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Times Article
26 February 2010
During one of our regular rehearsals we were visited by journalist Emma Pomfret who was writing a piece for the Times on Brass
Bands, with reference particularly to the funding problems we all have
which is leading to the slow demise of a fine musical tradition.
She had seen this website, read about us and wanted to include us in her
article. She had been struck particularly by the varied nature of
our repertoire with its inclusion of much of the finest examples of
modern brass music. We were obviously very much in accord with her
objectives and were happy to do what we could in support.
Last year the band was promoted to the First Section, so on 22nd March
we duly took the stage in feeling a somewhat aware that we were now
playing in a different league. It didn't help our nerves that, by
common consent, the test piece this year was more than usually difficult
for a First Section test piece. There are more excuses we could
make but the bottom line is that we came last! Under the contest's
scoring system we are still in the First Section - but only just.
Shortly after the event Alan Piper, our Chairman, set down his own "take" on the day and we can
do no better than to repeat it here:
"I was born during (but not at!) the National Brass Band
Championships in the Royal Albert Hall (won that year by Brighouse &
Rastrick, as I recall) and contests are in my genes. From the age of 14
and for the next 20 years I hardly missed a contest and enjoyed hearing
the top bands playing the best brass music of the 20th century, with
their differences of interpretation, tricks for milking the applause and
even the occasional split note. Nearly 30 years further on, playing in a
brass band contest is a different matter altogether.
“Pentacle”, our first test piece after gaining promotion to the First
Section, is written to test any band’s technique. In five movements,
representing earth, wind, fire, water and quintessence, it uses five-bar
phrases, groups of notes in fives and harmonies in fifths, all
interacting in some very complex sounds and textures. A bit of quick
arithmetic showed that most of the band had to play, at some stage,
semi-quavers at the rate of 43,200 per hour – enough to melt the
instrument’s valves. My first reaction was to offer to stand down but
Sharon, our MD, wouldn’t let me. Nothing for it, then, but to practise as I had
never practised before and in the end I managed more of the notes than I
ever thought I would. I still had to make a private policy decision not
to attempt those lightning bars which, at best, I could only muddle
through but to concentrate on the bits where I could make a positive
contribution. I actually had my own duet – three notes in unison with
the soprano cornet two octaves above my second-third-cornet line.
As to the result, let me say only that the adjudicator felt that we had
“found the piece rather a handful”. Having listened to some of the other
bands on the day and our own recording since, I have to say that our
soloists were as good as any on show and I have nothing but admiration
for my colleagues who played all the semi-quavers. We seemed to capture
the excitement of the piece but there is work to do on the precision and
clarity of our ensemble playing. We have another year to acclimatise
ourselves to the higher standard of the First Section and it will
continue to stretch our technique, as it should. We can be proud however
that the band we fielded on contest day was pretty much the same band
that will be playing in and around Harrow this summer. We certainly
didn’t disgrace ourselves on the contest platform and, as every year, we
have gained from the experience."
On Sunday 14th December the band gave its annual Christmas concert and, as usual, the
programme featured something for everyone (you can see some pictures of
the concert on the 2008 gallery page).
The first half mixed light numbers with some tougher pieces that the band had worked on over the previous
months. After an exhilarating start with a favourite, a compilation of melodies from the musical “Mack and Mabel”,
we continued the first half with a couple of pieces from the classical repertoire (Faure’s “Pavane” and Karl Jenkins’ “Benedictus”), mingled
with lighter numbers. “Sirocco”- a relatively new piece by composer Peter Graham- was an exciting concoction of European folk
tunes, featuring an interesting imitation of a mandolin, created by our flugelhorn player, Lou Stonestreet, playing into the bell of a tuba.
This was followed by “Sparkling Diamonds”, an exhilarating arrangement of “Diamonds are a Girl’s Best Friend”.
Sadly for us less well-to-do chaps, zirconium just doesn’t have the same ring to it.
Ending the first half was the rousing and demanding piece “Shine as the Light”, an arrangement of the Salvation
Army hymn with Stravinskian overtones.
After the interval, the band moved to more seasonal fare, starting with the “Christmas Prelude”-
fanfares leading into the ever popular carol "Adeste Fideles". Other Christmassy numbers included John Rutter’s “Shepherd’s Pipe
Carol”, “Walking in the air” from the film “The Snowman”, a jazzed-up “Sleigh Ride” (with solos from euphonium maestro Lisa Stonham and cornet
Stuart Quinlan) and the “Manger Scene”. Also featured were “Wonderful World”, a trombone solo, beautifully arranged by our very own Steph Ayton,
and the Welsh hymn “All through the night”. Our closer was a swinging take on Prokofiev’s “Troika”,
but as usual our MD Sharon succumbed to cries for an encore, and we rounded off a thoroughly enjoyable evening with a traditional Austrian number “Schneewaltzer”,
complete with choreographed swaying.
