Beginner Band Review - Junior Band Review - Youth Band Review

An overview of the Year 2005

The musical directors view

2005 has once again been an extremely busy, but most rewarding year for The Lions Youth Brass organization.

The Beginners band, under the direction of Hayley Scott, Andrew Felton and Christopher Thompson have made great strides forward, and the new system of three musical directors instead of just one has proved to work extremely well. Their continued improvement was shown to great effect at the two recent concerts at Crewe and Sandbach.

The Junior Brass has had a very difficult year, which started off full of promise, tailed off a bit in the middle, but now under their new musical director Katie Smallwood, is showing very encouraging signs.

The new year started off very well for the Junior Brass, when they won both their sections at The Newcastle Music Festival, and performed extremely well at a number of other events, including performing on the bands latest recording, however in the middle of the year Vicky Gardener was unable to continue as Conductor, so the search was on for a new musical director. Over the summer break we considered many options and asked Katie Smallwood to take charge. Although this is Katie’s first conducting venture, she does have vast musical knowledge, having played for Roberts Bakery for a number of years, being a student at The Royal Northern College of Music and also playing in all of the Lions Bands.  Katie's musical knowledge and immense enthusiasm is certainly paying off and at the two recent concerts, she showed that she had made a major impact with the band.

I firmly believe that we now have the right blend of musical directors for both these bands, because they are all young, enthusiastic, and have all gone through the Lions system.

Once again the Youth band has undertaken some exciting projects and achieved some major successes.

At the start of the year they took part in a two day work shop with six members of The Black Dyke Band. These players past on their vast knowledge and then showed them how it was done in a joint concert at Nantwich on the Sunday evening.

In April the band took part in the National Championships at The Royal Northern College of Music in Manchester and came a brilliant second. This was one of the finest contest achievements by the band purely because the opposition was so good.

In May the band recorded its latest compact disc, True And Trusty. Once again the band pulled out all the stops and produced an hours playing of real consistency.

In August the band went on a week’s tour to Eastbourne where they worked extremely hard and performed eleven concerts in six days.

At this time of the year it is usual for the band to say farewell to a number of players and this year we have lost more than our fare share, but this is the nature of bands such as ours.

When we started back in September a lot of hard worked was required by the players and myself to rebuild the band and to try to maintain the standards set by previous groups of players, and I can only say that the band worked as hard as ever to meet the standard of performances that was expected of them and they thoroughly deserved their second place at Huddersfield and first place at Torquay.

Throughout the year the band has performed many concerts and has been in great demand all over the district.

Once again Ian Raisbeck, our composer In Residence, has written some new music for the band and we will be working on Chacony and Great Gable in the new year in a view to giving those premiere performances as soon as it is possible.

Congratulations to Sarah Raisbeck who was Bandsperson of the year, to Tim Bartley, Edward Miles, Amy Ball, Claire Hopkinson, Abbie Edwards, Danielle Unwin and Emma Ingham for their achievement awards, and to Charles Gorse, Mark Thomas and Susannah Ball for their most improved player award. Also, we must congratulate Neil Raisbeck, who was appointed Principal Tenor of the National Children’s Band of Great Britain and also for reaching the standard required to gain a place in The National Youth Band of Great Britain. Well done to all of you.

We have more plans for 2006 with another workshop and concert with the Black Dyke players and also many concerts to perform for in the New Year. Also, we shall be undertaking our usual tour during the summer.

I would like to finish this review of the year by thanking everyone who has contributed to Lions Youth Brass in 2005 and look forward to seeing you all in 2006.

Nigel Birch
Musical Director
Lions Youth Brass

Awards 2005

Bandsman of the year: Sarah Raisbeck

Most improved player: Charles Gorse, Mark Thomas, Susannah Ball

Achievement Awards: Tim Bartley, Edward Miles, Amy Ball, Claire Hopkinson, Abbie Edwards, Danielle Unwin and Emma Ingham.

Band Achievements 2005

2nd place at National Youth Championships of Great Britain

2nd at Huddersfield contest, Will Earl wins Best Cornet Award

2nd place at Preston contest

1st place at Torquay contest

The band recorded a superb CD entitled 'True and Trusty' which also featured the Junior Band and a quartet.

Neil Raisbeck was appointed principal horn with the National Children's Band of Great Britain

Katie Smallwood was appointed musical director of the Junior Band

Junior Band Review

This term the band has worked extremely hard on some new pieces for the 3 concerts we have done so far, I have been very pleased with these performances so far and have received many positive comments about the band.  They have progressed really well and I’m sure they will continue to do so after Christmas.

In the New Year I plan to take the band to Newcastle Festival and in the lead up to this we will be organising sectional rehearsals and workshops which will be a superb learning experience for all members involved, the other bands have benefited greatly from this opportunity.  One positive step to assist progress is regular auditions for places in the Youth Band and better positions within the Junior Band. I am looking forward to hearing everyone play to Nigel and myself on December the 20^th, this is a good performance opportunity and is also very useful for me to see everyone’s progress individually. 

I’d like to thank the band, committee and all parents for the help and support they have given me since I took over in September.

I wish you all a very merry Christmas and a happy new year,

Katie Smallwood
Musical Director
Lions Junior Brass

Junior Band Awards

Bandsman of the year: Wesley Ashbrook

Most improved players: Eleanor Baker, Dominic Brown

Junior Band Achievements

Winners of 2 sections at Newcastle Music Festival

Debut Recording on Youth Band CD playing specially dedicated piece

Beginner Band Review

At the start of the year I don’t think Hayley, Andrew or myself quite realised how much we would enjoy the 12 months we had ahead of us. Now, having been in charge of the Beginner Band for a year, we have had an absolute ball. The band (ranging from the age of 5 to 11) have been superb all year and we’ve been delighted to have an influx of players enabling us to have a band consisting of a full cornet section, flugel, horn, baritone and 3 trombones.

The course of the last year has seen 6 concerts, and each one, has without doubt, been better than the previous one, with the Christmas concert at Sandbach being a real highlight. They band put on a real show and entertained the audience royally…even exercising their vocal chords in the 12 Days of Christmas.

The Beginner Band undertook a workshop in October. We are extremely grateful to Sarah Raisbeck and Katie Smallwood for giving up their time to help us throughout the day by taking sections, and also to Nigel Birch for his watching eye and expertise whilst performing the compere duties during the concert at the end of the day.

After a highly successful and enjoyable year, Hayley, Andrew and myself are looking forward to the year ahead, and further progressing the ability of the band. New music is being written and new ideas are being formulated to further enhance the quality of players leaving our band when they move up to the Junior Band under the guidance of Katie Smallwood.

Finally, on behalf of Hayley, Andrew and myself, I would like to thank the band, the parents, the committee and anyone who has helped us find our feet over the past year (and there has been a lot of you – I’m sure you know who you are). Thank you all very much.

Have yourself a merry Christmas and a wonderful new year.

Christopher Thompson
Lions Beginner Brass

Beginner Band Awards

Players of the year: Cerys Finch, Harry Mace

Most helpful player: Jay Peake

Most Promising Players: Jenny Smith, George Dunn

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