As another year draws to a close, many thanks to all of you who have supported us throughout the year - to Mr Laybourn, Head teacher at William Fletcher School for allowing us to use the school for rehearsals, and to all his staff, especially the caretakers Carol and Yvonne.
At Christmas time, Faith, Hope and Charity become more prevalent and all three are perfectly represented by the Salvation Army. The band of the Salvation Army playing Christmas carols outside a major store in a busy shopping precinct is a scene as synonymous as any with Christmas.
Yarnton Band has always used the Salvation Army Carol Book with it’s beautiful arrangements such as ‘Silent Night’ with it’s wonderful Euphonium Counter melody, and in the last couple of years we have upgraded to the new Salvation Army Carol Book which has all the old carols plus some modern ones such as the ‘Calypso Carol’, and some secular tunes as well as including a racy little number called ‘I Saw Mummy kissing Santa Claus!’ The Salvation Army publishing is in the Elephant and Castle, London and it’s a pleasure to do business with them. Amiable cockneys who always know which hymn you’re referring to!
The band will be playing (from the book!) at the Yarnton Church Carol Service at 4pm on Sunday 16 December, and also a few members plus some from the training band will play at the Crib Service on Christmas Eve. Last year the church and churchyard looked absolutely lovely with all the lanterns.
Hope you all have a very Happy Christmas, with best wishes from everybody at Yarnton Band.
At this time of year young people experience massive change, changing class, changing school, starting school, leaving school, there is understandable apprehension. Based as we are at William Fletcher School, we see how busy the teachers are - in the evenings long after the children have gone home and sometimes at weekends and in the holidays.
Of course Junior School teachers teach all different subjects where as the Senior School teachers tend to specialise. How rewarding it is when a pupil shares the same fondness of the subject as you do. Always pleased to see you, always attentive, always grateful and always does the work set. Perform exactly the same service for another, and you only succeed in becoming the bane of their life.
On the subject of teaching, Adrian Walters who has recently joined the Band has expressed an interest in teaching. This is wonderful news especially as Emma Sherratt is now on maternity leave (I had to sneak it on somehow!).
Band rehearsals are at William Fletcher School on Monday and Thursday evenings from 6.30 pm – 7.15 pm for the beginners group and training band. It would be nice to start a group together from scratch. Yarnton Band is a brass band made up of brass instruments and percussion and plays a wide range of music to the same technical standard required for orchestra, jazz and popular music.
Please phone for further details or come along and see for yourself if you think you may be interested. Players may be six years to very old(!), of course both male and female.
High Drama! Arriving at the village of Hethe, near Bicester, in absolutely torrential rain on the evening of 21 July, news came that the West Oxford contingent - about a third of the band and including Guy James our conductor, were trapped in the floods! The Band were due to play at a 40th birthday party. We stood around for a while as the rain had now stopped, aware that one or two others had also been advised not to travel, but decided that the show must go on. The sky cleared and it became a beautiful evening with the air full of scent from the moist flowers, and a very good time was had by all, especially the youngsters in the Band, who in between sessions were gorging large portions of what seemed to be a rather posh buffet.
Further Good news: in the idyllic rural setting of Combe playing field with the cricket pitch, Church and view across the valley, the Band played two sessions and the Training Band, who are always asked to play at Combe, did their stint in the middle. There then followed a talent contest during which a young lady of about ten years did rather well on the drums. We offered her father our card, and before you know it the young lady rang up and said she would like to join the Band, and quite an acquisition she is to!ir full of scent from the moist flowers, and a very goo
Quite out of the blue we had a phone call from Kennington Band. They had an engagement at 333 Banbury Road where the Masons were raising money for children’s charities and had specifically asked if some children could participate. Basically, could we provide some young players.
Although it was short notice I am very pleased to say that nearly all of the training band, plus some of the younger members of the senior band made themselves available. Caitlin Dimond our principle cornet player (still only 14 years old!) agreed to play a solo with Kennington Band.
The concert was held in the beautiful air conditioned hall at 333. Our senior band player’s sat in with Kennington Band which was a good experience for them as they didn’t know all the music and they were in the company of some very good player’s. Caitlin played her solo beautifully.
The training band did their stint in the middle of the concert and they put in an absolutely stunning performance, right from the first number. The audience loved them and wanted more. In fact I think they would have happily have let them have the second half of the concert.
The band has been continuing its summer venues including a very pleasant afternoon at Yarnton Manor Open Day. Playing in the oak panelled Long Gallery to avoid the rain, we had quite a little audience as people stopped to listen for a while before continuing their tour. It’s always nice to play in the village in front of family and neighbours.
At the recent AGM, chairman Mike Groves stressed the need for new blood to come on to the committee as more help was needed to support the work of the Musical Directors. He then added (much to everybody’s relief!) that he was prepared to stand for another term. In fact, all the committee stood and one or two new people came on board too. Certainly we owe a big thank you to the current committee and those joining.