This
annual event is organised by local traders
and the Pinner Association as a Christmas Celebration, and for the
second year, the Band offered and were welcomed to play
carols as part of the series of organised events and were permitted to
issue flyers to advertise the Band's forthcoming Christmas Concert.
To say the least the
weather wasn't kind, but in spite of this several brave souls from the
band turned out for about half an hour. An acquaintance of one of
the band members made
an impromptu video recording of one of the carols, which you can see via
the play window at left.
The same clip in a
format suitable for an iPod can be downloaded below
(left-click and use 'save target as..' then import as usual into iTunes)
Download for iPod
The
Band was, as always, pleased to provide music at the annual Remembrance
Parade and Service held at Harrow Civic Centre, all the more so since
various Band members have relatives who have served in the Armed Forces,
and this year, of course, was the 90th Anniversary of the signing of the
Armistice which marked the end of the Great War.
The Mayor
of Harrow and representatives of all branches of the Armed Services and
various Civil Authorities took part in the Parade, and those assembled
were addressed by leaders of several Faiths.
This year, a band member
played ‘Last Post’ and ‘Reveille’
which mark, respectively, the start and the end of the Two Minutes
Silence. When
the Band was asked if we could take on the playing of these poignant
bugle calls, so central to the Remembrance ceremony, Steph Ayton, one of
our front-row cornet players, volunteered
- and on the day gave us a flawless and moving performance.
You can see a video clip
of Steph playing 'Last Post' and Reveille' via the play window above left - click the play
arrow to start.
The same clip in a
format suitable for an iPod can be downloaded below (left-click and use
'save target as..' then import as usual into iTunes)
Download for iPod
Last Post at other war
memorials in Harrow
In addition to the main Civic Centre
ceremony, the Mayor’s Office also neede someone to play the Last Post and Reveille at
other ceremonies because it is the custom for the Mayor, in the week
before the main Remembrance Service, to lay wreaths at other war memorials around the
borough and at the grave of Lieutenant William Leefe-Robinson VC at All
Saints Church, Harrow Weald. So Steph willingly volunteered for these ceremonies
also. In the end, she played ‘Last Post’ at ten locations in one day.
A worthy thing to have done, particularly in this 90th Anniversary year. Well done,
Steph.
Regional
Brass Band Championships, Sunday 16th March 2008
The
2008
London and Southern Counties Regional
Brass Band Championships were held at
Stevenage on Sunday 16th March. Grimsdyke Brass were competing in
the Second Section and had been rehearsing the test piece, Kenneth Downie's "Three-Part Invention", since early January.
We had a
final, pre-contest rehearsal at 8.00 am on a very wet morning in Stevenage.
The draw for order of play took place at 9 o'clock; we had been drawn to play twelfth (out of
fourteen). We
duly waited it out until the early afternoon and went in to play at about
one o'clock.
The results
were announced at around two o'clock after a brief overview by adjudicator
Steve Pritchard-Jones. We were hoping we were in the top half of the
placings, but when fourth place was read out and it
wasn't us we began to assume.... But then third place was announced:-
"GRIMSDYKE BRASS". After a split second to take this in, the
cheering erupted from the band - our first Podium placing ever!
We had been
awarded 184 points out of a maximum of 200 (the winner got 186 points). On cumulative results (previous
two years taken into account) we were
also now graded ("seeded") in second place out of
the 14 bands in the Section.
Under
contest rules, the two top bands in the grading table are promoted - so we will be competing
next year in the First Section. A Podium placing and Promotion as well!
We felt we had had worse days.
The Band is
grateful to James Coy (Drum Kit), John Malcolm (Euphonium), Edward
Parker (Percussion) and Sylvia Pullen (Tenor Horn), all of whom, being
registered to play in these contests with the band, joined us for this event.
As always,
the band owes much to MD Sharon Broughall who decided on the interpretation
of the test piece, then toiled tirelessly to bring us
to the level we needed to reach for the contest in a series of detailed
whole-band and sectional rehearsals. And on the
day, it was Sharon who saw us through the concert-day nerves and got us to
deliver what was needed when the green light went on.
