerts on Sat 17th July, to entertain the crowds, as part of a programme of events organised by the Royal Parks Commission. The Pond Concerts have been great this year. For the July concert it stopped raining at about 6.20 in the evening. And just when we thought that the June Pond was as good as it gets, along came August. It goes to prove that no matter how much you advertise the concerts, the audience count is a barometer of the weather. Aided by clear blue skies, and near 30 degrees, we hit our best ever attendance, and collection at the concert. A HUGE thanks to all the donations, and we look forward to seeing you all next year. Spread the word - the concerts are definitely an evening of fabulous summer entertainment.
New Players
There have also a few personnel movements this summer.
We said farewell to Pete Grimshawe who has played cornet for the last 7 years with the Band.
We have also been joined by Lee Lamming on Eb Bass, and also Jim Bell on Soprano Cornet.
Jim played for the famous Sunlife Band at the height of their fame and is a welcome addition to the cornet section.
June 2004
Shortly after Blackpool came the re-opening of the Memorial Hall where we played a few light numbers for first open evening.
We would like to take this opportunity to thank St Michael’s School for accommodating us for the previous 5 months. I hope that we did not disturb computer club too much on
Tuesdays!
For the June Pond Concert we were helped by fortune. Firstly the weather - It doesn’t matter how much you advertise the Pond Concerts – if the weather is good then the crowds come out.
The secondly - one of our CD tracks ‘Pastime With Good Company’ was played on Desmond Carrington’s show on BBC Radio 2 on the afternoon of the concert. Desmond also did a great job to promote the Band reading some of the notes from the CD booklet,
and advertising the evening Concert. A packed Sunday evening with estimates of 500 in the audience – thank you everyone for your support and donations.
May 2004
Senior Trophy – Blackpool
The second most important contest of the year is the Spring Brass Band Festival at Blackpool. This is a contest attended by only the best bands in the country, and is the route to qualify for the prestigious British Open contest. The contest, held in the Blackpool Winter Gardens, is spilt into 3 sections and we played in the Senior Trophy (the lowest section). Last year we played in the Senior Cup but the competition was very hot and we were relegated to the Trophy.
Similar in format to the West of England a standard piece of music is played by all bands in a pre-drawn order of play, and this time two adjudicators assess the bands and award the final placing positions. In Senior Trophy the first 4 qualified for next years Senior Cup, and the bottom 6 are not invited back to play for at least another 3 years, so it was important to achieve a good result.
We played John Golland’s Concerto for Band, which was a piece that certainly stretched all the Bands on the day, whilst was a very exciting piece to listen from the audience. The Trophy was held in the Spanish Room – a concert venue decked out as a fantasy Spanish castle that somewhat resembled Lego-Land.
The Bands in our contest came from all geographic regions including Scotland and Wales. All but 2 Bands were Championship Section Bands, and all were ranked significantly higher than us in the National Gradings, so it was going to be a hard-fought contest.
There was a lot of percussion instruments used in the piece so there was a lot of stage set-up. The piece finally started securely, all our soloists played very well, and the adjudicators had many positive comments to the performance. The audience enjoyed our performance, and were we greeted by wolf-whistles after the final note. All the preparation work was rewarded with an 11th place and we beat some good Bands to ensure our return in 2005, which is excellent news.
Change of Rehearsal Venue (This one is the last – honest!)
Over the last 5 months the Band has spent a huge amount of time wheeling percussion instruments around the village to different rehearsal venues. We have used St Michael’s School, The Old Schoolroom, St. Michael’s Church and the Methodist Chapel. We have also been storing instruments and equipment in Pewsey and in a garage in the village.
The refurbishment of the Aldbourne Memorial Hall has thankfully progressed to plan, which will be a great relief to the percussion team, as we will be moving back at the end of May. The Hall has a new kitchen and toilets, and we have a new large storage room for our equipment. The stage has also been removed, which means that all our equipment will be able to be wheeled directly from our storage into the main hall. This will save much time to set-up for each rehearsal. On Friday 21st May the Band will be playing a few musical items at the opening ceremony.
We would like to take this opportunity to thank everyone who helped organise rehearsal and storage facilities during this period, and St. Michael’s School for providing our main rehearsal room.
April 2004
New Players
We have been joined by a new Bass Trombone player, Paul, who joined us initially to work with the Training Band.
Barry Scott left the Band in February, and Paul was on hand to initially fill-in at Torquay.
Paul has since joined as a full member of the Band. Paul is also well placed, as a music teacher,
to provide strong support to our training band. Graham Palmer has also re-joined the Band on Solo Baritone to
complete the line-up for this years’ West of England Championships.
West of England Championships
The West of England Championships at Torquay was a great weekend for the Band. This one contest is used to grade the Band for the entire year, and as such is the most important of them all. Each Band in the section plays the same piece and gets adjudicated by one person. The average of 3 year’s competition results is used to calculate the league table. The top 2 are promoted to the Championship Section, and the bottom 2 are relegated to the 2nd Section to play in next year’s competition.