I remember George Tutte talking about the original committee, and saying he could not have formed the band without them. He started in 1959 with nothing and, by the time yours truly wandered in to the band room in 1973, they were in the second division nationally with all new instruments, uniforms, the lot.
Good news on the recruitment front: Adrian Walters, who we know from the old days, has come back along on cornet and brought his son Jack who is a trombonist. They were looking for a band with players who were more of Jack's age. Adrian has already taken a little chap from the beginners' group under his wing. The lad is only six but when he nearly blew a horn straight, we decided to try him on a little trombone. The girls from the Training Band have also brought along a friend, which is good to see, and they are also helping to teach her.
The Oxford and District Solos, Duets and Ensembles contest was an excellent day out as usual. Despite being slightly down on numbers compared to other years we still did well, with our Principle Cornet and Talisman, Caitlin Dimond, scooping six cups including three first prizes and best girl under 15. Erica James and Corinne Leach chipped in with a second and third prize, and joined Caitlin with Briony Leach in the winning under-19 quartet. Chloe Buller and Beth Richardson from the training band came second in the under-11 duet section, but we thought that the younger players were a bit unlucky in the Hymn quartets.
George Tutte, down for the day in his capacity as Vice President to the Association, was quick to scotch any dissent: “You should always except the result and be the first to congratulate the winners!” What a character George is. He was asked to hand out medals at the prize giving ceremony but when the first little girl went up to receive hers, George warmly shook her hand and then put the medallion around his own neck!
Congratulations to all those who played solo in our in-house solo contest. This is one of the ideas our Musical Director Guy James brought with him and insists that apart from being a good run through for the forthcoming contest in Oxford, there are other benefits to be gained. Of course playing a solo is a nerve racking experience, especially for the younger, less experienced players. They were put through the mill again at the William Fletcher Music Evening, as indeed were all the other performers, but again it was very beneficial. The school Music Evening is an excellent occasion and I really hope they keep it up.
Next up is the Oxford and District Solos and Ensembles contest and then we can relax.
We are still trying, quite desperately actually, to recruit players of all ages but especially youngsters for the Training Band. We rehearse on Mondays and Thursdays at 6.00pm at William Fletcher School. We teach players from scratch including all the usual things, Note production, Scales, Reading Music etc and we have plenty of music of the type youngsters enjoy.
The Oxford and District Solo, Duet and Ensemble contest will be held on April 29th 2007 and the training band in particular have been working hard towards it. The contest is for players of all ages held throughout the course of the day, finishing with the twelve-piece ensembles and then the prize giving. There are normally one or two top solo performances from the area's best players, or a very promising youngster, from which we can all draw inspiration, but overall it’s about going along, having a go and enjoying the day.
On the evening of Saturday 21st April 2007 the band has been invited to play in a concert in Long Hanborough Methodist Church. Long Hanborough has been a regular venue for us for some time now as our Musical Director Guy James and his wife Helen live there and their friends use us to help raise money for the various good causes they support.
Emma’s beginners group are doing well but really do need an influx of recruits as we have unfortunately lost a few younger players lately. I really don’t know why this is. Still, the ones we do have are doing very well and seem to be enjoying it, so all we can do is play away! The training band practise on Monday and Thursday evenings from 6.30 pm to 7.15 pm at William Fletcher School. If you would like to join please give me a call.
We are very pleased to welcome two or three new members in to the Beginners’ Group and Training Band. As Emma has just started off a couple of youngsters in the Beginners’ Group, it would be nice if we could find a few more so they could come through as a group. The members of the current Training Band, who all started together, have been playing for eighteen months or more now, and although we have lost a few along the way, the ones who have stuck at it are progressing rapidly.
A few have drifted away from the Senior Band, so as we remain focused on young players it is very important that we keep recruiting beginners all the time. Overall, though, it would be fair to say that we could do with two or three more adult players to give a little more stability.
It was good to see the television personality Melanie Sykes giving brass bands a plug. Apparently she played in Stalybridge Band with her father. She said that banding is a great hobby and everybody should do it, but she did concede that some of her contemporaries did not think it was “cool”. I would imagine the lads in Stalybridge thought she was cool enough, though.
Our Musical Director, Guy James, has passed on to me that the Band managed to get around more of Yarnton village than in recent years, playing Christmas carols, and apologies to those of you whose streets we did not manage to play in. He was also taken with the warm reception the Band received, with many people coming to their doors and some following along for a while. Well, the good nature of Yarnton folk does not surprise me in the least.
For many years now the Training Band of the day has played Christmas carols for the residents of the Cheshire Home in Adderbury. The lady in charge of events said “how nice it was to have children about the place.” As ever, the children played beautifully. Afterwards I thanked them for their time and explained how happy they had made the people, but they are really too young to understand.
Back to the street carolling, Guy was confident that as a result we would get some new recruits. Indeed, if you have spoken to Guy or myself about someone you think might like to join, or you might like to play yourself, come along to the William Fletcher School on Monday and Thursday evenings at 6.30 p.m., or for further information contact Emma or myself on 01869 241687.
News Archive from 2006