You can hear
a recording of our actual on-stage contest performance by clicking the link below.
Our own performance apart, Doyen's recording is technically of
high audio quality and is well worth playing on the best audio equipment
available to you. We are grateful to Doyen for permission to
use their recording on this website.
And finally
- you can see some pictures of the day on
the Gallery Page via the "2008"
navigation button.
Trafalgar Square -
participation in "Neighbours on five" promotional recording
made by five
Thursday 7th February 2008
The
soap opera "Neighbours" has moved to five, and to
celebrate the occasion five made arrangements to have
300 brass players on the steps of Trafalgar Square to play
the Neighbours theme tune with Harold Bishop, a tuba-playing
central character in the programme, coming over from
Australia to take part in the event.
Grimsdyke
Brass were there,
represented by two of its key players - Roger Morgan
(Cornet) and John Stonestreet (Baritone)
You can see
a video of the event below - f you look
carefully you can see John and Roger doing their stuff.. The video is
a composite of "take 1" (basses at the back) and
"take 3" recorded some 10/15 minutes later when the basses
were brought down to the front to join Harold Bishop.
The
grounds of Watford Grammar School for Boys provided the backdrop for another
outdoor summer concert, this time given in collaboration with the school’s
very talented brass band, under the baton of our long-time collaborator and
one-time Grimsdyke conductor, John Malcolm.
Grimsdyke
played two sets in the concert with a selection of numbers we have worked on
through the summer months, a mixture of specially composed works for brass
bands with a smattering of jazz and film music. This was interspersed
with two sections from the Watford boys, who kicked off with Philip Sparke’s
exciting Concert Prelude. Their programme included an unusual
arrangement of Macarthur Park,
music from the film Pirates of the Caribbean, the Floral Dance and Mozart’s
Rondo Alla Turca, showing off technical expertise well beyond their
years. It was well received
by the audience, many of whom were enjoying picnics on the field.
We were also
treated to
three numbers from a rising jazz star studying at the school - vibraphonist
Scott Chapman - who plays with the National Jazz Youth Orchestra.
Altogether a
very enjoyable evening - many thanks to
John and to the School for inviting
Grimsdyke Brass to participatet.
We
were delighted to return to the Elliott Hall at the Harrow Art Centre
for the annual Grimsdyke Brass Summer concert. Friend of the band Jan
Burgess greeted us armed with programmes to hand to an expectant
audience. It was great to see so many other friends of the band in
attendance once again.
A glance at
the stage revealed this to be something of a different type of concert
with the group lined up in big band formation led by our MD, Sharon
Broughall.
Scanning
across the stage I discovered a smattering of new faces amongst the
Grimsdyke regulars. We were pleased to welcome Donna Tubb (cornet) and
Rich Coltart (cornet), and returning to Grimsdyke, Lisa
Stonham (Euphonium), Steve Burgess (Eb Tuba), Richard Skinner (Trombone)
and Helen Morris (Trombone). We were also grateful to Darren Stonham,
Ian Reeder (drums), Ed March (Eb Tuba) and Peter Blake (percussion) for
stepping in to help out.
For
this concert the band had dispensed with the traditional uniforms in
favour of an all black trouser and shirt affair. I wondered beforehand
if we might get to see the pink (or Cranberry according to Mr Piper)
polo shirts the band sported on the recent tour to Bruges. In fact, the
pink polos were carefully stowed away by the band in readiness for the
Bournemouth weekend with the band hoping for something more pleasant
than the torrential driving rain and gale force winds that greeted last
years performance – never was Peter Grahams ‘Gaelforce’ more appropriate
than on the Bournemouth bandstand last year.
With
the band poised and the stage lights set, Sharon came striding into the
hall with baton aloft and upon her very precise downbeat the band
(almost as precise in entry) launched into the opening of ‘Strike up the
band’.
A tricky, recognisable piece that required a good deal of technique and
what technique the band gave it, which the audience fully appreciated
with a generous round of applause. The slightly lighter Splanky
followed, which preceded Stuart Quinlan’s excellent flugal horn solo,
“The Children of Sanchez” by Chuck Mangione. This is a piece which
would usually feature a Mandolin to provide background to the Flugal
solo – in the absence of said Mandolin, ever the improvisers, Grimsdyke
achieved the required effect with cornets and Tuba Bells! This required
the Tuba section to lean back in their seats and wiggle their valves
furiously while the cornets leant forward and played into the bells of
the Tubas.