This year’s venue was the Torquay Riviera Centre, and Bands from across the West of England congregated in Torquay hotels all weekend. Coincidence had us sharing a hotel with the Swindon Pegasus Band.
There is a draw to determine the playing order for the Bands, and we were unlucky to have picked last draw – which meant us waiting around all-day waiting to play. We had an extra rehearsal to put the finishing touches on the Coventry Variations and took to the stage full of confidence at 18:30. We played a very musical performance of the piece that was well received by the audience and Judge alike, and were placed 4th from 15 bands, which was a good result.
However, most people spoken to, including representatives from the winning band and the leading brass band web-site, had us firmly in second place, but it is one man’s opinion that counts. This placing, though, leaves us at the top of the First Section league table. This means that a reasonable result next year will gain promotion back to Championship Section.
March 2004
Aldbourne Brass Band forms Training Band
Aldbourne Brass Band is pleased to announce the formation of a Training Band. This is an initiative that the Band has had in the pipeline for many years.
Over the last 20 years there has been a gradual decline of music tuition being freely available in schools. This has lead to a decline in many musical organisations and Brass Bands across the country have taken the initiative to organise their own training of youngsters. Aldbourne had a very successful training band through the Seventies and early Eighties and the Band produced an excellent team of players capable of playing at the highest levels of brass banding. Twenty years on we have some of those promising youngsters still playing with the Band.
The Training Band meets each Sunday at 10am in St Michael’s School, Aldbourne, where individual tuition is available as well as ensemble playing. The Band is intended for people of any age and ability who would simply like to learn to play in a Brass Band. A number of instructors, including current Aldbourne Band players, are on-hand to teach and pass on support and help to players. There is also a selection of instruments available for use.
Please contact Rachael Walton on 01672 540952 for further details, or view the Band’s web-site www.aldbourne-band.co.uk for further details of the Band and its new training initiative.
January 2004
Happy New Year from Aldbourne Band
2003 was a very busy and successful year. We released our CD, selling over 500 copies so far, had radio airplay all over the country, played 18 concerts and entered many competitions, playing as far a-field as Blackpool, Weymouth and Colchester. We played a great Theme Concert in November then Christmas Carolling helped boost the Band’s flagging funds, Thank-you for all the donations and support across the year. Let’s hope for an even better 2004.
Out with the old and in with the new
We start 2004 with a change of Musical Director. Unfortunately, due to work commitments, Ian Holmes left Aldbourne Band prior to Christmas. Aldbourne Band achieved much with Ian at the helm and we are grateful for his good work with the Band. Moving forward we are working with Nigel Seaman as Musical Director, and we will also be working with Melvin White for certain competitions. Both Nigel and Melvin had worked with Aldbourne Band through the 1980’s and early 1990’s and we all excited to be working with them again.
Nigel's full biography is available here.
We have also changed our rehearsal venue, due to the refurbishment of the Memorial Hall we are rehearsing in St Michael’s School.
We are very grateful for the use of this excellent facility in the village.
Concerts
January 31st sees the Band’s annual concert in Immanuel Church, Upham Road, Swindon. This is the Band’s 41st annual performance in this venue. Starting at 7.30pm, tickets are £6 and will be available by contacting the band.
The Band returns to play in concert at St Michael’s Church on Saturday 6th March. We are making this spring concert an annual event, so book the first week of March into your diaries. Tickets will be available early February from the Post Office at £6 including programme and break-time refreshment.
New Players
We are also happy to be rejoined by Gareth Jones on Eb Bass. Gareth, a former player, also brings along his son Dean, to play Trombone – two welcome additions to the Band who joined just before Christmas.
Competitions
We have a few competitions lined-up in the spring and it is usually the part of the year where we are hard at work rehearsing to the exclusion of all else. We have entered the Aylesbury competition for the first time, in February, so we are not really sure quite what to expect. We’ll post an update in a later edition.
The competition at Torquay in March defines our grading in the National leagues for the entire year, and is the most important of all. The piece of music that all the Bands are required to play is entitled ‘Coventry Variations’. This is a modern arrangement of music that happens to commence with a full verse of the Coventry Carol before depicting many moods including the Blitz on Coventry in World War II. So if you happen to hear us rehearsing the Coventry Carol through Feb and March we have not gone completely mad.
December 2003
During the run-up to Christmas you will find Aldbourne Band playing outside your houses in the village, local supermarkets and other venues.
For those newcomers to the village, the band always plays in the village on Christmas Morning from 4AM and plays carols in each of the major roads, finishing at 6.30AM by playing from the roof of St Michael’s Church. The players then stagger home to get some well-needed sleep before joining in the festivities.
What a wonderful way to welcome in Christmas Day.
If you are stuck for ideas for Christmas presents you could look no further than the Aldbourne Band CD. It is available from the Post Office for £10, and we can also post recorded delivery for £11.50 to surprise someone for that special day.
We would also like to take this opportunity to thank the village of Aldbourne for their strong support and encouragement through 2003. We are a village Band and we couldn’t do it without your continued support. We wish you a Happy Christmas and hope to see many of you on Christmas morning.
