Category: News

Fulham Brass Band are delighted to announce Sam Hairsine as their new Musical Director.

Emmeline, our chair, commented “the band is absolutely delighted to have Sam on board as our new Musical Director. From our first meeting we knew straightaway that he was the perfect fit as his musical vision and ambition matched so well with the band’s ethos and plans for the future.

Sam brings such a wealth of experience to Fulham having been Director of Music in the Royal Marines and having conducted some of the country’s top bands.

We are sure that the band will continue to grow and go from strength to strength under his leadership and we are very excited for the next chapter.”

We wish to congratulate all of the applicants and thank them, and the band members, for their commitment to the auditions process.

We are very much looking forward to Sam joining us in the band room from September, and you can find out a little more about him in the posts above.

Photo credit, Lewis Crowe

We are delighted to have welcomed a number of new members to the band in the last few months, have a look at the bios below to read a bit about the new FBB members and do say hello if you see them at an upcoming gig!

We would also like to take this opportunity to say a massive thank you to our Solo Baritone Jon Barker. As well as being an excellent addition to the Baritone section, Jon’s tireless organisation and commitment to the band (and to project management excellence) has been unrivalled. We wish him all the best as he re-enters the world of Salvation Army Brass Banding.

We would also like to highlight Tasha Strange who has made the long-leap from slides to valves as she enters the Solo Baritone seat, moving over from Solo Trombone, and Mike Boyd who has returned to his horn-playing routes and has filled the 2nd Horn seat, moving from 2nd Cornet. We’ve already enjoyed Tash luscious (Bari)tone and Mike’s return to the horn section in recent weeks, and look forward to hearing them both as the band takes to the stage at the Great British Beer Festival on the 5th August.

We’re really excited to be getting to the final stages of our search for a new Musical Director, so watch this space for more news in the coming weeks.

Opportunities at Fulham Brass Band!

FBB is a friendly, ambitious Championship section band looking for new players and regular deps.

We have particular vacancies on Percussion, Tenor Horn and Bass Trombone, as well as seeking a player of a high standard to join the band on the solo Euphonium seat.

The band have exciting plans for the future, and are looking for players as we seek to appoint a new Musical Director in the coming months.

If you have any questions or would like to come along to a rehearsal please email bandmanager@fulhambrassband.co.uk or message us through one of our social media platforms.

We rehearse on Monday evenings at 7:30pm at St Etheldreda’s Church on Fulham Palace Road, SW6 6JF.

On Sunday 15th May, we will finally be celebrating our 125th anniversary. The concert will welcome Simone Rebello as our guest soloist. Simone Rebello is a brilliant percussionist and will be performing Taps in Tempo, Concerto for Marimba, plus others. We can’t wait to see her work her magic with the Marimba and Xylophone!

As well as this, we will be performing a premiere piece of music, ‘Sewers Crisis’.  We are so excited to have been given the opportunity to Adopt a Music Creator, thanks to Making Music. Just after lockdown, we applied for the Adopt A Music Creator* programme and were paired with the fantastic, Florence Anna Maunders.

What is Making Music and what do they do?

Since 1935, Making Music has supported and championed leisure-time groups across the UK with practical services, artistic development opportunities and by providing a collective voice for its members. Representing over 3,700 groups of around 200,000 musicians of all types, genres and abilities, Making Music helps them with the practicalities of running their group so they can get on with making music.

What is the Adopt a Music Creator Project?

The Adopt a Music Creator project brings together music groups and music creators to collaborate on creating a brand new piece of music. The project pairs leisure-time music groups with a music creator for a year, culminating in a premiere performance, a recording and a possible radio broadcast.

The music creator has the opportunity to get to know a performing group and write a piece especially for them, while the group has the chance to contribute to the creation of a new work by some of the UK’s most promising music creators.

We have been so thrilled to work with the very talented Flori and cannot wait to showcase her work with you all. We hope to see you there!

For ticket information, click here. Tickets will be available at the door.

For more information on Making Music and the Adopt a Music Creator initiative, visit https://www.makingmusic.org.uk/opportunities/making-music-projects/adopt-music-creator

*Adopt a Music Creator is run by Making Music in partnership with Sound and Music, and is funded by the PRS Foundation and the Philip & Dorothy Green Music Trust. 

