28th December

Merry Christmas a happy new year from all at LYB!
This years Christmas fund raising consisted of playing carols and bag backing in Sainsbury's Supermarket Nantwich. Some excellent team work meant that we raised £1551, a brilliant achievement and vital funds to help us grow as an organisation and continue to offer people the chance to perform music together.

Ian Raisbeck

18th December

Saturday (16th) was the date of the first ever Lions Youth Brass Slow Melody competition held at Sanbach Boys School. Slow Melody Contests are a very old tradition in the brass band movement, it has been tradition for each band to host a slow melody contest annually. We now have our own. Unlike many contests the only entries came from our Lions Bands, all three bands were represented and below are the results. Adjudicators were Paul Andrews and John Barber

The day was a big success and plans have already started for next years competition. The evening saw all three Lions Bands in concert with the Wire Bactiguard Band conducted by Paul Andrews. During the evening prizes were awarded for winners of the slow melody contest and there were performances from some of the winners.

8 years and under
1. Jack Miles
2. Jessica Miles
3. Gavin Finch

10 years and under
1. Harry Mace
2. Jack Gresty
3. Edwin Morris

12 years and under
1. Abbie Edwards
2. Eleaner Baker
3. Michael Potts

14 years and under
1. Alex Holsgrove
2. Claire Hopkinson
3. Will Blackstone

15 years and under
1. Neil Raisbeck
2. Danielle Unwin
3. Ashley Taylor

17 years and under
1. Alex Holsgrove
2. Neil Raisbeck
3. Matthew Darlington

19 years and under
1. Alex Holsgrove
2. Neil Raisbeck
3. Robert Hilliard

Open Section
1. Alex Holsgrove
2. Neil Raisbeck
3. Matthew Darlington

Ensemble Class
1. Matthew Darlington, James Darlington, Zach Rodgerson

Ian Raisbeck

13th December

A recent review of last months Tameside Youth contest has praised Lions Youth Brass for their performance which came a terrific 2nd, the reviewer from 4barsrest.com even suggests we could have been 1 better!

Excerpts from the review are now available to view on the Concert Review page

Ian Raisbeck

6th December

Lions Youth Brass Online now has a new .co.uk address. From now on you will be able to access this website at www.lionsyouthbrass.co.uk which is great news as it now means no adverts.

Nothing will change in the way of content, we will continue to provide news, information and reports on what is happening in the world of Lions Youth Brass.

Ian Raisbeck

30th November

The Youth Band were delighted to finish in 2nd place at the recent Tameside Youth Brass contest. They were playing up against some of the best Youth Bands in the country and played brilliantly to scoop 2nd prize and also a 'best euphonium' award for Alex Holsgrove.

The band performed a programme including 2 new pieces, as well as some traditional brass band repertoire which clearly impressed adjudicator Paul Andrews. Full results were:

Full Results

Adjudicator: Paul Andrews

1. Smithills School Senior Band, (Chris Wormald) - 191
2. Lions Youth, (Nigel Birch) - 188
3. Stockport School Senior, (Colin Duxbury) - 186
4. Youth Brass 2000, (Chris Jeans) - 185
5. Poynton Youth, (A. Hurst) - 184
6. Fred Longworth High School, (H. Robinson) - 181
7. Boarshurst Youth, (Dean Redfern) - 180
8. Macclesfield Youth, (Louise Renshaw) - 179
9. St Helens Youth Training, (Lynda Nicholson) - 178

Withdrawn: Horbury Victoria Youth

Solo Prizes:

Cornet: Macclesfield Youth
Horn: Stockport School (Flugel)
Euphonium: Lions Youth
Trombone: Poynton Youth
Basses: (awarded to a single bass this year) Stockport schools
Percussion: Smithills School Senior Brass
Youngest player: Ruth Berry Macclesfield Youth, aged 8

The band now enter a hectic Christmas period before preparing for the National Youth Finals and the Action Research Entertainment contest in the new year

Ian Raisbeck

23rd November

Preparations are in full swing for the forthcoming Tameside Youth Brass competition this Sunday (26th November).

The Youth Band have recently been fortunate enough to take part in a weekend of workshops with the world famous Fodens Brass Band, and as a result of this the Band managed to organise a day of individual tuition from Fodens players Mark Wilkinson (Cornet) and Glyn Williams (Euphonium), this was a real treat for the Youth Band members. The Workshops were lead by John Barber who worked with the Youth Band on their programme including two new pieces written for the band by Ian Raisbeck

Since then there has been another superb experience for the Youth Band when Richard Evans conducted a rehearsal last Tuesday (21st). Richard has visited the band many times over the years as a friend of our conductor Nigel Birch and is always enthusiastic and keen to assist our Bands. He was in particularly good spirits this time as he has just won the Brass In Concert Championships for the 7th time conducting the famous Brighouse and Rastrick Band and beating some of the best bands in the world.