Training Band
We have had plans for a training band for some time now, and we have had a lot of interest expressed. The training band will welcome any age with an interest in playing brass (yes, parents – even you!). Having now laid plans for a training band we are staging a number of forthcoming events. Our plan was to stage a first event in November and then follow-up in the New Year with a series of workshops and tuition.
We then aim to form a regular Band of players supported by tuition. In November we held the first music session with the Training Band. It was a delight to see so many youngsters playing along,
and these youngsters will certainly form the life-blood of the Band for years to come. Further sessions are organised through Jan, Feb, March and we would like to be able to meet weekly. The Training Band is intended for anyone of any age and ability who simply wishes to learn and play brass so if you are interested please contact Rachel Walton on 01672 540952.
November 2003
Theme Concert
The Theme Concert, entitled ‘A Commercial Break’, was a huge success. We featured music from selected TV adverts including Hovis, Allied Dunbar and Hamlet Cigars. The audience had to guess which advert each theme was from and the evening was staged as a quiz. Congratulations to ‘Beths Team’ who won the 1st Prize. Many thanks to our ‘box-offices’ the Post Office and Butchers who helped us fill St Michaels,
and to the Church for helping us stage the event.
Ideas for our 2004 Themed Concert are always gratefully received.
Training Band
We have had plans for a training band for some time now, and we have had a lot of interest expressed. The training band will welcome any age with an interest in playing brass (yes, parents – even you!). Having now laid plans for a training band we are staging a number of forthcoming events. Our plan was to stage a first event in November and then follow-up in the New Year with a series of workshops and tuition.
We then aim to form a regular Band of players supported by tuition. In November we held the first music session with the Training Band. It was a delight to see so many youngsters playing along,
and these youngsters will certainly form the life-blood of the Band for years to come. Further sessions are organised through Jan, Feb, March and we would like to be able to meet weekly. The Training Band is intended for anyone of any age and ability who simply wishes to learn and play brass so if you are interested please contact Rachel Walton on 01672 540952.
August 2003
August 2003 felt like the busiest August ever, and what a hot one too. Players were visibly melting on the stands at concerts through the month. The fantastic weather brought out what we believe was the biggest attendance at a Pond Concert in memory - estimates of around 500 people.
What a scorcher
Where do you go on a sunny summer afternoon to escape the pressures of busy and overcrowded life? For a walk in the park - and you may just hear a Band striking up at the Bandstand. Well Saturday 9th of August was one of those hazy summer days when Aldbourne Band entertained the crowds in St James Park, London. Though having checked the flag-pole though the most high-profile resident of the neighbourhood was not to be found at home on the day. It was certainly a sun-scorched day though (second hottest of the year) - the grass more yellow than green, and people doing whatever necessary to keep in the shade – except us! There was one exception to the rule and this was the inspector from the Royal Parks who sat in the front row of the deck chairs in suit and tie! Mopping a brow with his handkerchief his only other visible movement was to applaud between each musical item. The two concerts were presented with ease – the Band being in good form and having programmes ready from the recent Pond and Proms Concerts. The crowd were extremely appreciative coming forward to give personal thanks to many members of the Band.
Essex-on-sea
Weekend 3 took the Band to Essex to perform two concerts. Courtesy of Dave Shead we performed an evening of Stage and Screen music at Thaxted Church on the Saturday. We then took the stage at Colchester on Sunday as the ‘Warm-up’ act for the London Festival Orchestra in a proms concert. There were several logistical pressures on the stage – firstly nothing could be moved as it was all set-up for the Orchestra, and also everything was microphoned and sent out to the audience, several thousand of them, at about 200 Decibels. Ian Holmes said her has never heard us so quiet between pieces. In between the concerts we took-in the delights of Clacton on Sea, which was indeed a delight.
With August Pond Concert (a completely new programme yet again) we barely had time to recover from Essex before being back in rehearsal. We finished off August with a Wedding in the Village. Raised in Aldbourne village square were the flags poles – a sign of impending Carnival season . . . .
July 2003
The Pond Concerts have been very popular this year and we have tried to vary the content, by putting on different combinations of soloists, quartets and features, including marching down from the Church playing ‘Army of the Nile’ to arrive at the July concert. Completely out of the blue it surprised and delighted the crowds assembled for the concert.
Apart from a wedding and a few birthdays July was a quite month where many people took holiday time, bracing themselves for August.
A quick update on the CD – since February we have sold nearly 470 CDs which is pretty reasonable progress in 6 Months.
June 2003
A Summer Prom
June kicked-off with the first of the ‘Summer Season’ season where in the Pond Concert I think we played more soloists and features than full band numbers. We then presented our Summer Prom at The Old Manor House. Such was the demand for tickets, and the need to finalise numbers for catering we had to stop selling tickets on the Friday. Apologies if anyone was unable to get tickets on the day of the concert, but when we say ‘tickets available in advance’ it’s best to get them early. The evening was a great success, the music great the food was wonderful, and the atmosphere everything that a Proms concert promises. A huge thank you to John Jarvis for helping organise and host the event.
