The Show Must Go On!

During the coldest December for 100 years, VCB still managed many fundraising carol gigs.  It was our Christmas concert at the Verwood Hub on December 18th that was the most testing.  A large number of deps were drafted in because so many people had Flu and had the working party not cleared the slope leading to the Hub, we would have had no audience!

However, the concert was very successful and we are very grateful to all those people who turned out in the snow to help us out.

The End of an Era

The audience at Verwood Concert Brass’ Autumn Concert did not realise it until the last 10 minutes, but they were experiencing the band’s final performance under the baton of MD David Johnson. Chairman Paul Coward announced David’s departure just prior to the final number and presented him with an engraved tankard from all the band members.

David, a musician with the Royal Marines, has conducted Verwood Concert Brass A band for the last four years. Not only did he achieve great success on the contest field, taking the band from Fourth to First section in the National Rankings, but he also proved very popular with the bands loyal concert audience due to his combination of top rate musicianship and easy humour.

Paul said “David has done great things with Verwood Concert Brass and will be much missed. He takes with him our sincere good wishes for the future. Auditions for the new MD will start shortly with a number of applicants already having expressed their interest. Hopefully you can come along and meet the new conductor at Christmas”.

Conductor bows out on a high note!

Verwood Concert Brass B band were delighted to entertain the crowds at the hugely successful Verwood Rotary Rustic Fayre on August Bank Holiday Monday. The band played all afternoon to an appreciative audience and under sunny skies. The high point was a surprise guest conductor, Young Harry  Naughton, who, much to the delight of the audience, lead the band in a couple of spirited marches.  Harry is the 4 year old son of popular conductor Trevor Naughton who took over the band at its formation in June 2009. The group has gone from strength to strength under Trevor’s baton but sadly this was the last time Trevor will lead the band.

 

 

VCB and Contesa

Last year, we had a good clear out in the loft.  There were dozens of Training Band jumpers and old sweatshirts. These were duly laundered, sized and packed in boxes and then sent to Kabwe orphanage in Zambia via Contesa, a charity devoted to supporting aids orphans. We were very pleased to see them be put to good use.  To learn more about the work of Contesa, go to www.contesacharity.co.uk
If you have any unwanted uniforms, instruments or percussion equipment, they would love to hear from you.

July Events

During July the B Band played at an Open Day at Fernhill Care Nursing Home which was greatly appreciated by staff, residents and visitors.

Our summer concert at The Hub was very well attended and a great variety of music was played by all three Bands.

The BAND LADIES NIGHT was held on July 16th.  This involved an Indian meal at our local curry house, an awful lot of giggling and a late night for those who chose to stay in the Band Hall overnight.  An event that is likely to become an annual feature.  More pictures can be found on the Photo page.

On July 17th, Verwood officially opened the new community club, Club 31 on the site which used to be the Royal British Legion.  A small group of players from all three bands put on a great performance which was enjoyed by all as you can see from the e mail below.

    Hiya Folks   
I am e-mailing to Thank You all for performing for Club 31 on Saturday 17th July. There were so many people who made comments. You were all excellent.
You did us proud and so once again THANK YOU.
Regards

Michelle Poole
Events & Entertainment

The Training Band entertained appreciative crowds at Wimborne St Giles during the afternoon of the same day.

On the last day of July, a small group from all three bands stuffed themselves full of complimentary cream teas at Pamphill Strawberry Fayre and played some music as well!!

June B Band Events

The B Band has now started to spread its wings has its first solo performance in Verwood at their afternoon cream tea in The Memorial Hall.  This was a great success and the audience enjoyed the music and the informality of the occasion.  Trevor Naughton, B band conductor invited guests to drink tea and eat scones during the performance and this they did with relish.

The band has also just performed at Lymington Bandstand.  A magnificent setting on what turned out to be a lovely summer’s day.  There was a good sized audience with many passers by. We also had some appreciation from passengers on the Isle of Wight ferry which passed by at regular intervals.  It was certainly breezy and there would not have been a performance had it not been for the clothes pegs, but a good time was had by all.

May Events

A busy month for all the bands with a Training band Coffee morning on 22nd May and a B Band performance in West Moors Memorial Hall during the evening. The A & B Bands lead the Verwood Carnival procession on the 31st May and the Training Band had their own float.

On Saturday 8th May the bands got together and spent the day cleaning, sorting and generally laughing and drinking tea. The band hall roof took 7 hours to clean!! Never mind, a good job done. Thanks to all who came and helped.

April News Update

Both A & B Bands are busy preparing the programme of music for the Hub concert on the 24th with both band setting new challenges in the standard of music being performed. Meanwhile the B Band have decided to start rehearsals at a later time of 8pm as of 21st April.

Regional Contest

The areas have been and gone. Both the A Band and the B Band were represented in Torquay.  The A Band gaining 5th place from 14 in the 1st Section on their first outing at this level.  The B Band came a respectable 14th from 20 bands in their first ever contest, just the platform they needed to build from. Neighbours Bournemouth gained 2nd place behind Portishead in 1st, we wish them both luck representing the region at Harrogate.  Photo shown is on stage with Mark Marsh mid-cadenza.  No wonder
He was smiling, Mark played superb.

Band support Macmillan

Each year VCB nominates a charity to collect funds for over the Christmas period. The charity chosen this last Christmas was Macmillan Cancer Relief. Members of all three bands within the Verwood Concert Brass family, A, B and Training, spent a lot of their spare time playing carols at numerous venues and functions throughout the area. Their work allowed the band to collect funds for the many expenses involved in running VCB and to make a donation of £1,000 to Macmillan.  Macmillan were chosen this year not only because of the valuable work the organisation does, which many of you will be familiar with, but also because a number of band members had personal reasons to be grateful to Macmillan for their support in sad and difficult times.  Our picture shows band members presenting the cheque Macmillan at a recent function at the Verwood Hub.