Well it’s certainly been a year or two! With restrictions now fully lifted, we were finally able to leave the days of Zoom behind us and begin rehearsing together as a band in preparation for this year’s regional contest at Stevenage. After being promoted to the championship section in 2019, we finally had the chance to compete at this level on Sunday 20th March.

Contest Music by Wilfred Heaton was the chosen piece for the bands to play. It wasn’t without its challenges but we enjoyed the piece very much! After a draw of number 6, we had the afternoon to relax until results.

We came a respectable 7th – this was, after all, our first time competing at this level so the band was very happy with this result.

Here’s Dolma, Matt and Jess, our newest recruits and first time contesters, with their take on the day, and a little information about them each!

Dolma Chiodak

Having never participated in a brass band contest, I had absolutely no idea of how the day would unfold. Seeing the different bands of our section come together in an arts and leisure centre (not the location I had in mind!) was pretty surreal. I was anticipating having to wait around and trying not to get nervous, but the time passed fairly quickly. The worst part was waiting to find out our draw. The best part of the day was when we got to play and showcase what we had been working on for the last few months, especially the feeling after we’d finished. I’d summarise brass band contests as: Unusual, Different, yet Fascinating.

Jess Thomas

After a break from contesting, the area contest was a great opportunity to meet again with friends, bond the and together musically and as a group! I was expecting to feel nervous excitement when our wait was finally over to take to the stage and there was definitely some relief and satisfaction after we had performed. I think the worst part of the day is always the anxious waiting beforehand but my highlight of the day was seeing everyone being proud of their performance and celebrating our result together. If I could summarise band contests in three words, they would be… surreal, social and competitive.

Matt Mitchell

What did you expect for a brass band contest?
I expected lots of waiting around with lots of nervous players.

What were your best bits from the day?
Performing Contest Music itself. After spending so much time rehearsing it over the last couple of months, it was great to get onto the stage and give it our all. Also getting to spend a day with my fellow banders. 

What were your worst bits?
Definitely waiting around before it was our turn to play. It’s so tempting to keep warming up and playing, but you know that it won’t do your lip any good after a while.

If you could summarise band contests in three words, what would they be?
Exhilarating, exhausting… brassy!

Today we’re proud to reveal our new look!

The band’s 125th anniversary seemed to be the perfect time to refresh how we present ourselves and engage with our audiences. With this in mind, we engaged Becky Thomas of beckyismyname.co.uk and spoke at length with her about who the band is, what we do, who we play to, who we want to play to and what it means to our members and supporters.

The result is our new brand, which incorporates our traditional blue and reflects the shape of the River Thames near Fulham.

We can’t wait to use it in our 125th year and beyond – thank you to everyone involved in the project!

What a year so far!

Can you believe we’re already a third of the way through?! We thought it was time to update you all on what Fulham Brass Band has been up to in the last few months.

Butlins Contest

The year began with preparing for the Butlins Mineworkers Brass Band Festival in Skegness. The band chose to play Force of Destiny (Corsair being the alternative). The band arrived at Butlins positive and raring to go – we gave a performance we were really happy with. After, we had a band game of bowling (with some interesting techniques on display) and headed to the results, where we 7th out of 16 bands. After, we danced the night away to the fantastic Jaeger Maestros and hit the infamous Jak’s nightclub until the early hours!

New Chairperson

Before prep for Butlins began, we had the task to appoint a new chairperson for the band. This would not be an easy feat for the band after the previous chair, Stephen Carney, stood down from the position after a lengthy tenure. We would like to thank Steve for his work with the band, in particular helping to bring about some interesting projects for the group.

We are pleased to announce that Clare Pitt will be stepping into Steve’s shoes. Clare had been a member of the band for several years before stepping down from her position as Principal Cornet to focus on her growing family. We knew it wouldn’t be long before she would return and we are delighted that she has taken up the position with a huge amount of enthusiasm and professionalism, throwing herself into plans for our 125th anniversary.

Areas 2019

Fast forward to 15 March and the Regional Championships in Stevenage. The band entered the competition top of the grading tables and knew that a good result would mean promotion to the Championship Section for the first time in our long history. The band gave a really confident and assured performance and earned a rapturous applause and great feedback from the judges. We were thrilled to earn 2nd place and an invitation to the National Finals in September.

Not only this, but the band also gained a promotion meaning that from January 2020. We send our congratulations to our friends at Amersham Band for pipping us to 1st place and look forward to competing alongside them in top section next year.