A Summer Fete
After such success, unfortunately there was a rather depleted band of 10 playing the Combined Churches Fete on the green, due to holidays and other commitments. The Band are out playing concerts and contests 22 weekends this year (and that’s before reheasrsals) – that’s almost every other weekend, and with jobs and busy lives people need to take holidays when possible - they just collided all on the same weekend. Still the 10 that played put on a spirited performance that entertained the crowds. Can we say a big thank you to Harry Sheppard and Maria Holstead for helping us out, though I am told, by a secret source, Harry thoroughly enjoyed playing back with the Band again (Harry was Principal Cornet with the Band 40 years ago and still has that musical quality).
May 2003
Training Band
Brass Bands all round the country are suffering from shortage of players and many bands are forced to disband. This is caused by reduced numbers of young players coming into the movement, mainly due to the lack of funding for teaching music in schools. This is creating a longer term problem for many bands, particularly those in rural areas where numbers of brass players is even smaller.
Aldbourne Band has plans to start a training Band again. We had a successful training band through the late seventies and early eighties that brought a wealth of talent into the Band who were capable of playing at the very top levels of banding.
The training band would not just be for training children, but people of any age who have an interest in playing with a Brass Band.
If you know of people of any age looking to either take-up playing, or who play currently and would be interested in joining our training band then please contact Rachael Walton On 01672 540952.
Blackpool – The Senior Cup
Without a pause to catch breath, since the West of England Championships, the Band commenced preparation for the Spring Brass Band Festival at the Blackpool Winter Gardens. The contest is staged in the Winter Gardens each May and is the qualifying contest for the British Open. This was an opportunity to play against the best Bands across England, Scotland Wales and Ireland. The top 20 Bands in the country play in the British Open and Bands rated 21 to 80 play at Blackpool. Last year we were promoted from the ‘Senior Trophy’ contest, and this year we played in the Senior Cup – for Bands rated 41 to 60. This was a severe challenge for the Band, having qualified for the Senior Cup in 20th ranking. Our final was 17 out of 20 which was a disappointment considering how well we played. We came in to the contest technically ranked 20, and came 17th. So next year we are ‘relegated’ to play in the Senior Trophy again at Blackpool – which is still a great contest to be in – in the top 80 Bands in the country.
APRIL 2003
Torquay – West of England Championships
On Saturday 5th April we travelled to Torquay to play in the annual West of England Regional Championships. Bands across the country each travel to their respective regional contest and play the same piece; Bradford, Stevenage, Swansea, Blackpool, Burton-on-Trent, Darlington, Falkirk and Torquay were this year’s venues. Our test pre-assigned test-piece was ‘Passacaglia on a Theme of Brahms’. This is a piece based on the final movement of Brahms Symphony No.4 and each band is adjudicated by a judge sat in a ‘tent’ in the auditorium – so not to see each band playing (and potentially bias the judging). This single contest each year defines our national grading. The performance had many strong points – the interpretation of the music was liked by the Adjudicator and we had a good overall sound, but the performance was beset with too many individual errors and had moments of untidiness. Our performance on stage certainly was not the best we had played the piece adjudicator placed us 7th out of 14 Bands
MARCH 2003
Strangely enough March was spent rehearsing the two pieces Passacaglia on a Theme of Brahms and Pagannini Variations for the forthcoming West of England Championships and Senior Cup competitions. We have been fortunate to work with Nigel Seaman alongside Ian Holmes in preparation and the Band would like to thank Nigel for his hard work.
The AGM took place and the committee voted in for the coming year was:
James Sheppard as Chairman,
Carl Smith as Vice Chairman,
Lionel Barnes as Treasurer,
Richard Hughes as Secretary,
Sue Jones as Contest Secretary,
Rob Williams as Publicity Officer,
Martin Holstead as Property Master,
Phil Ockwell as Band Sargeant,
Paul Uzzell as Assistant Band Master
Joined by Kate Hannam, Pete Grimshawe and Robert Marsh as committee members.
FEBRUARY 2003
St Mary Redcliffe Concert, Bristol
On Saturday 8th February the Band travelled to Bristol to play an evening concert in St Mary Redcliffe Church. This church is informally known as Bristol Cathedral due to its spectacular design and location. This concert was the premiere of the David Fanshawe compositions ‘Fanfare to Planet Earth’ and ‘Millennium March’. We were also joined in two of our pieces by the church Organ – we played Saint Saens Organ Symphony, and Batman the Movie and both pieces were amazingly enhanced by the presence of the Organ. The entire floor of the church was vibrating with the depth of the sound produced.
The great thing about being able to play new concert venues such as Thaxstead in Essex and St Mary Redcliffe is that we get to introduce new people to Aldbourne Band and Aldbourne Village, spreading the web-site details of both organisations further, selling CDs and promoting both.
CD Promotion
Once you’ve finally recorded, then produced a CD, the next job is to sell it!
