News

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.