A good turnout from the Brackley community joined us on a wet Monday evening to enjoy a warm welcome and a festive programme of music and carols. Dave Howard, conducting the Band for the first time at a formal concert, opened with a rousing rendition of Christmas Joy, a popular March amongst brass bands at this time of year. The first half of the concert featured our flugel player Julie Jakeman with a lovely arrangement by Alan Fernie of the very well-known Away in a Manger before continuing with more traditional items such as Candlelight Carol by John Rutter and A Christmas Overture by John Golland.
Whilst our normal Band jackets had been substituted in favour of Christmas jumpers in the first half, the second half saw the Band adding further festive accessories such as hats and tinsel, as the music choices were intended to give the feel of a Christmas party. We opened with Merry Christmas Everyone, our solo cornet player Steve Utley followed this with a delightful performance of A Winter’s Tale. The party really kicked off with A Christmas Pop Collection, which as you can imagine was a medley of Christmas tunes and the audience were invited to see how many they could spot. The party then relaxed a little for Walking in the Air from ‘The Snowman’ before picking up again with I Believe in Father Christmas and finishing with Merry Christmas Everybody.
We very much enjoyed the evening and it was over all too quickly. Hopefully, those in the audience who enjoyed themselves will seek out our performances in 2023, our 50th Anniversary year.
We would like to thank St Peter’s Church for hosting us, all those who helped to make the concert happen and to everyone who came along. If you enjoyed the evening, please tell friends and family and bring them along to the next one. Details will be posted here on our website (www.brackleyband.org.uk) and on our Facebook page. If you haven’t already, please do like our Facebook page and leave us a review, telling us what you particularly enjoyed or perhaps suggesting what you’d like to see in our future concerts.