Over the coming weeks and months we will be doing photos, press releases, articles, radio interviews, concerts and articles in newspapers and magazines. We also hope to get the CD reviewed by and played on Classic FM, BBC Radio Bristol, BBC Radio 2, GMR, BBC Radio Cornwall and Brass Band World Magazine, The British Bandsman Magazine, and the most prominent 4BarsRest web-site.
For local residents the easiest way to buy the CD is at Aldbourne Post Office for £10.
Forthcoming Contests
West of England Championships – Torquay, 5th April
Each year we compete in the championships that have traditionally been held at the Coltson Hall in Bristol, however this year we travel to the Torquay Rivieria Centre. We will compete against bands from across the West of England, and the first two placed bands will qualify for the National Championships. We will play in a section of 16 Bands, and each band will play the same piece of music – “Passacagglia on a Theme of Brahms”. An adjudicator sits in an enclosed box (not to be prejudiced by seeing which Band is playing), listens to each Band, and assigns marks out of 200 points. Once all band have played all points are placing are announced. This is the single contest in any year that contributes to our National grading, and is of absolute importance.
Senior Cup - Blackpool, 4th May
The Senior Cup is part of the Spring Brass Band Festival, held at the Winter Gardens in Blackpool. This competition is known as the qualifying round for British Open, in which the top 20 bands in the county compete. The Spring Brass Band Festival comprises 3 separate sections:
The Grand Shield – Bands rated 21 – 40
The Senior Cup – Bands rated 41- 60
The Senior Trophy – Bands rated 61 – 80
Last year we competed in the Senior Trophy and qualified to be promoted to the Senior Cup. If we are placed in the top 6 we get promoted to next year’s Grand Shield. This year we play a piece of music entitled ‘Paganini Variations’. This piece, composed by Phillip Wilby, is based on selected Variations from the composer Paganini and is an extremely musical composition, but one that severely tests the bands. We will also spend the weekend in Blackpool which gives the Band an opportunity to enjoy a social trip as well as the serious business of contests.
Forthcoming Concerts
Subscription Concert – 1st March
We are playing the first in our ‘Subscription Concerts’, on 1st March, in St Michaels Church. Members of the ‘Friends of Aldbourne Band’ will be receiving their two complementary tickets, and tickets will be able to be purchased in advance, and on the door. This will also be an opportunity to hear many of the pieces recorded on the CD ‘Aldbourne’.
Proms Concert – 21st June
One notable addition to this years schedule is a concert presented in the grounds of the Manor House. On Saturday 21st June the Band will be presenting an evening of Proms music, whilst food and refreshments will be provided in the garden. Tickets will be available closer to the date, but this provides an opportunity to put this evening into your diaries. Many thanks to Mr Jarvis for allowing us to stage this evening of entertainment.
JANUARY 2003
In 1963 Aldbourne Band played a concert in Immanuel Church, Upham Road Swindon, and each year since we have maintained a regular January concert. 40 Years on we have one or two of the original players who played in the first concert still playing with the Band, along with one or two supporters of the Band who were playing then. The 40th celebration concert was a great opportunity to invite back former players of the Band to join us for what turned out to be an excellent evening of entertainment. The Immanuel Choir sang and ode to Aldbourne Band, and a message of thanks and good luck was forwarded from the Vicar who had been leading the church in 1963. We’re heading for the Golden Anniversary concert in 10 years time! See you then . . . . . .
During the last few months of 2002 we were pleased to be joined by Barry Scott, a trombone player with great experience of top class banding. Barry (Bazza), originally from the North East of England, has filled the Bass Trombone seat. This has enabled Phil Ockwell to fulfil his life-time ambition to play a Tuba, bringing the Bass Section back to full strength – luckily for Phil, he is able to practice at home, as he now lives in a detached house with the nearest neighbour roughly 100 yards away!
2003 has also seen the welcome return to the Band of Tim Dixon, who played with the Band for over 15 years. Tim has returned to play Solo Euphonium.
We have also been continually amazed at the progress of Rick Bendle. Having died 5 times during January 2002 with successive heart attacks, and related problems, Rick seems to be going from strength to strength. He was able to join the Band for the CD recording playing some of the percussion parts! In December he held down a 15 minute slot to the delight of the audience at Haydon Wick concert, and he played and sang at the Blue Boar New Year’s Eve Party for many hours. Well done Rick and keep up the effort.
DECEMBER 2002
Christmas Concerts
As the shops become filled with Christmas paraphernalia we played our schedule of Christmas concerts:
Friday 6th 19:45 Chiseldon Christmas Concert
Saturday 14th 19:30 Haydon Wick Christmas Concert
Sunday 15th 19:00 Aldbourne Christmas Concert - St Michael's Church
Haydon Wick saw the welcome return of Rick Bendle to the ‘comedy-slot’. This was only 11 months sine Rick had a heart attack and died 5 times within 1 week. Rick has continually amazed all of us with his progress – fantastic effort Rick!
For the Aldbourne concert we are also pleased to be joined by the Aldbourne WI Choir and the Children of St Michael’s School. Both Choirs were a welcome addition to the programme and greatly entertained the audience.