The
ever popular ‘Trumpet Blues and Cantabile’ was next with the Grimsdyke
trumpet section stood in a line at the back of the band, bells out to
the audience. Neal Hefti’s ‘Cute’, Harry Warren & Al Dubin’s ‘I only
have eyes for you’ led into Charlie Barnet's
up-tempo ‘Skyliner’ before the familiar sound of Gershwin’s ‘Someone to
watch over me’ lured us all into a false sense of big band security
before the 1st half concluded with Michael Giacchino “Music
from ‘The
Incredibles’. With us all feeling like modern day
superheroes we all headed into the interval for refreshments to set us
up for the second half. We were greeted with another superhero effort
in full swing from Jan and Vic Burgess, and Jo Quinlan to get everyone
served with Tea, biscuits and other light refreshments during the
interval.
Fully
refreshed, we returned to our seats in readiness for the 2nd
half with the band opening with Louis Prima’s ‘Sing Sing Sing (with a
swing)’ before Anton O’brien rose from his seat to demonstrate his silky
skills on Trombone performing Goff Richards arrangement of Hoagy
Carmichael’s ‘Georgia on my mind’. A stunning performance from the
master of multiple instruments….well Euph and Trombone anyway. Next up,
Cole Porters ‘It’s all right with me’ and Frank Bernhaerts arrangement
of ‘Mack the knife’.
Midway
through the second half we were treated to something stupid, I mean
‘Something Stupid’, featuring the “Fred and Ginger” of Grimsdyke Brass,
Euphonium duo David Abrahams & Lisa Stonham, delighting the audience
with a performance featuring playing, dancing and a slightly tired
looking bouquet of flowers.!
Barrie
Gotts excellent festival arrangement of Light Walk followed before a
change of mood and tempo with the subtle ‘Lil Darlin’. The end of the
concert bought the Steve Sykes arrangement of Duke Ellington and Juan
Tizols ‘Caravan’ with the band demonstrating that classic end of concert
crowd pleaser “formation rising in sections”…Luckily the crescendo at
the end of Caravan drowned out the groans in the Tuba section as they
raised the big bertha’s. An encore rounded out the evening
and so another great summer concert has passed us by and it’s back to
the rehearsal room to prepare for the Bournemouth weekend and Proms
concert, with extra “rising in sections” training for the Tuba section!
A great
effort from all concerned and we’d particularly like to thank Gwen Wolf
and Belinda Day for running the ticket office and front desk, Jan and
Vic Burgess, Jo Quinlan and the Lisa Stonham and the HAC.
The
Band was pleased once more to present an afternoon concert in Pinner
Memorial Gardens. We have presented a concert in the Gardens at
about this time of year a number of years now and we glad to see a
number of familiar faces in the audience who came to listen to us.
The generally kind weather helped make for us at least was an enjoyable
and rewarding concert.
We are
able to present a few photographs of the event due to an unexpected
visit by a roving reporter who kindly forwarded the
images below to the Webmaster who at the time of the concert was
researching life and music in various West Country harbours.
The
2006 Besson
London and Southern Counties Regional Championships were held at
Stevenage on Saturday 18th March. Grimsdyke Brass were promoted last
year, so this year we were competing in
the Second Section and had been rehearsing the test piece, Howard Snell's
"Images of the Millennium" since early January.
We had a
final, pre-contest rehearsal at 12 o-clock in Stevenage,
and heard at 1 o'clock that we had been drawn to play eleventh (out of
fifteen). We
duly waited out the afternoon and went in to play at about 6 o'clock.
The results
were announced at about half-past seven by adjudicator Chris Wormald.
Before announcing them, he made clear his opinion that the test piece had
been unusually difficult for the Second Section - an opinion which we in the
band certainly share! He went on to observe that no band had emerged
unscathed from the contest and made some general points before announcing
the results. We had been placed 9th out of 15, with 174 points out of
a maximum of 200 (the winner got 182 points) and were now graded ("seeded") 7th out of
the 16 bands in the section.
Bearing in
mind that we have only just been promoted to Second Section we were not
unduly dismayed with this grading, which puts us in a good position to
settle down and get the measure of competing at this level.
The Band is
grateful to Bob Edwards (Drum Kit), Donna Levy (Tenor Horn), John
Malcolm (Eb Tuba) and Kevin Ransom (Cornet), all of whom, being
registered to play in these contests with the band, joined us for this event.
