Summer Season Ends On A High

The band has rounded off its 2010 summer season in style, with a successful Proms concert and another two pieces of silverware to add to our expanding collection.

After weeks of preparation, the evening of the band’s Last Night of the Proms concert finally arrived on Saturday 21st August. Over the past few years we have grown accustomed to the unpredictability of August’s weather, however, experience has also taught us that we don’t need glorious sunshine to create a memorable evening. Luckily, for the second year in a row the rain held off, leaving the audience with umbrella-free hands to sip their champagne and wave their flags in true patriotic style. Special thanks must go to our talented guest singer Val Howels and to our compère Nick Agg-Manning, both of whom added that extra bit of sparkle to a thoroughly enjoyable evening.

The final weekend of the summer season sees the band make the short journey along the coast to take part in the Exmouth Brass Band Festival. Having been drawn to play first, we arrived in Exmouth early on Saturday morning ready to play our 25 minute programme to the adjudicator and the handful of early risers listening
in the hall. Eight hours later and back in the hall to listen to the results, we were delighted to come away with not only a cup for the being the best Third Section band, but also a cup for the best trombone section of the day. Congratulations
Chris, Martin and Joel - it was well deserved! Read the adjudicator’s remarks for our performance by clicking here.

The summer passed by with barely a moment to stop for breath, and things are certainly no different at the moment. With only two weeks to go until the National Finals in Harrogate, the band is currently working very hard practising the set test piece ‘Willow Pattern’. Once again, we are very lucky that Steve Sykes agreed to come and take us for a couple of rehearsals prior to the contest to put us through our paces. He has already been to one rehearsal, we are very much looking forward to his return next week.

Ever since the band qualified for the National Finals back in March,we have been faced with the reality that we would only be able to go if we were able to raise the large amount of money needed to fund our trip. We would like to take this opportunity to say a big thank you to our fantastic audiences and the Town Council for their continued generosity and support. Without this support and a great deal of time and effort given by the band, we would not be able to represent Sidmouth and the West of England in Harrogate. Keep an eye on our news pages for more details about our journey to the National Finals.