Aldbourne Band were also found regularly at Sainsbury’s, in Stratton where we entertained the shoppers in sometimes freezing temperatures. And the village carol schedule included weeks of collecting and playing, followed by the traditional Christmas Eve, 4am on Christmas morning and carols from the roof of St Michaels Chruch at 6.30am.
NOVEMBER 2002
CD Recording
The weekend of the CD recording finally arrived. After months of preparation and 6 weeks of rehearsals we were ready to record. We took residency at Hungerford Primary School for the weekend of 29th November for two and a half days. Refreshments were provided throughout by Sue Jones, Alan Watson and Val Watson – Thank You. Keeping 30 people fed and refreshed is no mean feat for two and a half days.
OCTOBER 2002
Brass Through the Ages Concert
The ‘Brass Through the Ages’ concert was staged in October. This was the 7th in our annual series of Themed Concerts. The concert commenced with music from Elizabethan times moves through the different Ages including The Classics, Opera, 19th Century to the modern day. As much as the concert was an entertainment success it was also a creative success. This concert premiered the new composition ‘Crossing Jordan’ by composer Philip Gates. Philip joined the audience that evening and was most impressed by the performance of the Band. This was also a great opportunity to ‘show-off’ some of the hard work put in by Ian Holmes across 2002 and the improvement in the standard of the Band was evident throughout.
SEPTEMBER 2002
Wychavon Entertainment Contest
As Autumn draws-in we look forward to a busy schedule of contests and concerts of the coming months. The Band has entered the Wychavon Festival of Brass in Evesham, on Sunday 29th September, where we play five entertaining pieces of our own choice. The programme comprises Festmuik, A Nightingale Sang in Berkley Square, Trumpet Blues and Cantable, In Perfect Peace and Batman The Movie. Amongst a 10-strong field of the better bands from the Midlands, Wales and the West we are drawn to play 6th.
Forthcoming CD
It has been a number of years since we last presented a recording, but we are pleased to announce that a CD is going to be recorded in November. This CD is going to be a selection of music nominated by the Band and Ian Holmes. Currently we are reviewing local recording venues. What people possibly don’t realise is that recording a CD is no mean task. This will involve set-up and sound-testing, playing, recording, reviewing and re-recording over 2 full days. And to be playing all-day for two days is exceptionally hard work, but the end result will definitely be worth the effort. Entitled ‘Aldbourne’ the CD is planned to be available before Christmas. The CD will be on sale at Aldbourne Post Office, and Alan Watson from mid December and will be priced at £10.
Round-up of Summer Events
It has been a fairly run-of-the-mill summer for the Band, with the Pond Concerts forming the cornerstone of activity, combined with the Carnival, and associated events. This year we have also taken on the ship sailings, the Jubilee weekend, Eastbourne Social weekend, and a few miscellaneous paid performances. That makes up a grand total of 16 performances which is busy by any Band’s standards.
AUGUST 2002
Brass through the ages
Much of the Autumn has also been spent in preparation for the ‘Brass Through the Ages’ concert. This is the 7th in our annual series of Themed Concerts. The concert is on Saturday 26th October at 7.30 and tickets are available from the Post Office and the Butchers, and remaining tickets will be available on the door.
Photo Shoot
Much thanks to John Jarvis for letting us stage a photo shoot in his gardens in August. We have now had a complete set of group and sectional photos produced for the 2002 line-up. As many of you are familiar, there are photos staged outside the ‘Manor House’ going back to the start of the century. If you wish to buy photos from the latest shoot then these please contact Alan Watson on 01672 540580.
JULY 2002
Going Cruizing?
In July we played the first of two ship sailings at Southampton, the second to follow in
September. The Oriana sailed off to Portugal and the Canaries on Sunday 21st July,
and we played away from the Quayside numbers including The Radetsky March, Miller Magic,
and Land of Hope and Glory whilst watching layers of multi-coloured streamers descending
from the many decks of the ship. If anyone is going on a cruise on September 15th,
from Southampton, then we may just see you there.
JUNE 2002
Jubilee Festival
Well it has been quite a busy summer so far and none busier than the Jubliee weekend.
On the Friday we were still rehearsing the programmes for the 4 concerts that we played that weekend.
The first Pond concert was well attended on the Sunday,
then on Monday we played Marlborough High Street, Aldbourne and also at Sangsters,
near Marlborough. We did appreciate an hour long break at the well organised
Aldbourne celebrations before heading off to Sangsters though.
Thankfully it’s another 25 years before we cram so many concerts into such a short
space of time again!
Eastbourne Social Weekend
The Eastbourne social weekend was a little more fresh than hoped,
and we were definitely exposed to the elements.
We played a concert each day in the sea-front band-stand which was really quite a
magnificent building. Fortunately both the Band, and our ardent supporters had
full cover of roof overhead as the wind and rain lashed the seafront.
The Band performed well all weekend under new Musical Director, Ian Holmes,
and we also enjoyed the Eastbourne nightlife, which was busier and certainly younger
than we had been expecting.
