|
Today saw the band perform at the 2024 North of England Brass Band Championships at the Gala Theatre in Durham. The result at the contest wasn't to be for the band this time round, but we played a performance to be proud of, and that's all that matters. The band are in a very good position now, under Will Harrison, and we are excited to see where our journey takes us with him as Conductor. A big thank you also goes to Matthew Roberts for stepping in on Solo Trombone and David Hopkins on 3rd Cornet. The time and commitment which you both have given to our overall performance is really appreciated. Also, a big well done to our 2nd Trombone player, Dan, on his debut contest performance. Congratulations goes to to DMA and Ferryhill on qualifying for the National Finals. We are sure you will both do the North East proud. However, onwards and upwards now for the band as we move towards the 2024 concert season.
0 Comments
 It was an absolute honour and privilege to play at one of our biggest supporters' funeral this morning.
When Natalie, an ex member of the band, got in contact to ask us to play at her dad's funeral, we just couldn't say no even when it was on the morning of the Area Contest. The McGarr family have always been huge supporters of the band, and we always saw them each year at Durham Miners Gala cheering on the band. Today, we honoured Michael's memory by playing a march that we always play at the Gala as the hearse and the family walked down from their home to the church in Meadowfield. We played Abide with Me, while everyone entered the church. We hope we did you proud Michael and gave you the send-off you deserved. As always, it is great to work alongside Alderson's Family Funerals as well, who are another huge supporter of the band. It was an absolute honour and privilege for the band to play at the funeral of Dougie Cairns today, an ex member of the band. Dougie was a stalwart of the brass band community and it was great to see so many different bands represented at the service. He was renowned for helping any band out who needed him and was kind and generous to a fault. He will be sorely missed for his contest critique and his fabulous sense of humour. The band would like to say a massive thank you to Dougie's family for allocating the donation box to the band. We would also like to thank the wonderful people in the congregation for their generosity. Your kindness and support is much appreciated from us all. A big thank you goes to John and Audrey Gill who played with us today representing Fishburn, who Dougie also played with during his extensive playing career. We hope we did you proud Dougie  The band are delighted to announce that Will Harrison has been appointment our permanent conductor and will officially take up the role with immediate effect. Will has been a fantastic asset to our band so far, and he has really driven the band to work together and to be the best it can be. Welcome officially to the band Will!
|
