2024 was a busy year for the band with 13 engagements and 3 of our own concerts. Throw in a National Brass Band Championship contest and some Musical Director changes and there was never a dull moment. Now, safely into 2025 and we are able to look back and review.
We were delighted to welcome Graham Blackman into the band on Eb bass at the start of the year. Having come along to our Christmas concert at St Peter’s Church with his wife, Graham had enjoyed the performance and it had got him reminiscing about the many years of brass playing in his past.
“After 18 years without playing my tuba, and with a little nudge from my wife, I joined the band a year ago. I was made to feel very welcome from the start. The Friday rehearsal nights work really well with my shifts and it is great to round off each week with a drink and a catch up in the Band Club. Over the year, I have enjoyed playing a variety of music, traditional and contemporary, the highlight for me being our performance at the Brackley Armed Forces Day. I would recommend anyone who is interested in making music (young/old, beginner/experienced or anywhere in between) to come along and have a blow.“
The beginning of every year starts with preparations for the National Brass Band Championship. We compete in the Fourth Section and are keen to work our way up the rankings and be in with a chance of promotion before too long. The testpiece was “Music for Jock Tamson” by Alan Fernie and some of our members joined The GUS Band for their workshop on the testpiece at the beginning of February, hoping to get some hints and tips on how to impress the adjudicators on the day. We were pleased with our performance though the adjudicators placed us 12th.
This was the last contest that our 2nd baritone player Leonie Walter played with the band. She moved away, so unfortunately we had to wave her goodbye and wished her well. We understand that she has joined Bilsdale Silver Band and is enjoying her continued involvement in banding up north.
Summer saw the band undertake a number of engagements including the Armed Forces Day at the rugby club in Brackley, a number of fetes at local villages including a band favourite at Eydon and a session at Abington Park as part of their “Bands in the Park” series.
David Howard, who took over the role of Musical Director at the beginning of 2023, decided to move on during the summer of 2024. We'd like to thank Dave for all the work he put into the band during his time with us and wish him all the best. We would also like to say that we were immensely grateful to Clive Keech who had recently started coming along to the band to play cornet for being willing to step up and take over.
The Band BBQ, hosted up at our bass player and Chairman Nigel Surman’s farm, signalled the end of the summer engagements where we played games, bounced around on his bouncy castle, got taken for rides in his Ford Model T, ate, drank and enjoyed social time with the band without the instruments. Following a short break, we returned to rehearse for our Autumn Concert, Remembrance Service and a couple of Oktoberfest gigs. One such gig was at The Bell Inn in Adderbury, where we joined Rhys Owens, who now runs the pub and used to play with the band for a fun night of Bavarian Oompah tunes and beer.
Christmas is often a very busy time for the band and this year was no exception. Performing multiple times of a weekend and sometimes twice on the same day we entertained shoppers, visitors to the local supermarkets, residents of Brackley Fields Care Home and those that turned out for the Community Carols, all in addition to our very popular Christmas Concert. One particularly fulfilling aspect of caroling is that it allows us to interact with our audience more and take requests. Once such interaction at Wappenham Farm led to an impromptu rendition of “Away in a Manager” by a young girl, who sang delightfully as we accompanied as quietly as we could. That was certainly a proud mum and dad moment and it was a privilege to have been part of this.