MAY 2002
Ian Holmes – our new Musical Director
Once we had put the West of England Championships firmly behind us we were pleased to announce Ian Holmes as our new Musical Director. Ian has a fine pedigree as a Tuba player with the Sunlife Band and as a conductor with many Bands across Wales and the West of England. With Ian formally engaged we then set about preparation for Blackpool.
Spring Brass Band Festival - Blackpool
The Spring Bass Band Festival is staged in the Winter Gardens each May and is the qualifying contest for the British Open. This was an opportunity to play against the best Bands across England, Scotland Wales and Ireland. The top 20 Bands in the country play in the British Open and Bands rated 21 to 80 play at Blackpool. This was our first year in the contest and we were entered in the ‘Senior Trophy’ contest – for Bands rated 61 to 80. The test-piece ‘Un Vie De Matelot’ – A Sailor’s Life, suited the Band well and we were delighted to be placed 6th of the 20 Bands, which gains promotion to next year’s Senior Cup, i.e. the Bands rated between 41 and 60. The Winter Gardens provided an excellent venue for such a large contest and the sights of Blackpool also provided enough distraction for the Band to look back on a thoroughly great weekend.
Summer Schedule
It feels as though we have spent most of the 5 months working towards three competitions and the level of rehearsing has been higher then many years. If we didn’t have such a busy summer we may be able to relax and start coasting for a while! However, 15 summer engagements is fairly heavy for any Band and the summers highlights include the Jubilee weekend, a weekend at Eastbourne, playing cruise ships off at Southampton and, of course, the Pond Concerts.
Friends of Aldbourne Band group
Some times we are so busy it is easy to lose perspective, but Aldbourne Band works harder than most Bands in the country in terms of the number of rehearsals, concerts, performances and contests, and we also manage to maintain a quality group of musicians and such a great Band spirit of enjoying playing and socialising. As the costs of running Bands increase many of the country’s Bands are simply folding due to lack of funds or available musicians, and we are determined to maintain Aldbourne Band as an active village Band able to compete at National level. We are starting a group call the ‘Friends of Aldbourne Band’ to start co-ordinating support and fund-raising activities. Please contact Rob Williams on 01672 540506 if you wish to be involved.
Quarterly Newsletter
To widen our audience and keep many more people in touch with the Band there is also a quarterly newsletter available that will cover much more of our activities past and future, information about the wider band world, information on players, contest results, reviews of contests and concerts. The great aspect of the newsletter is that is enables us to promote Aldbourne and the Band to a far greater coverage than just our concert venues or the Dabchick distribution. If you would like to subscribe to this newsletter then please send a cheque for £2 to Aldbourne Band and send to Rob Williams, 24 Lottage Road.
APRIL 2002
West of England Championships
Each year the Band is graded in the National Championships. Aldbourne currently play in the Championship section, which is the highest section of 5. In each geographical area (we play in the West of England) each of the 5 sections compete against each other for places at the National Finals. Overall in the West of England nearly 100 Bands competed.
Within each section all the Bands play the same piece of music. This year the Championship Section played the Whitsun Wakes. The piece depicts Whitsun Week in the North West Region where traditionally factories would shut down and families would head to the seaside for holidays. There’s even a poke at Salvation Army Banding with a passage based on a Brass Band March playing on Whit Sunday morning.
Each section is adjudicated by one person and there are no hard and fast rules as how to award the placings. All too often this just becomes a matter of personal opinion or preference – as we found this year to our cost. The Band performed well, thoroughly enjoyed rehearsing the piece, and played well on the stage but, contrary to the opinion of many onlookers, the adjudicator placed us 11th. This results gives us an overall placing of 11th in the West of England, out of 100 Bands.
MARCH 2002
For the West of England Championships we have been working with Brian Grant, a professional musician and conductor based in Nottinghamshire. We have supplemented these rehearsals with Ian Holmes, a music teacher from Bristol.
Both Brian and Ian are highly regarded in the Brass Banding World and have experience with some of the better Bands in the country.
As is usual in Aldbourne Band, the entire month of March was spent hard at rehearsing.
AGM
At the AGM, in March, the committee elected was:
James Sheppard as Chairman,
Paul Smith as Vice-Chairman,
Lionel Barnes as Treasurer,
Richard Hughes as Secretary,
Sue Jones as Contest Secretary,
Rob Williams as Publicity Officer,
Martin Halstead as Property Master,
Paul Uzzell as Sergeant
joined by Clare Smith, and Phil Ockwell as committee members.
For the coming year the two main contacts for the Band are
James Sheppard for general inquiries 01672 512890
Richard Hughes to book the Band for engagements 01672 540419
Please use only these two numbers, and avoid contacting Paul Smith or Martin Upfold (our previous two officers) unless absolutely necessary.
FEBRUARY 2002
Yeovil Contest
We returned to Yeovil for the South Somerset Entertainment Contest. Even though this is in Somerset, this is an invitation-only contest drawing the very best Bands from the West of England, Wales and Midlands. We played very well but were disappointed with 13th place amongst very strong competition.
David Williams Departs!