Farewell to old friends, Hello to new. 

During the last couple of months, we have said some happy hellos and some sad goodbyes to some of our members. We welcomed Vicky Ahmed and Isabelle Williamson onto the horn section, much to our solo horn player’s delight! As well as this, we have had Gareth Trott from The Band of the irish Guards join us on euphonium, Steve Loosemore on 2nd trombone, Tom Steer on Bb Bass, with John Nkounkou and Aiden Waite making up our new-look percussion section.

With good news comes sad news. Our long-standing solo trombone player, Hannah Griffiths, played her final engagement with us. Hannah has been an incredible member of the band for several years and she will be sorely missed as she begins her new life in Bristol with her husband Tim. We wish her all the best in her new endeavours.

Moving into her seat is Matt Smith who has filled several positions for the band but is excited about taking on this new responsibility. As well as Hannah stepping down from her position, we were sad to see George Lee (Eb bass) leave due to his promotion to Stage Manger of the London Symphony Orchestra. Solo cornet, Greg Waters is taking a break from the band for the time being: he’s a very busy boy with his upcoming wedding, working for The Coldstream Guards Band and his Salvation Army commitments. Looking forward to seeing you back soon, Greg!

Band Awards

Shortly after the areas, we held our annual AGM where the awards for Band’s Person of the Year, Most Improved Player and Player of the Year are revealed.

This year, the most improved player (as decided by MD, John Ward) was given to two players: Matt Foakes and Oli Lidgate, our principal bass players. The player of the year (again, decided by the MD) was awarded to Hannah. Despite Hannah’s resignation, it was felt by John that she has been an asset to the band over the last year, performing consistently well and contributing to the band. The Band’s Person of the Year (voted by the band) was awarded to Matt Smith due to his exemplary upkeep of the band library and his flexibility to play wherever he is required. Well done

to all of our award winners.

Spring Concert 2019

In other news, we can finally announce the details of our Spring Concert which will be held at St Etheldreda’s Church, Fulham

 on Sunday 12 May. Our guest soloist is Steve Stewart, Soprano Cornet of Cory Band. Steve will be performing Over the Horizon, a new ballad written by Christopher Bond, High Fidelity and Live and Let Die. We look forward to working with him next month.

The Great British Beer Festival

Another event the band are looking forward to is the Great British Beer Festival at Olympia London.
For information and tickets, click here.

You can find other information about gigs and events coming up this Spring and Summer, on our engagements page here.
Well, that’s all for now! We are looking forward to the year ahead and what it has in store for us.

On Saturday 16th March, the band competed at the London and Southern Counties Regional Championships at the Stevenage Arts and Leisure Centre along with several other bands from the region. The piece: Symphony of Marches. The draw: 4th. After weeks of hard work, grit and determination, the band went on confident with the performance we were about to give.

After a long wait, we headed into the results with our fellow bandsmen.

“And the band in second place is the band that played…. NUMBER 4“.

The adjudicators commented that the band played “a generally well constructed offering with a real sense of performance” and that there was “lots to admire. Overall, good articulated playing  with attention to detail and dynamics… [which] produces a musical performance.”

As well as a second placing, the band was also awarded the best cornet of the day. This went to our soprano player, Grant Jarvie.

With this second placing, Fulham Brass Band have been invited to the National Finals in Cheltenham on Saturday 14th-Sunday 15th September 2019. As well as this, the band will now be promoted to the Championship section in 2020, our 125th year as a band!

The band are really pleased with the outcome of this result. Emmeline Downer, Flugel, said: “I have been playing Flugel in the band for nearly five years now. I joined when were going to the 2nd section National Finals. I never would have dreamed that we would now be going up to the Championship section.”

Clare Pitt, the band’s chair added: “This is an amazing achievement which builds on years of hard work and dedication which has seen us move from the fourth section in 2005 to the championship section – an excellent way to celebrate our 125th anniversary next year.

John Ward, conductor of Fulham Brass is looking forward to the year ahead. “I am so proud of the group. They’ve been knocking on the door for a few years now so to finally get the nod from the judges and make it to the championship section is just brilliant.”

We’ll be kick starting the year with our Spring Concert in May (details to follow).

Keep an eye out in the next week for news of the year so far and our plans for the next twelve months.