As always,
the band owes much to MD Sharon Broughall who toiled tirelessly to make sure
we got to grips with this demanding test piece. As well as needing to
give attention to the separate sections of the band and to individual
parts as necessary, Sharon had to make some important tactical and
interpretative decisions, having in mind the capabilities of the band. She got these
decisions right as usual, and on the day
she got us to perform the test piece about as well as we were
able.
Once
again the band was pleased to present the traditional Christmas concert.
The Elliott Hall seats 312, and, we were pleased to find, was sold out.
We were glad as we always are to see a number of Friends of the Band in
the audience.
The first
half of the programme opened with
Gershwin's "Rhapsody in Blue" and continued with a variety of
items with a distinct American flavour;
Stuart Quinlan,
(Principal Cornet), took up his trumpet to gave a stunning solo
performance in Harry James' "Concerto for Trumpet", finishing
with an impressive slide up to to super G. Anton O'Brien (Principal Euphonium) also
gave us a fine Euphonium solo in the Meditation from Jules Massenet's
"Thais". The first half concluded with the whole Band in
the somewhat demanding 14-minute "Purcell
Variations" by Kenneth Downie.
The
second half began with Philip Harper's "Yule Dance", a fine arrangement
of several carol themes, and continued in a more relaxed style with seasonal items
which at times featured MD Sharon Broughall wielding a seasonally-decorated baton (click
the photograph on the left) before
concluding with "Lieutenant Kije" from Prokoviev's "Troika". An
encore was requested and the band played part of "Riverdance" to
conclude another successful and well-received concert.
Derek Humberstone, a Friend of the band,
kindly agreed to take some photographs during
the concert. Derek's photographs, which
include the one on the left, can be seen on the
Gallery
page for 2005.
The
Band was, as always, pleased to provide music at the annual Remembrance
Parade and Service held at Harrow Civic Centre, all the more so since
various Band members have relatives who have served in the Armed Forces
and the father of one player served on the front line for much of the
Great War.
The Mayor of Harrow and representatives of all branches of the Armed Services and various Civil Authorities
took part in the Parade, and those assembled were addressed by leaders of several Faiths.
In
what has become an annual event combined with a social occasion , the Band
gave two concerts in the Pine Walk bandstand in Bournemouth's Lower Gardens,
starting at 3 o'clock in the afternoon of Saturday 3rd and at mid-day on
Sunday 4th September 2005.
The weather
was sunny and quite warm and we had a reasonable audience,
some in deckchairs, some on the grass, which meant a fairly successful
bucket collection on each day. The Band stayed in a local hotel for
the Saturday night, with a get-together in the evening for the
traditional couple (well, more or less!) of beers and a curry.
You can see
and listen to the band in action at the same venue last year by visiting the
"Watch and Listen" page.
The
Band again presented its summer concert in Harrow Arts Centre's Elliott
Hall. The theme this year was "Movies through
the Years".
The hall
was not filled to capacity and the timing of the concert, coinciding as it
did with the schools' half-term break, may not have been helpful.
However the programme was clearly
appreciated by the audience and certainly with the personal guests of the
webmaster.
Concert in the Sunken Rose Garden, Grims
Dyke Hotel
Monday 30th May 2005
In what is
becoming an annual event, Grims Dyke Hotel held its open day on Bank Holiday Monday, 30th
May 2005. Grimsdyke Brass were pleased to be invited back to provide music in the Sunken
Rose Garden during the afternoon.
We
were glad of the opportunity to play once more in the grounds of the house
which once belonged to the playwright William Schwenk Gilbert, famous for
the well-known comic operas written in association with the composer Sir
Arthur Sullivan.
The AJEX concert this year was held for the first time in the Elliott
Hall. For this concert the band "supplies the music", as it were,
and AJEX themselves select the venue according to their seating
requirement. For this concert the hall was not filled to capacity
but the programme, chosen with the audience in mind, seemed well received.
The encore, AJEX's own march "El Abanico", was a fitting finale to the
concert
The Besson
London and Southern Counties Regional Championships were held again at
Stevenage on Saturday 19th March. Grimsdyke Brass were again competing in
the Third Section and had been rehearsing the test piece, Denis Wright's
"Tam O'Shanter's Ride" since early January.
After a
final 08:00 rehearsal in Stevenage, we heard we had been drawn to play sixth
and went on stage to play at about 11:30. We then had a few hours to wait
until the Adjudicator, Malcolm Brownbill, announced the results in
mid-afternoon; we had been placed fifth out of nineteen entries. We
were a little surprised and disappointed at this placing and it may be that
we had not been helped by playing immediately after the eventual winner.
