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Contest Success (14/05/12) On Sunday 13 May the band competed in the East Anglian Brass Band Association Annual Spring Contest held at St. Andrews Hall in Norwich. The basis of the contest is, amongst other criteria, that of performance. Each band had to submit a five piece programme of no longer than a total of twenty five minutes. The band played 'Shine Down', 'Bring Him Home' (with Peter Gibson playing a brilliant Soprano cornet solo), 'Cockleshell Heroes', Crimond' and 'Royal Blue'. The band acquitted itself admirably in attaining a prize for overall competition runner's up and first place in Entertainment and hymn tune in our Class - three trophies in all. To read the adjudicators comments click here Olympic Theme as Regional Contest Looms (14/03/12) Since the start of the New Year the band has been working hard towards the regional contest which takes place this coming Saturday 17th March at the Gordon Craig Theatre, Stevenage, Hertfordshire. Following on from last years success we now find ourselves promoted to the Third section and face the tough challenge of Philip Harper’s ‘Olympus’ written especially for this competition. The piece graphically depicts aspects of the Ancient Olympic Games including the exciting Chariot Racing. The photos show the Stevanage venue and the band rehearsing hard for the contest. Many hours of sectional work have been put in to date, but this week we are rehearsing four times leading up to the big performance, where we will lock horns with many of the bands previously promoted from the fourth section who are now firmly established in the third. We wish all the competing bands the best of luck but of course hope it will be Harwich RBL that returns with a gold medal and an invitation to the Cheltenham National Finals for the second consecutive year. Look out for the results on the web-site next week or follow us live on the day via our facebook, twitter & blog links. Fund Raiser (29/01/12) On Saturday 28 January the Band performed a fund raising concert, held at Wix Village Hall, in aid of the Music School. The first half of the concert featured the Apprentice Band augmented with players from the main band playing favourites such London River, The Muppet Show and Grease. The first half also showcased the beginner band and several soloists from the music school. The second half saw the main band playing Cockleshell Heroes, Royal Blue, Love is Like a Red Red Rose featuring soloist Chloe Jay on cornet, Hymn of the Fallen and Instant Concert. The performances were enjoyed by a packed hall and the concert raised £393.00 for the music school. Congratulations Musician Sanders (10/01/12) On Thursday 15th December 2011, 16 year old Harwich Royal British Legion Band member, Craig Sanders, officially became Musician Sanders of Her Majesty’s Royal Marines Band Service, after passing out from fifteen gruelling weeks of initial military training at HMS Nelson, Portsmouth and The Royal Marines Commando Training Centre at Lympstone, Devon. For the next two and a half years Craig will be studying percussion at the Royal Marines School of Music, HMS Nelson, joining up with another former Harwich RBL Band member William Thurston, who is in his second year of French horn studies. In 2014 Craig will assigned to one of the five H. M. Royal Marine bands. Everyone at Harwich RBLBB wish both Craig and William every success in their musical careers. Harwich Remembers (15/11/11) At 11.00am on Friday 11th November 2011 Band MD Antony Sanders was joined by two pupils from Chase Lane Primary School to play, before a large crowd, the Last Post & Reveille at the Towns official Remembrance Day Ceremony at the Dovercourt War Memorial. Kaci Mark (aged 11) & Ellie Bould (aged 9) are pictured left, after the ceremony, with Barry Brown (Mayor of Harwich), Stan Wall (Harwich Royal British Legion) & James Cole (Harwich Royal British Legion Pipe Band). Ellie Bould attends the Bands Saturday Morning Music School & is also the main Bands youngest member having recently attained her grade 3 cornet examination. Remembrance Sunday. (14/11/11) Well done to all the individuals that played Last Post at Remembrance Services. We had buglers playing at Clacton, Gt. Bentley, Kirby Cross, Gt. Oakley and the four memorial services in Harwich. Remembrance Concert - November 2011 (10/11/11) On Sunday 6 November the Band was joined by Chase Lane School Choir, Pipe Major Ben Langley, Bob Sangwell, The Royal Hospital School Drum Corps and guest conductor Roger Jones from the Royal Hospital School in presenting their annual Remembrance Concert on 6 November 2011 at the Westcliff Theatre, Clacton. The theatre goers were presented with a varied programme with pieces from the band, a few songs from Bob Sangwell, a Drum Corps set piece and, of course, a series of songs from the choir. All this was followed by the act of Remembrance for all of those fallen in conflicts. A retiring collection raised £149.00 for the Poppy Appeal from an appreciative and generous audience. Renovated Bandstand Officially Opened (17/10/11) The newly renovated bandstand in Cliff Park, Dovercourt was officially opened on Sunday 16 October 2011 by the Mayor of Harwich, Barry Brown. The weather was glorious - the sun shining and it was pleasantly warm. To celebrate the opening an hour and half of music was performed in two parts. The main band played first for an hour performing a selection of pieces from the ‘quay’ pads. The second part saw the apprentice band performing for half an hour. What a wonderful afternoon. National Championships - In The Top Ten (26/09/11) The Band came a creditable 7th out of the 19 participants in Section 4 of the National Brass Band Championships. To put this into perspective this puts us in the the top third of the regional qualifiers, for the finals, nationwide and in addition, to reinforce that persepective, the Band that beat us to first place in the regional championships, LGB Brass, came 13th. We are obviously pleased with the result - of course we would have liked to have come 1st however 7th place is still an excellent position for the Band in its first ever National Championship event. To read the adjudicators reports on our performance click here Brass Band Contest National Finals (15/09/11) With just over a week to go until the Nationals the band is now in the final stages of preparation for its first ever performance at this level. Sectional or full band rehearsals of Ralph Vaughan Williams test piece Henry V are taking place every day over a two week period which will hopefully ensure the band is at the top of its form come the event. The composition which was originally set for the 2nd section is proving a very stern challenge to all of the twenty plus 4th section bands, but one that everyone in our band is certainly up for and enjoying. We leave Harwich next Friday evening 23rd September, travelling to an overnight stop in the Bristol area. After a nice cooked breakfast our final rehearsal on contest day will be at Stow on the Wold, Royal British Legion club. The band is very grateful to Stow on the Wold members for hosting us for this occasion. We will wait to hear our draw at the club before heading to Cheltenham Race Course’s 2,500 seat “Centaur” arena style auditorium (pictured above left) for our performance in front of an expectant audience and the two boxed adjudicators, somewhere between 3.30 – 8.30 pm. Follow us over the whole weekend via our twitter, facebook and blog accessible from the web-site homepage and keep up with all our news. If you would like to hear Henry V live ensure you come to our next concert at the Princes Theatre, Clacton on Sea on Sunday 9th October where we will be featuring it in the programme. We will also be joined on this occasion by guests: The Royal Hospital School, Holbrook band / Drum Corps and also The Harwich Royal British Legion Pipe Band. This is an event not to be missed which will help to raise funds for the Royal British Legion’s 90th Anniversary Appeal. Prev 1 | 2 | 3 | 4 | 5 | 6 | 7 | 8 | 9 | 10 | [...]  Next