Spring Break (ish)

With the Areas contest done and dusted, April and May tend to be quieter months for the band. Filing away the test piece after working on it for weeks provides the opportunity to look at some new music as well as delving into the library to find the hidden musical gems that are gathering dust on the shelves. Although this is mainly the time for looking ahead and preparing for our forthcoming summer season, the band has been involved in some key events in the town, such as the traditional Good Friday hot cross bun giveaway and a Queen’s Jubilee celebration evening held at East Devon District Council’s headquarters.

This year the band has had extra work to do in preparation for its 150th anniversary celebrations. Our soprano player Christine has been very busy finalising the book that’s been written to celebrate the band’s history, whilst our principal cornet player Fiona has been involved in compiling the booklet that will accompany our new CD. Both the book and CD will be released for sale in June and, although we don’t know the exact date quite yet, full details of where and when you can buy them will be available on the website as soon as possible.

For those of you who may be expecting our summer concerts in Connaught Gardens to start on the May Bank Holiday weekend as normal (which, confusingly, is in June anyway), 　this year we will be starting a week later. On Sunday 3rd June the band will be taking part in what will be one of the town’s biggest events of the year - the Diamond Jubilee Street Party. If the street party held in 2011 to mark the royal wedding is anything to go by, we are sure this will be another fantastic event full of great community spirit. Our Sunday evening concerts will begin on 3rd June and will continue throughout the summer until our last concert on 2nd September. One more important date for your diary is Saturday 18th August, which is when the band will be holding its Last Night of the Proms concert. More details of this event will be available soon!