However it was good enough, taken with last year's result, to move us up
into the Second Division which is where we more naturally sit - until we
gain further advancement, that is........
The
adjudicator in his Remarks document made mention of good performances from
the several key soloists whose playing was crucial to the overall result. There were
also several favourable comments in the Remarks relating to how the overall
performance was shaped and handled - and that would not have happened
without the inspirational leadership of MD Sharon Broughall who had brought
it all together .
The Band is
grateful to Bob Edwards (Drum Kit) and Donna Levy (Tenor Horn), both
of whom joined us for this event .
Photos of
the early-morning rehearsal and pre-performance warm-up can be seen on the
Gallery
page.
This
was both our traditional Christmas concert and also the final concert of
our Silver Jubilee Year. Despite the considerable seating capacity
of the Elliott Hall, the occasion was sold out some weeks before the
performance. We were pleased as we always are to see a number of
Friends of the Band in the audience.
Some new
items recently brought into our repertoire were in the programme; of
particular note were four pieces from
Philip Sparkes' arrangement of
Tchaikovsky's Nutcracker Suite .
One final
note - the writer of this text, who normally plays in the band, was in the
audience for this concert. He therefore went in support, prepared to forgive the odd mistake
here and there.
It wasn't
like that, though; what he
heard was a first-class, well-played
performance enhanced by some good touches of stage 'business'; an evening
of entertainment which was thoroughly enjoyable to listen to - which,
at the end of the day, is what a concert is all about.
Grimsdyke
Brass’s founder and original brass tutor of many of the present band, Harry
White, passed away on 22 November 2004 aged 88. For many of us he was
a very significant part of our earlier lives. When I started playing
again in 2002 after a near 20 year absence from banding it was appropriate
that I did so with the band formed by Harry and the fact that I could still
recall how to hold an instrument at all, must have been down to him.
Joining Grimsdyke also gave me an opportunity to get back in touch with
Harry after a lengthy gap. Dan Toms and I visited Harry in spring 2003
and found him in poor health, though mentally very alert and keen to hear
how 'his' band was progressing. As a result of that visit, and thanks
to gentle cajoling by Dan’s parents, the band played a tribute concert to
Harry in the bandstand in Bournemouth’s picturesque Lower Gardens that
September. This concert was well supported by the local paper that
featured Harry on the front page two weeks in succession. We were
thrilled when Harry was well enough to attend our Silver Jubilee concert in
Harrow and also to see him at Bournemouth in 2004 for our two concerts there
in September. Though all of us that knew and were taught by Harry will
miss him dearly we can all be proud of the pleasure that we brought him in
his twilight years.
The Band presented
this summer concert as a part of
its Jubilee Year celebrations. We last played in Harrow Arts Centre's
Elliott Hall in 2001 and it seemed appropriate for our Jubilee year to use
this venue with its good seating capacity, acoustics, staging and stage
lighting. We were delighted to have the Band's founder,
Harry White in the audience as our
guest and, as compere Alan Piper (cornet) pointed out in his opening
words, there are a number of founder members who still play with the band.
Playing to
a near capacity audience, the programme
seemed well received and from later comments we felt we had celebrated our
Jubilee year in suitably fine style.
Concert in the Sunken Rose Garden, Grims
Dyke Hotel
Monday 31st May 2004
Grims Dyke Hotel held an open day on Bank Holiday Monday, 31st
May 2004 and Grimsdyke Brass were invited to provide music in the Sunken
Rose Garden during the afternoon.
We played in this garden two years ago when it was re-opened
following restoration. We
were glad of the opportunity to play again in these beautiful surroundings with
their historical link to the Gilbert and Sullivan comic operas (William Schwenk Gilbert bought Grims Dyke in the late 19th century and died there in 1911).
The annual
concert on behalf of AJEX has become a regular feature of the Band's
calendar, and we hope this happy association will continue.
This year
the venue had an interesting twist. For some reason there had been a
double booking of the usual Eastman Hall venue, which we discovered when
we turned up as usual at 18:00 for the pre-concert warm-up/play-through of
some of the items in the programme. However, the sky was clear and
the outside temperature was reasonable, so so we decided to set up for the
concert in the open air on Kodak's sports field adjacent to the stadium.
The
concert was attended by a number of AJEX members and we were also honoured
to have the Mayor and Mayoress of Harrow in the audience. We
followed the programme we had arranged, except
that by common consent we ignored the interval and played on until failing
light made it impossible to continue.
Any
successful concert requires a sort of partnership between performers and
audience. On this occasion the partnership worked well and despite
the unusual outdoor venue we felt that all concerned had an enjoyable and
successful evening.
