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Welcome to the Website of Forest of Dean Brass
Saturday 25th October 2008
Great concert at Newport, in aid of the charity 'One Child'. Special Reports.
Saturday 30th August
Highly successful evening performance at the first ever Yorkley Festival. Special Reports.
Saturday 26th & Sunday 27th July 2008
Annual 2-day engagement at Welland Steam Rally. Special Reports.
Sunday 13th July 2008
'Bands in the Park' on Sunday 13th July 2008. A lovely summer day by the river at Ross-on-Wye. Special Reports.
Sunday 29th June 2008
'Brass in the Park' at Lydney on Sunday 29th June 2008. Special Reports.
Saturday 7th June 2008
A successful and enjoyable summer concert was held at Forest Theatre, Five Acres, supported by Forest of Dean Youth Choir. Special Reports.
Saturday 31st May 2008
The band's annual dinner dance and awards evening took place at the Chepstow Hotel. Special Reports.
Sunday 18th May 2008
The band took part in the Weston-super-Mare 40th Annual Brass Band Contest at the Winter Gardens Pavilion, and won First Prize in the Second Section - the Bailey Trophy - and a cheque for £150. Mervyn Porter received the Fred Trego Memorial Trophy for Best Euphonium. The result is a welcome boost to band morale as well as band funds, in advance of a busy summer season of events. See review by 'theMouthPiece.com' below.
'theMouthPiece.com'
wrote a review of all band performances and published them on their website
immediately afterwards. The following is their review of the Forest of
Dean Brass performance, exactly as it appears:
"Very
precise opening, though some of the tuning suffers shortly after 14. Lovely
through 31 to 88 with some gorgeous playing from everyone. The standard of 2nd
section this year is very high indeed. Lovely flug solo after 146, slight blip,
but recover well.
The start at 157 is magical, excellent control on cornet line, and the band
continues with this control into 202. Troms a little messy at 211, but Solo Ct
is excellent - what a wonderful tone you have, Euph too! Solo Ct solo at
225 - par excellence...
In fact, the performance improves as we move forward, this is very impressive
playing of the highest order. Overall - once again... this is stunning playing and I have to say the 2nd
section this year is classy indeed. Your Principal Cornet is a class player and
shows effortless presentation, thanks for a wonderful performance."
March 2008
At the West of England Area contest of the National Brass Band Championships in Torquay on 8th March, the band achieved a creditable sixth place out of 12 participating bands in the second section. The set piece was Three Part Invention by Kenneth Downie. We were drawn number one and played on stage in The Forum at 10.00 a.m.! The band would especially like to thank players who helped out on the day, John Butson on soprano, once again travelling from Spain to be with us, Mark Knight and Emily Pearman on cornet, Tom Law-Deeks on percussion (timps) and Les Thomas on BBb Bass.
Special birthdays
2008 is a big year for at least two band members - Carole Newman was 40 on 18th February, and Russell Morse was 80 years old on 14th February, Valentine's Day! Happy birthday to you both. (See 'Special Reports')
Frankie Ruck celebrated his 18th on 5th September - no photographs available (perhaps just as well!)
Laura Wintle held a party at Xerox Social Club for her 40th on 7th September. Dave Wintle and Mervyn Porter also celebrate significant birthdays this year.
Social Evening Saturday 9th February 2008
Our first social and fundraising event of the year was a skittles evening at Parkend Club, which was well supported, with many band members, children and partners attending. A hilarious evening was enjoyed, the skittles being supervised by Craig Wintle and Carole Newman, ably assisted by stickers-up Charlotte, Ashley, Georgia, Shannon, Ben and George. A tasty supper of hot dogs and bread-and-cheese was provided by Sharon and Hayley, and a raffle was organised by Jean and Deborah.
We were divided into two teams, Carole's Tarts and Craig's Clowns. The overall winners were Carole's Tarts, with the 'killer' being won by Craig Wintle for the gentlemen and Barbara Purvis for the ladies. George Stratford won the children's prize. Well done everyone! The sum of £70 was raised for band funds.
__________________________________________
2007
2007 was a very good year for the band, with many successful events and effective fund-raising, putting the band in a very strong position.
Below is a summary of activities in 2007:
2nd December 2007
As Christmas approached we prepared in earnest for our annual Christmas concert at Lydney Town Hall. Our special guests were Woolaston School Choir conducted by Graham Horton. This event was a sell-out, with extra seating having to be provided.
6th November 2007
We spent this Saturday at Torquay for the SWBBA annual contest. After a number 5 draw, the band went on stage to perform Tallis Variations by Phillip Sparke. We were placed a respectable fourth with which we were very pleased, behind St Dennis, Bodmin and St Keverne (all champion section bands).
May/June 2007
The band had a couple of busy weeks with our dinner and presentation evening at the end of May and our "Best of British" concert. The presentation evening was enjoyed by everyone who attended and the awards went to Bryan Griffiths (second cornet) for Bandsman of the Year and Laura Wintle (first baritone) won Most improved Player of the Year. We also held our best of British concert with the Forest of Dean Male Voice Choir at the Forest Theatre. The compere for the evening was Dick Brice who also contributed to the entertainment with his Forest humour including songs and stories. The event was enjoyed by all who attended and positive feedback was gratefully received.
Our "Best of British" concert was held at the Forest Theatre on 2nd June 2007, to coincide with the 150th anniversary of the birth of Edward Elgar. We were joined by Dick Brice and the Forest of Dean Male Voice Choir.
April 2007
After the South West regional contest in Torquay, we began the hard work for the summer season. Our next contest was the annual own choice contest in Weston-super-Mare where we improved on last year's result. We also planned to host a "Best of British" concert in June jointly with the Forest of Dean Male Voice Choir at the Forest Theatre.
March 2007
We made the annual journey to Torquay and competed to determine our fate for the forthcoming year. Sadly we were placed 10th out of 13. However, although this means that we drop to the second section, Jackie (MD) and the band are happy in the knowledge that we have a far stronger band than a year ago, so watch out second section, we're on our way. We would especially like to thank the players who helped out on the day, John Butson on soprano, Mark Knight on solo cornet, Emily Pearman on repiano cornet and Roger Pearman on BBb Bass.
February 2007
Forest of Dean Brass were pleased to announce that their youngest member Ben Stratford had been accepted into the National Children’s Brass Band of Great Britain on baritone. Ben, who was 12 years old at the time (now 13), a pupil of Whitecross School in Lydney, began playing at the age of 7. He had also recently passed grade 5 with distinction. Well done Ben! Ben continues to excel (a new website page specially dedicated to our young band members will be available in the near future ).
22nd January 2007
A successful quiz night was held at Parkend Club. Everyone had a good time and a total of approximately £125 was raised for band funds.
November 2006
The band competed at the GBBA annual contest at Five Acres Theatre in Coleford. Adjudicator Philip Harper was impressed with the band's choice of test piece, Variations on a Ninth by Gilbert Vinter, and placed us second behind Lydbrook with 92 points. Even though we did not win the section, we achieved 5 individual prizes with Principal Cornet player Craig Wintle winning best instrumentalist of the section, best cornet of the day and best instrumentalist of the day, Mervyn Porter winning best euphonium of the day and Amanda Deeks, Russell Morse and Sue Jenkins winning the Best Horn Section of the day.