In preparation for the North of England Brass Band Championships of Great Britain in 3 weeks time, the band held today's extended rehearsal at West Rainton Primary School.
After working hard we opened up our last hour for supporters, friends and family to come and listen to our final run through. A big thank you to those that came along and gave us some fantastic feedback. We ended the day with some of the band going for a social at The Godfather Italian West Rainton. A massive thank you must go to Alison, headteacher of West Rainton Primary for allowing us to use the school. Your constant support of the band is really appreciated. A productive day all round. Onwards and upwards to the next three weeks of putting the final touches to a fantastic piece of music by Phillip Sparke.
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The band were sad to learn that Dougie Cairns passed away on the evening of the 12th February. Dougie was a stalwart of the North East brass band community, and play with Bearpark & Esh on Bb Bass until his retirement from playing. In his memory, the band played Steve Robson’s arrangement of ‘Love Unknown’ at our rehearsal on Thursday at Newhouse Club, where Dougie has both watched and played with the band on many occasions. Dougie will always be remembered with love by all those who knew him. Conducted by Will Harrison, and featuring Valerie Evans on Principal Cornet, Lindsey Rowell on Solo Horn, Matthew Roberts on Solo Trombone and Gareth Chester on Eb Bass. It is with regret that we share the really sad news for the brass band world, and for those who knew him, is that Dougie Cairns passed away peacefully in hospital last night.
Our thoughts and prayers are with his family at this sad time. Dougie played with the band right up to his retirement on Bb Bass and was a great friend to us all. RIP Dougie.
The final engagements for the band over this December period is finally over, and our members can now enjoy a well earned rest and enjoy the christmas holidays.
December is always a hugely hectic time for the band, but the enthusiasm and support from the general public makes it well worthwhile and every donation which is put into our collecting buckets makes a massive difference to us as a self-supporting band. A big thank you goes to our assistant conductor, Michael Evans, for putting a large amount of work directing the band at concerts and rehearsals through the Christmas season. Here is the band, under the direction of Will Harrison and joined by the enthusiastic voices of the people of Birtley, wishing you - Merry Christmas Everyone! Over the course of the last 2 nights (21/22 December), the band have been performing at Sainsbury's in the Arnison Centre. On both nights, the band went down a storm with shoppers and staff, and a big thank you goes to everyone who donated a little something in person, or via our virtual collecting buckets. The support is very appreciated.
Over the course of the last 2 nights, we have raised a huge amount of money when both totals have been combined and this will go towards our running costs for the coming year. The traditions remained for the band tonight, albeit in a new venue. The yearly concert with Crook and Weardale Choral Society may've moved venue from the "Church on the top of the Hill" at Stanley Crook, to St Catherine's Church in Crook - but that didn't stop the church from being full. It was lovely to play for such a full and appreciative audience and it was lovely to see some familiar faces from Stanley Crook. The choir were fantastic as always, and we had lots of great feedback from everyone.
Let's hope the tradition can continue next year! Today has seen the band spreading Christmas Cheer today at a very windy Dalton Park.
A big thank you goes to our collectors David W, David P and Karen for supporting us. Also, a massive thank you goes to all of the general public visiting that dug deep to put something in our buckets - we really appreciate your generosity. Tonight saw the band perform at Beamish Museum for the last time in 2023. A big thank you goes to Beamish Museum for their continued support of the band, it really is appreciated.
Tonight has seen the band perform to a fantastic audience at Quebec Village Hall. We featured solos from David Thomas, Michael Evans and an appearance from Frosty the Snowman on Sousaphone.
Our president Michael also presented our Bb Bass player Daniel Maitre with his 15 Years Service award. A big thank you to everyone who came along to the village hall for supporting us. Tonight has seen the band perform at one of the Christmas nights which Beamish Museum have. A big thank you goes to everyone who came and listen. We also spied our new conductor from January entertaining the crowds too.
The band played tonight at Durham Masonics. It's a long standing tradition at Christmas time to play for this wonderful group of people. Thank you to the Durham Lodge for their continued support over the years.
Last night saw the band play a fabulous concert at Birtley Masonics. The first one for Will Harrison as our upcoming MD from January 2024. The audience were on form as always and were very appreciative of the band.
