An overview of the Year 2003

The musical directors view

2003 has been another great year in the history books of Lions Youth Brass.
The year started off with the preparation and performing at the National Championships of Great Britain, at The Royal Northern College Of Music. This is always a good guide to the progress of the band as it places us against some of the finest youth bands in the country. I was very pleased with the bands preparation and performance, but was a little disappointed with not making the top three, and some of the adjudicators comments. However, we were awarded a silver award and that places us high up the list in our section.
Following this event I set about building up a concert repertoire for the forthcoming concerts. We undertook several important engagements; including the Lions Convention at Stoke and concerts for our supporting clubs.
April saw the band undertake its first recording project, 'Sounds Of Youth'. This has been a great success and we have sold well in excess of 200 copies since its release in July.
In June we were off to Rhyl to defend our entertainment title. Unfortunately we were piped at the post by The Poynton Youth Band, who on the day just about deserved to beat us.
July saw the band on its travels, this time to Torquay, for a six day tour. This was my eighth tour with the band, and as you will see from the pages of this site was probably the most successful to date.
September saw me make some major changes to the formation of the Youth Band, when no fewer than 10 players were promoted from the Junior Band. Hopefully this will help to make the loss of some players next summer a lot easier to cope with.
From here to the end of the year the band has once again been busy with many concerts and busking events. I have been delighted with the progress of the band over the last twelve months, and I am confident that 2004 will be equally rewarding.
Many thanks to parents, players and committee for all your hard work.

Nigel Birch
Musical Director
Lions Youth Brass

Awards 2003

Bandsman of the year: Katie Smallwood

Most improved player: Phil Dobson (flugel), Steven Bebbington (soprano), James Darlington (cornet)

Improved player: Hannah Senior (cornet), Tom Hancock (cornet), Aaron Aston (cornet)

Band Achievements 2003

Silver Award at National Youth Championships of Great Britain

Newcastle music festival brings many wins: Lions Junior Brass won the under 14's group class and performed well in the final. As well as this Neil Raisbeck (wins youth class and most promising player of the weekend) and Nicola Hughes (wins under 18 and open solo sections and a vocal class).

Rhyl Festival of Brass: Youth Band come second to last years runners up, Ian Raisbeck runner up in open solo class, Neil Raisbeck wins 10-11 solo class, Alex Holsgrove was runner up in the same class

The band also recorded their first CD, made thousands of pounds for the organisation and arranged to travel to the Czech Republic next year

Junior Band Review

Musical Directors Review

Our year was the busiest the junior band has seen for a long time with the band playing around six engagements, including several evening concerts with the youth band. The highlight of the year was though the concert with the Roberts Bakery Band where the band had to perform following the promotion of over a third of the band to the youth band yet the band gave a stunning performance. In addition the band won its section at the Newcastle Festival as the sole band from Lions taking part this year. The band can be very proud of themselves and I hope we can continue to go from strength to strength.

Stewart Thompson
Musical Director Lions Junior Brass

Junior Band Awards

Most Improved Player: Zach Rogerson
Runners-Up: Ashley Taylor, Richard Grey
Bandsman of the Year: Alistair Miles
Newcastle Festival under 14's section: 1st place

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