All of this goes to show that the education of the Lions Youth Brass is in very good hands.

Ian Raisbeck

23rd October

Saturday night (21st) saw all three Lions Bands performing together along side the United Co-op Band (Crewe). It was the first opportunity of the academic year for the three bands to chart their progress since all of the numerous player changes after the summer. For many in the Beginner and Junior Bands it was their very first Lions Concert!

All three bands amazed a full audience with their high quality performances. Some of the Highlights included a World Premiere of Caprice by Ian Raisbeck and performed by Neil Raisbeck on his 15th birthday. There were also excellent solos from Andy Welsh of the Co-op band performing with the Youth Band and our very own Alex Holsgrove performed excellently accompanied by the Co-op band.

We were very pleased to have had the opportunity to share the stage with one of the best local brass bands and hope to repeat this in the future

Ian Raisbeck

29th August

Summer Update

Its been another eventful summer for the Lions Youth Brass. The summer tour to Minehead was a great success, details are now online via the Tours page. The Tour is a happy occasion for the band but also sad as many members come to the leaving age, many leave for university.

All Lions bands start back on September 5th rehearsing with the new look bands for another exciting year of concerts and competitions. Keep watching this space for further updates

Ian Raisbeck

4th August

I would firstly like to thank all the Tour Band for their present at the end of Tour, excellent concert, La Bamba was definitely a surprise, brilliant costumes

I would also like to thank everyone in the organisation for my Birthday present, although embarrassing it was good to share my birthday with everyone, I hope you all got a piece of cake.

Thanks once again, see you all in September.

6th July

Tuesday (4th July) saw all three bands performing in a very special concert held at Shavington St Marks Church. The Concert organised by Katie Smallwood (musical director Lions Juniors) was in aid of Christies Cancer Hospice in Manchester.

It is not unique to see all three bands on one concert but is always special as it gives all of the members, audience and supporters a real overview of the whole organisation.

The concert was a great success, all three bands performing excellently and in the process raising hundreds of pounds for the charity. Congratulations to Katie on putting together such a brilliant concert.

As the summer holidays approach there is no rest for the Youth Band just yet, on the 14th and 15th of July they will record a new CD, then towards the end of the month they will be going on their annual tour, this year to Minehead.

Meanwhile its a big well done to all three bands for a fabulous year.

Ian Raisbeck

23rd May

As 2006 approaches its halfway mark, it's already been a busy year for the Lions Beginner Band. The band has embraced some new ideas, one of the most successful is the Player Of The Month award - well done to our first four recipients Abbie, Harry, Jack, and Ollie!

Unusually for a Beginner Band, we have been fortunate to include a couple of 'World Premieres' in our concert programmes. These include 'March of the Beginners,' 'The Music Man' (no piano's but plenty of oom pah pah!) and 'Now The Day Is Over,' a trombone solo featuring Jess. The world premiere of 'Now The Day Is Over' was all the more remarkable as Jess was actually involved in arranging this item for the band. More new music is in the pipeline, including arrangements of Offenbach's 'Barcarolle' (from Tales of Hoffman) and the Abba hit 'Super Trouper.' With the coming months containing several more concerts and the possibility of another workshop, the rest of 2006 promises to be as busy as the first 5 months!

Chris Thompson (musical director LBB)

23rd April

Lions Youth Brass have had a busy Eater period. It began with the National Youth Brass Band Championships in Manchester where the Band have been very successful over the past few years. Unfortunately the band did not manage to equal last years 2nd place but did receive a Bronze certificate for all of their hard work after several weeks of hard work in preparation. Well done to Nigel and al of the band for their work leading up to the performance of a very demanding programme.

This morning the band were back in action at a completely different event. The band not only performed but also marched around the streets of Sandbach for the annual transport festival. A good practice I'm sure for the forthcoming March and Hymn contest at Wigan's JJB Stadium in May.

Ian Raisbeck

23rd April

The Lions Organisation are proud owners of a set of brand new stand banners. The banners were bought thanks to the hard work of the local Lions clubs who raise money and donate it to the bands. They saw their contest debut at a recent concert in Alsager and you can see pictures of them by visiting the 2006 photo's section

Ian Raisbeck

23rd March

Last Saturday (18th) saw the Lions Junior Band take part in their first competition under conductor Katie Smallwood. They entered the Newcastle-Under-Lyme music festival in two different classes, under 14's instrumental ensemble and under 18's instrument ensemble. The band played pieces written for them by myself including Prelude and Party Piece pulling them off brilliantly to win both sections against much more experienced opposition. This meant the band won two places in the grand final! They performed twice in the final and also won bringing the trophy count to 3!

