Following weeks (if not months!) of hard work, we are over the moon to have qualified for the National Brass Band Championship Finals at Cheltenham in September!

Yesterday (10th March) saw us travel to Torquay for the West of England Regional Championships.  After what can only be described as a bumpy journey getting there, we went on stage with more determination than ever before, and gave a very solid performance of Darrol Barry’s ‘Rise of the Phoenix’.  The adjudicators liked what we did and placed us 2nd out of the 16 bands in our section, enough to receive an invitation to the National Finals on Sunday 15th September.

The band have improved vastly under the direction of Carl Whiteoak, and we are indebted to his drive, ambition and unequalled determination which has, without a doubt, been the catalyst to our success.  Thank you, Carl, we look forward to more of the same!

After a brief but well deserved break (including a celebratory curry night), the band will be back in the rehearsal room to start work on recording a Christmas CD.  Yes, that means playing Christmas music around the Easter holidays.  We hope the neighbouring residents don’t think we have gone mad.