A Podium place, and Promotion!

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 button below.

This audio track is a digital translation of the original recording made during the contest by:

Doyen Recordings Ltd. 

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.

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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.

For best quality use this link:

Play/Download Video

Feel free to download this video and use elsewhere for non-commercial purposes, except that any website use must be only via a link to this page.

Alternatively, view the same clip (at reduced quality) on YouTube:

You can view other videos of the same event via menu button above.

Watford Grammar School - Joint Concert with the School

Sunday 8th July 2007

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.

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Summer Concert

Sunday 1st July 2007

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 1^st 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 2^nd 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.

James Treadaway (Eb Tuba)

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Pinner Memorial Gardens

5th August 2006

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.

2006 Regional Brass Band Championships

Saturday 18th March 2006

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.

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Christmas Concert, Elliott Hall

Sunday 11th December 2005

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.

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Remembrance Parade, Harrow Civic Centre

13th November 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.

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Bandstand Concerts, Bournemouth

Saturday 3rd and Sunday 4th September 2005

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.

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Summer Concert, Elliott Hall

Sunday 5th June 2005

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.

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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.

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AJEX Concert, Elliott Hall

Sunday 17th April 2005

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

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2005 Regional Brass Band Championships

Saturday 19th March 2005

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.

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Christmas Concert, Elliott Hall

Sunday 12th December 2004

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 .  Details of the programme, with links to further information, can be found in the programme section of this website.

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.

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Harry White (1916-2004)

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.

 David Abrahams (Bandmaster)

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Jubilee Concert, Elliott Hall

Sunday 20th June 2004

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.

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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).

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AJEX Concert, Kodak Sports Field

Sunday 25th April 2004

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.

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2004 Regional Brass Band Championships

 Sunday 21st March 2004

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.

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Carolling, Christmas 2003

20th, 21st and 24th December

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.

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Christmas Concert, Eastman Hall

Sunday 14th December 2003

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.  Details of the programme, with links to further information, can be found in the programme section of this website.

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Remembrance Parade, Harrow Civic Centre

9th November 2003

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.

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'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.

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Concert in honour of Harry White

Bournemouth, Sunday 7th September 2003

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.

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Carolling, Christmas 2002

21st, 22nd December and Christmas Eve

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.