Pillowell Silver Band
News
Home Members Musical Director News Events Media History Village Contact Roll of Honour Guestbook Junior Band
For 2009 News Archive, Click Here
For 2008 News Archive, Click Here
Thursday 8th April - A Long Overdue Update
Well what an eventful few months it has been! Lets start with the obvious, the Regional Championships held in Torquay on Saturday 13th March. What a fantastic weekend it was to for forest banding. Pillowell put up a strong performance in the 3rd section to come a very creditable 4th place, our best result in recent years. This result shows the steady improvement the band has been making, and makes up for the previous years disappointing placing. Special mention to Bob Toomer who delivered with class on the taxing euphonium cadenza, and also to the rest of the bands line up of soloist who played with distinction on the day. The band would also like to offer their extended congratulations to Huw Cole and Bream Band who came 2nd in this section and will represent the West of England at Harrogate in September. A fine achievement. The band would also like to send congratulations to the other Forest bands; Drybrook who came a creditable 4th place in the 4th section; Forest of Dean Brass who came 4th in the 2nd section and also to Cinderford who put up a fine performance in the 2nd section. A great weekend, a promising result we now go on with restored optimism for the future.
The band can now be found on the world wide phenomena that is Facebook. You can follow the band at: http://www.facebook.com/home.php?#!/pages/Pillowell-Silver-Band/345000645241?ref=ts
On the recruitment front, very quiet at the moment but rumours are circulating that fresh blood is on the way! The band are delighted to announce that principal cornet player, Kate Smith, is pregnant! We extend our congratulations to her and to her partner Steve. Kate will now move to repiano cornet for the next contest. Also we are delighted to announce that Lindsay Cooper is also pregnant (there must be something in the water!) We therefore extend our congratulations to her and to Andy. For sure, two fine players already in the making!
The band commence their summer engagements very soon, the first concert of the year being at Highnham Court on Saturday 24th April. It promises to be an exciting event, and hopefully the weather will continue to get better! The band will then go on to defend their crown in the 3rd section at the Ebbw Vale SEWBBA Contest in May. Preparations are under way and the band look forward to hopefully another successful trip over the border.
That's all for now! Another update hopefully prior to the contest in Ebbw Vale.
Sunday 3rd January - Retrospect of the Year
The Pillowell Silver Band enjoyed a successful Christmas period of fundraising, drinking and socialising amongst other things. The band would first like to thank all their supporters for their continued contribution to the band over the last year which was a year to remember for the band, being their 120ths Anniversary, and continuing to produce consistent results at the various concerts we did throughout the year.
The first three months were dedicated solely to the Regional contest held at Torquay's Riviera Centre. The test piece for the occasion was Andrew Baker's "The Once and Future King" which although not a favourite of the bands at first glance, proved to be an engaging and testing piece. Torquay came and went quickly with a more than disappointing 10th place after putting on what we felt as a good showing of the piece.
Not to be disheartened the band entered both the SEWBBA Contest in Ebbw Vale and the annual Weston Super Mare contest which were both to be held on the same weekend! We performed at both contests Gareth Churcher's superb "Episodes for Brass", a firm favourite of the bands in recent times. Two very different results bizarrely occurred with a commanding two point victory in Ebbw Vale and a disappointing 5th place at Weston.
The band had a successful series of summer concerts which was followed by the Wychavon Contest in September where the band came a creditable 4th place. The band then went onto defend their SWBBA title in Torquay and came a very disappointing 4th after putting up what we believed to be a good performance.
The band then started preparing for their 120ths Anniversary Concert which was held at Viney Hill in December. The concert was a success with a large and appreciative audience and featured the world premiere of "Vision's of Eternity", composed for the band by Joshua Ruck. This was played alongside a varied collection of brass band repertoire and seasonal music.
The band is now busy preparing for the Regional Contest in March where the test piece is Percy Fletcher's "Labour and Love", a real trip down memory lane for many!
On the personal front the band is pleased to welcome Freddy to the trombone section. We hope he enjoys his time at Pillowell. That's all for now there will be another update as the Regional looms closer.