The Besson
London and Southern Counties Regional Championships were held this year at
Stevenage on Sunday 21st March. Grimsdyke Brass were competing in
the Third Section and had been rehearsing the test piece, Gilbert Vinter's
'Vizcaya' since January.
After a
final 08:00 rehearsal in Stevenage, we heard we had been drawn to play third
and went on stage to play at about 10:40. We then had a few hours to wait
until the adjudicator, Denis Wilby, came on stage to announce the results in
the early afternoon. We had been placed fourth out of eighteen, with
the first three bands going through to the National Finals later in the
year, so we had just missed it - but we felt reasonably happy about our
performance.
The band is
grateful to Nathan Dwek who stepped in to play drum kit so ably for this
event - at 12 years of age, by far the youngest drummer the band has had to date. Much is owed also to
fine performances from Principal Cornet Stuart Quinlan and a number
of other key solo players - and of course to MD Sharon Broughall who had got out of the band about as much as we had
to give.
Some
pictures from the pre-performance warm-up can be seen on the
Gallery
page.
Once again
the band provided a background of carols and other Christmas music for
shoppers entering and leaving Safeway in Hatch End. Members of the
band took shifts to play morning and afternoon on each of the three days.
We thereby, we hope, helped to get people into the Christmas spirit as
well as generating funds for new music, uniforms and instrument
maintenance/purchase.
There are
some pictures of this event in the Gallery section.
This
traditional Christmas concert was well supported and we were as always glad
to see a number of Friends of the Band in the audience. The concert was sold out at
an early stage and it was clear that audience numbers would be limited by
the seating available at the Eastman Hall.
The
programme was varied; the occasion was used to introduce a number of new items recently added to our repertoire
and Christmas themes were much
in evidence in the second half of the programme. The most interesting and challenging
item from the Band's point of view brought the first half to a close -
Philip Sparkes'
"Year of the Dragon".
This fine piece was written in 1984 and is one of the finest in the Brass
Band repertoire.
The Band was, as always, pleased to provide music at the annual
Remembrance Parade and Service held at Harrow Civic Centre; various
Band members have relatives who have served in the armed forces and the
father of one player served on the front line in the Great War.
Representatives of the Armed Service and various Civil Authorities were in the
Parade, and the Service was addressed by leaders of several Faiths.
'Proms'
Concert on behalf of Ruislip Lions, Winston Churchill Hall, Ruislip
Saturday 20th September 2003
This
concert was organised in support of various charities by Ruislip Lions,
and was in the style of the "Last Night of the Proms". Always a
popular event, the concert was a sell-out shortly after tickets became
available.
In addition to items from Band the programme included three soprano
solo items by Zena Wigram; Zena also joined the Band for Thomas
Arne's traditional "Rule Brittania" which brought the audience to its feet
with Union Flags waving in the Proms tradition. Alan Piper (Cornet)
introduced the Band items with his usual aplomb, providing interesting and
entertaining background anecdotes for most of the pieces. Stuart
Quinlan (Principal Cornet) featured in the 'Post Horn Gallop' and Paula Treadaway
as xylophone soloist in 'Czardas'.
One
notable performance was given by our MD, Sharon Broughall who, to the
Band's amazement, stepped in at the last
moment to join Paula Treadaway (Tuned Percussion) in a xylophone duet - in
place, we were told, of
Evelyn Glennie
who was apparently trapped in traffic on the M25. During Sharon and
Paula's duet, James Treadaway (Eb Tuba), who had taken the initial "call"
from Evelyn Glennie, stepped forward to act as temporary MD to keep the
band in line during Sharon's temporary absence.
It was clear
that the audience enjoyed this concert; the Band certainly did and we are
pleased that Ruislip Lions have asked us back for their Proms evening next
year.
We are grateful
to Geoff Brown of
Ruislip Lions for
the images used above. You can see more images on the
Gallery page of this website.
In
September the
Band was pleased to give a Concert in the Lower Gardens, Bournemouth in
honour of Harry White. Harry founded Grimsdyke Brass in 1979 when he
was a peripatetic Brass teacher in Harrow. He retired to
Bournemouth some years ago; David Abrahams (Principal Euphonium) visited him during
the summer and conceived the idea of a concert in Bournemouth
which
Harry, now in a wheelchair, could attend. Harry said
he greatly enjoyed the concert; he has asked for
it to be an annual event to which the Band has readily agreed.