As part of our programme, we featured many of our soloists across the evening. David Thomas on Euphonium played O Holy Night, Lindsey Rowell on Solo Horn played In The Bleak Midwinter, Michael Evans on Solo Cornet played Santa Baby and Gareth Chester on Eb Bass played Frosty the Snowman. A great night was had by all and we look forward to coming back next year. This morning the band were honoured to be back playing in the Market Place for the Durham Christmas Festival, spreading some christmas cheer to a rather cold Durham. A big thank you to the general public who dug deep to put a little something in our collecting buckets and also thank you to all of our collectors.
The 2023 Christmas Season has officially begun for the band! - This afternoon, the band has played their first Christmas concert in St.Edmunds Church in Bearpark, as part of Bearpark Parish Council's light switch on.
We played a small concert in the church before heading out to the Christmas tree for the official switch on. We would like to thank Marion Wilson and the Parish Council for their support along with the wonderful community of Bearpark. Tonight has seen the band had its yearly presentation night. It was great to see the band come together to celebrate the yearly achievements.
Well done to all of our award winners and a special congratulations to all of our members who received service awards this year:
It was the band's honour, yet again, to be apart of the 2nd largest Remembrance Parade outside of London, in Sunderland today. The band provided the musical accompaniment along with the Royal Signals (Northern) Band. Thank you to our deps today, your help is really appreciated. Photos from this morning can be found below.
We are delighted to welcome the last 2 players to complete the band's lineup. Jessy Portwood joins the horn section on 1st Horn, and has moved to the area from North West London, and Gillian McMillan joins the percussion section from NASUWT Concert Band. We hope you both have a long and happy time with the band. As it currently stands, we don't have any vacancies but we always welcome any players that would like to come along and join the team This morning, our solo cornet player Joanna represented the band at the Bearpark Parish Council Remembrance Service playing The Last Post. She did a fabulous job and we would like to thank her for attending.
Following recent events, we find ourselves without a Musical Director going into one of the busiest times of the year, and also for the Area Contest in March 2024. Over the last 7 months, we've had many conductors help us for and many sending over an offer to help if we needed it. We really appreciate everyone's kindness. We are delighted to announce that we have tempted Will Harrison back out of hiding as he has agreed to take the band through some of our main Christmas concerts, and most importantly - to the Area Contest in March. We are really looking forward to working with him as he puts us through our paces preparing our test piece, Triptych. Bearpark & Esh Colliery Band would like to announce that our Musical Director, Colin Harris, has made the decision not to continue with the band with immediate effect.
We would to thank him for the hard work and commitment he has shown to the band in the short time he has been with us, and send him our best wishes for the future. A small group of the band went to West Lodge Care Home this morning, to entertain the wonderful residents this morning. It was lovely to hear them singing along and enjoying what we played.
We hope to see them again soon. The band had a fantastic day at the Stanley Brass Band Entertainment Contest today, coming a very creditable 3rd place for playing and 5th overall. Our amazing soloist today was Nicola Evans on Flugel playing Children of Sanchez and she did a fantastic job too.
Today's programme was:
A big thank you to our deps today Beth Marston on Soprano Cornet, Jeremy West on 2nd Horn and Karen Snaith on Percussion. You were all amazing and we really appreciate the time you have given for rehearsals. We also welcomed back one of our own. James on Trombone is back up in Durham for the new term at the university and we were pleased to see him back in the band hall. A big thank you to all our band members for their hard working preparing our set and to Colin for leading the way at his first contest with the band.
Tonight was a very special night for the band. We performed our first joint concert with the wonderful children from West Rainton Primary School. The band and school have made many links together over the years to support each other and it was lovely to join forces with them to provide an amazing evening of music in St Mary's Church, West Rainton.
A big thank you goes to Alan Beaumont for conducting tonight but also for spending many hours arranging three special pieces for the choir to sing with the band and a big thank you goes to David Young for jumping ship from bass to keyboard to accompany the joint pieces. A special mention goes to our dep, Will Harrison, who joined us tonight on solo cornet. We really appreciate your help. Thank you also goes to St Mary's Church for hosting us all. It has got to be one of the warmest churches we have played in. The biggest thanks however, has to go to Alison McDonough - headteacher at West Rainton Primary School, and all the children from the school for all their hard work and preparation for tonight. We look forward to working with the school again in the future and we are so very proud to have shared the stage with such a talented bunch of children. |
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February 2024
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