To top the day off Band member Michael Potts was awarded the trophy for most promising brass musician at the festival. A truly remarkable achievement for Katie and the Band, Well Done!

Ian Raisbeck

20th February

The youth band were fortunate enough to take part in master classes with members of the Black Dyke Band last weekend (11th - 12th). Several members of Black Dykes band led our players in sectional rehearsals passing on much of their expertise. The weekend concluded with a concert in Sandbach featuring all of the work achieved as well as the Black Dyke Members performing with the Youth Band and as an ensemble themselves, a superb opportunity for the Youth Bands young players to hear something inspirational

A full review of the Concert is now available on the Concert Reviews page.

Since then members of the Youth Band have taken part in a special presentation for the Lions Clubs who sponsor the band. A small number of players demonstrated the instruments and played together under the direction of Nigel Birch, this was a vital evening in thanking the Lions Clubs for their continued support of the bands.

Ian Raisbeck

7th February

Sunday the 5th of February saw the Lions Junior Band take part in their first ever sectional workshop. They were held because Newcastle Festival is looming just weeks away, they are hoping to play a new composition by Ian Raisbeck entitled 'Party Piece'. The day finished with a short concert to family and friends, demonstrating what they had been working hard on all morning.

The sectionals were a huge success with a good turn out in all areas of the band. I would like to thank Nigel Birch, Hayley Scott, Sarah Raisbeck and Andrew Felton for donating their services and doing a fantastic job with the band. Also, thank you to the committee for their time and help in organising the very successful event. Finally, a big thank you to parents and band members for coming, trying so hard and providing the buffet!

The band followed up Sundays hard work with a concert at the Peter Maxwell Davies Centre Sandbach Yesterday evening (tue 7th), the concert was a great display of the bands progress recently and gave them a chance to premiere 'Party Piece'.

I look forward to us being able to have more sectionals in the future as they were a huge success!

Katie Smallwood, Musical Director LJB

24th January

2006 once again presents a busy year for the members of this progressive organisation. Having already completed their first concert of the year last Saturday the Youth Band has many exciting projects to look forward to in the coming months. On Tuesday 31st January, Brett Baker, David Thornton, Arfon Owen and Keith Britcliffe, all from the Black Dyke Band, will visit the Youth band to undertake an introductory session of tuition, which will be followed up by a course over two days. The course will be run on Saturday 11th and Sunday 12th February. The previous four Dyke players will be joined by Joe Cooke, Paul Cooper and one the bands front row cornet players.

The aim of the weekend is to give the band the opportunity to receive tuition from some of our movement’s finest musicians and also to help the band prepare for the forthcoming National Youth Championships in April. The weekend will conclude with a concert at Sandbach High School where the Black Dyke players will perform as a group under their group name White River Brass, also play solos accompanied by the band and perform within the band in a number of pieces.

The Youth Band is really looking forward to this weekend and if it is as productive as the one they undertook last year should be very rewarding for the young musicians.

In addition to the weekend the band are pleased to announce that Richard Evans will visit the band on two occasions before the National Championships. Richard Evans has visited the band on numerous occasions before and his expertise and warm sense of humour always brings out the best in the band.

Later in the year the band will be entering the JJB Sports contest for the first time, and because the bands musical director, Nigel Birch is sunning himself in Spain the week leading up to this event, the band are delighted to announce that Russell Gray, musical director of the Leyland band will be directing the band for this contest.

On a lighter note the band will be travelling to Devon and Cornwall for a series of concerts in July where they will perform for Lions Clubs and their chosen charities.

Speaking on behalf of the band Nigel Birch says, ’I feel it is my responsibility as musical director to give my players the best tuition I can and then it is up to them to make the most of those opportunities which are presented to them. I believe by bringing in the Players in from Black Dyke, Richard Evans and Russell Gray that I am doing all I can to help them to progress individually and collectively.

The band also has quite a number of concerts to perform during the coming months and is looking forward to challenges ahead.

4th January

Congratulations go to Neil Raisbeck who has been invited to join the National Youth Brass Band of Great Britain. For the last two years Neil has been a member of the National Children's Band and reached principal horn on his last course with the band before auditioning for the National Youth Band. Neil will join the band for their Easter course in Somerset and their summer course in Bromsgrove.

Well done to Neil.

Ian Raisbeck

1st January

happy new year from all at LYB!

The band are looking forward to an exciting new year. Highlights will include workshops with Black Dyke players, Competitions all around the country, a tour in the summer and of course many concerts.
Keep watching this space for updates and hopefully news of more successes for the organisations

Ian Raisbeck (Webmaster)

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