What's Next?

With barely any time to celebrate, the band is already busy rehearsing for our next engagement. On the 19th November we are taking part in ‘A Note to Remember’ – a concert celebrating the music of local composer and arranger Gordon Langford. It hardly seems possible, but the smell of mulled wine and mince pies will soon be in the air as Christmas fast approaches. As always this is a busy time for the band, so have a look at our list of engagements for details of when and where you can help us celebrate the festive season!

Double Success in Torquay

The end of the summer always signifies the start of the business half of the year for the band, and it was soon time to plan ahead for the SWBBA Annual Championships held on 7th November. After weeks spent rehearsing Peter Graham’s ‘Haslemere Suite’, the band headed to Torquay knowing we faced tough competition in a tight section. Despite coming off stage happy with our performance, it’s fair to say that there was an element of surprise in our reaction to being announced winners of the third section! The band was delighted with the result, and a huge well done must go to everyone for what is a fantastic achievement – and one that ensures we head to the Areas in March with a new found spring in our step. A special mention has to go to our horn section, who doubled our silverware by being named the best horns of the day – congratulations girls! Also, a big public thank you must go to our MD Adrian for the time, dedication, and effort he puts in all year round. A result like this emphasises just how much work he has put in to developing the band over the years, and although he may not always get the credit he deserves, it really is appreciated by us all.


The best horn section:

From Sidmouth Town Band

The band:

From Sidmouth Town Band

Last Night of the Proms 2009

They do say the British are always talking about the weather, and the band certainly lived up to this reputation in August as all eyes turned to the forecast for Saturday 22nd – our Last Night of the Proms concert. In a break from tradition, this occasion proved to be fourth time lucky as, at last, we had a dry evening. The atmosphere was fantastic and the whole evening thoroughly enjoyable, but the concert was made extra special by having Brett Baker - principal trombonist with Black Dyke – as guest soloist. In what has to be the highlight of the summer, Brett wowed the band and audience alike, leaving us in no doubt as to why he is one of the best trombonists in the world. We hope we didn’t put Brett off too much(!), and are all excited at the prospect of possibly having him play with us again in the future.

November 2009

It’s hard to know where the past few months have gone, so apologies for the gap since the last update. Despite being a busy time for the band, the summer, as usual, came and went in a flash. The perfect weather we had for the first two Sunday evening concerts didn’t quite continue as we had (rather optimistically) hoped, but with only one rained off and our ever-faithful audience never letting us down, the 2009 season was a great success.