February also, unfortunately, saw the departure of David Williams, Musical Director. David has been resident with the Band since 1995 and has always impressed the Band with his enthusiasm. He had endeared himself to our many audiences and has made many friends in Aldbourne. We will hopefully be appointing a successor within the next few weeks, but will happily engage David again in the future for occasional performances.
JANUARY 2002
As we look forward into the New Year we reviewed our playing schedule and noticed that we have 5 contests in 5 months, the AGM, a concert, a tour of Eastbourne and the Whit Friday Marches. We are playing a Latin American theme at some of our concerts this year and are busy rehearsing this through January. As is usual with Latin American music - if there is a spare piece of percussion equipment laying around - someone will end up playing it! We will be playing the first performance of the Latin programme at Upham Road in concert on the 26th.
DECEMBER 2001
Leamington Contest
The Band returned to the Leamington Spa contest early in December taking the opportunity to 'roll-out' another performance of Partita. A better performance of Partita was presented than at Reading but unfortunately this only warranted 6th placing out of 9 Bands.
Christmas once more
Christmas was the usual busy schedule of carol playing, concerts and socialising. 3 main concerts at Chiseldon, Haydon Wick and Aldbourne formed key engagements, and we played carols from Upavon, through Swindon and as far as Stockcross. Christmas Eve was the usual blast at all the parties and in the pubs and then worse for wear on Christmas Day we swear we'll never play another carol again (well for at least 11 months anyway). The Band would like to thank to thank all our audiences, especially the residents of Aldbourne, for all the Christmas donations as these are essential to supporting our activities throughout the year.
NOVEMBER 2001
Reading Contest
The Reading band contest mounted quite a challenge with the band playing 'Partita' composed by Phillip Sparke. This was quite a technical piece that the Band enjoyed additional rehearsals for throughout October and November. The result was a little disappointing coming 7th out of 11 Bands, whilst we were very happy with the performance on stage. We had finished playing and loaded the coach by about 1pm and a very good social day in Reading ensued. The next challenge that Band then faced was getting over the night before to play for the Armistice Day wreath laying and service in the Memorial Hall - a challenge to which the Band certainly rose.
Stability in membership is something that Aldbourne has always benefited from. Many players in our Band have played at Aldbourne for 5, 10, 20 even 40 years. One such example is Wyn Hughes who regrettably played his last performance for the Band at the Reading Contest after over 20 years with the Band. We thank Wyn for his friendship, commitment and contribution over those years and wish him the best of luck for the future. We hope we are able to fill the vacancy with somebody of the same calibre.
OCTOBER 2001
The concert highlight of this year was certainly the Around the World in 80 Minutes of Music concert. The concert was a huge success and we would like to thank both the Post Office and Butchers for helping us sell so many tickets. The concert was awash with the colours of flags from across the globe and the Band performed musical selections from a wide variety of countries. Mr Rick Bendle did a splendid job as compere and also represented the USA with an impressive Elvis Presley rendition. That under our belt we commenced rehearsal for the challenge of contests through October and November.
SEPTEMBER 2001
Wychavon Entertainment Contest
Once we had the summer schedule completed for the year we concentrated our efforts back onto the contest stage. The Band entered the Wychavon Festival of Brass in Worcesterhire - where we played four entertaining pieces of our own choice. We are featured our solo Euphonium Danny Dulforce with a ballad named 'Be My Love' which should greatly pleased the crowd. In addition we are also played Shine as the Light - a wonderful Salvation Army arrangement, Olympic Fanfare and one of the movements from the 'Four Spanish Impressions' - a piece that we hope to feature in it's entirety soon at one of our forthcoming concerts. The Band put on a good performance played from the number one draw in the programme and was rewarded with 6th placing out of 11 Bands.
Please see the Contest page of the site for the full results.
Summer - Village Affairs
The wonderful English Summer has served up a mixture of sweltering heat, blazing gales and heavy rain causing problems for many of our outdoors performances. The 'Summer Season' in Aldbourne was as busy a usual with performances at the four Pond Concerts, Carnival Queen Crowning (thanks to Ian and Graham Palmer for helping out!), two weddings, Combined Church Fete, and two village-green church services - hardly room to take a breath ! June also marked that start of the summer season with the first Pond Concert. The attendance, and the weather, were both good and the crowd particularly enjoyed Carl Smith's literally screaming performance of Satchmo - a jazz tribute to Louis Armstrong. The September Pond just managed to remain a dry concert, by about 10 minutes, before the skies opened, and there was another Pond Concert somewhere there in August!
Aldbourne Band changed the format of its August Pond Concert and the change was a huge success. The Pond Concerts have been running informally from around the turn of the 20th century, and were formalised in the 1960s to 4 concerts a year, each played adjacent to Aldbourne Pond on the first Sunday of the 4 summer months. With over a century of tradition behind them the decision to move the August concert - to be played on the lovely village, green was not taken lightly.
Aldbourne Band Website back online after house move...
Aldbourne Band announces the departure of Nigel Seaman
Band play at St George's Day celebration in Salisbury