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10 December 2024 -
December News
November has been a tremendous month in the recent history of Lydbrook Band, with contest successes and our annual dinner and awards evening at the Speech House Hotel.
It all started at the Wychavon Festival of Brass in Evesham on 2nd November. Competing in two sections, and conducted by Simon Jones, we were awarded 4th place out of 20 bands in the 1st Section and then 6th out of 18 bands in the Championship Section, but more importantly, we were awarded the most entertaining band of the day and our star xylophone player, Darcy Beck, won the prize for the most outstanding soloist.
Next up in November we had the band’s dinner and awards evening at the Speech House Hotel. After an excellent meal the awards were presented as follows:-
Section Player of the Year - Tracey Gwynne
Most Improved Player - Gemma Pearse
Outstanding Performance in a Contest - Darcy Beck
Outstanding Soloist in a Concert - Les Pearse
The Chair’s Award (Trefor Evans Cup) - Craig Wintle
Band Person of the Year chosen by the members - Paul Ainsworth
(The Debs Galliott Memorial Cup)
Music and entertainment for the remainder of the evening was provided by The Forfeits from Ross-on-Wye. Special thanks to Paul and Emily for arranging such a lovely evening.
Sunday 24th November saw the band competing at the GBBA Contest in Gloucester. Getting to Gloucester itself was an achievement, due to the atrocious weather that day, but eventually all the bands turned up and the contest got under way. The Training Band was awarded a Gold Certificate by adjudicator Brett Baker. They also had the prize for the best Tenor Horn Section, the Most Players under 14 Years of Age and Agnes Barzillia (aged 8) had the award for the Youngest Player of the Day. Agnes also gave a superb performance of her solo, especially arranged for her by Paul Ainsworth - Variations on Twinkle Twinkle Little Star, and indeed she was a “little star”.
The senior band competed against 11 other bands from Gloucestershire, South Wales, Oxford, Bristol and Somerset. After an excellent performance of their March Simoraine, and test piece Excalibur, the band was awarded the following prizes.
First in the 1st Section March
Second overall March prize
First in the Open Test Piece
Plus overall winners of the contest
Special awards:-
Best Trombone Section (Steve, Wendy, Omar)
Adjudicator’s Award (Robin Hamer, Solo Baritone)
All in all, a good day’s work.
So, it’s now on to the Christmas festivities; our Christmas Concert is on Saturday 14th December at Dene Magna School at 7pm with our guests the Coleford Community Choir. Tickets can be purchased at the door.
If you go to events page you can also see where the band will be playing over the Christmas period.
More news soon, but in the meantime a Merry Christmas to you all.
Robert Morgan
Secretary