You can see
some photographs taken at the concert on the
gallery page.
New
Musical Director
1st January 2003
Sharon Broughall, formerly
our Principal Cornet, is now our Musical
Director.
Sharon studied the Trumpet at Trinity
College of Music until 1996 and currently works as a full time teacher for
Barnet Music Service where she runs Hendon Music Centre and conducts the Barnet
Schools Brass Band. Alongside her teaching Sharon, a gifted trumpet and
cornet player, pursues a successful freelance career as a player in and around
London. Long recognised within the band as the fine player which she
clearly is, Sharon
is now demonstrating that she is an equally capable Musical Director.
Sharon takes
over from Kevin Ransom,
who has left us to pursue other interests. Kevin, a founder member
of the band and a trumpet and cornet player of wide repute, became Musical
Director in 2000. We are very grateful to Kevin for
his contribution to Grimsdyke over the years, particularly for his sustained
enthusiasm during his period as Musical Director; under Kevin's baton the band achieved a
number of milestones, not least the recording of 'Album 1'. We wish him
well in his future career.
Once again
groups of band members, working in shifts, braved the cold and
played carols at Safeway's in Hatch End with the kind permission of the Safeway management.
We like to think we added something to the Christmas spirit - and raised
much needed funds towards new music and essential band instrument repairs.
Christmas
Concert, Eastman Hall
Saturday
14th December 2002
We gave
our annual Christmas Concert at the Eastman Hall, Kodak. The event
was well attended and we were glad to see a number of Friends of the Band at this
traditional event. The programme was varied and included a number
of items recently added to our repertoire as well as variations on Christmas
themes.
Sunken
Rose Garden Opening
Tuesday
4th June 2002
The
re-opening of the Sunken Rose Garden was a major event in the ongoing
programme of restoring the gardens at Grims Dyke Hotel to their original
Victorian splendour. To mark the event, Grims Dyke Hotel joined the
National Garden Scheme and the gardens were opened to the public on the
day of the official opening, with the £2 admission charge donated to
charity.
Grimsdyke
Brass were pleased to perform at this happy event.
North
Harrow Methodist Church
Saturday
15th June 2002
For this
concert Alan Piper (Cornet) took up the baton as band conductor. The
proceeds of the well-supported concert went towards the church fund.
There was also audience participation for some of the younger members of
the audience, where they were able to join the percussion section for a
two-note solo on the glockenspiel.
Band CD
Our first CD, appropriately called
"
Album 1", was released at the Christmas Concert in
December 2001. It features a number of items from our repertoire,
listed on the
CD itself which
you can see on the 'picture gallery' page. The recording was made by
Ransom Recordings
at the
Elliott Hall on two
Sundays during the summer of 2001. Some copies of the CD are still available - get in touch with
us via the 'contact us' page.
You can download and play one of the lighter tracks from the CD by
clicking here.
For more details, go to the 'listen to us' page.
Grimsdyke
Brass’s founder and original brass tutor of many of the present band, Harry
White, passed away on 22 November 2004 aged 88. For many of us he was
a very significant part of our earlier lives. When I started playing
again in 2002 after a near 20 year absence from banding it was appropriate
that I did so with the band formed by Harry and the fact that I could still
recall how to hold an instrument at all, must have been down to him.
Joining Grimsdyke also gave me an opportunity to get back in touch with
Harry after a lengthy gap. Dan Toms and I visited Harry in spring 2003
and found him in poor health, though mentally very alert and keen to hear
how 'his' band was progressing. As a result of that visit, and thanks
to gentle cajoling by Dan’s parents, the band played a tribute concert to
Harry in the bandstand in Bournemouth’s picturesque Lower Gardens that
September. This concert was well supported by the local paper that
featured Harry on the front page two weeks in succession. We were
thrilled when Harry was well enough to attend our Silver Jubilee concert in
Harrow and also to see him at Bournemouth in 2004 for our two concerts there
in September. Though all of us that knew and were taught by Harry will
miss him dearly we can all be proud of the pleasure that we brought him in
his twilight years. 
This
concert was organised in support of various charities by Ruislip Lions,
and was in the style of the "Last Night of the Proms". Always a
popular event, the concert was a sell-out shortly after tickets became
available.
One
notable performance was given by our MD, Sharon Broughall who, to the
Band's amazement, stepped in at the last
moment to join Paula Treadaway (Tuned Percussion) in a xylophone duet - in
place, we were told, of 
Sharon Broughall, formerly
our Principal Cornet, is now our Musical
Director.
