Verwood Carnival 2016

Monday 30th May

Bank Holiday Monday was the day of the Verwood Carnival and the band were proud to lead the carnival parade around the town as it has done since the very first Verwood Carnival in 1927.

It was great to see members from all three VCB bands, Verwood Concert Brass, Verwood Town Band and Verwood Training Band, making up a representative band who all played and marched exceptionally well to the enjoyment of the roadside spectators.

Thanks to local amateur photographer, John Larry, for the photos.

How Entertaining!

On Sunday 22nd May both Verwood Concert Brass and Verwood Town Band travelled all the way to Crawley in West Sussex where both bands took on the new challenge of competing in an entertainment contest. Furthermore it was venturing east, outside of our normal West of England region, to compete against bands based in the southern counties region.

Normally we are used to being judged on our ability to play one technically challenging test piece at contests but with an entertainment contest, you play a short programme of about five pieces and as well as getting judged on playing ability, the bands are also judged on entertainment value and presentation.

The Town Band were in the B Section of the contest up against bands from 2nd, 3rd and 4th sections and as a 4th section band it was always going to be tough going particularly against 2nd section bands.

Once again the Town Band were drawn to play 1st and got the contest off to a great start and at the end of Section B it earned them some well deserved silverware, being awarded the prize for the best 3rd or 4th section band (that was not one of the top three bands) and beat a 2nd section band as well. A great result.

As well as Verwood opening the contest it closed it as well, as Verwood Concert Brass were the last band to play in Section A which was for championship and 1st section bands. Although VCB may have been considered to be the favourites they certainly didn't disappoint with a stunning and very entertaining programme for which they won 1st prize. Brilliant!

 

Both bands thoroughly enjoyed the experience so perhaps it will mark further ventures in to entertainment contests.

What a cracking Training Band Coffee Morning Concert.

It is quite a big event for the Training Band to perform a whole two hour concert considering they rehearse just once a week for one hour but everyone agreed they sounded fabulous with a brilliant selection of entertaining music.

It was also an opportunity to publicly thank Pat Morrow, ex Mayor of Verwood, who during her term of office chose to support the training band as one of her charities.

As a result of her fund raising the band now present themselves in very smart VCB branded black jackets and ties. What's more the band were also able to buy a new set of music stands to replace the somewhat well used and wonky previous set. Thank you Pat.

Our new starter group, The Acorns, also joined in and played a few pieces on their own during the interval.

The Training Band are in great demand this summer playing at numerous garden and village fetes in the area - a demonstration of just how good they are.

Hopefully you will see and hear them when you are out and about.

Mike and Steph Tie the Knot

8th May

Verwood Town Band were very happy to be able to send an ensemble to play at Mike and Steph's wedding.  Mike is one of our 2nd cornet players and Steph is a friend of VCB and helps out at concerts, selling raffle tickets, manning stalls or whatever else is asked of her.

It was a fabulous day and a very enjoyable wedding. Thanks Mike and Steph for inviting us.

Movie Spectacular!!

Talk about movie spectaculars! Saturday's 'Movie Night' themed concert was spectacular indeed with great entertainment from all three bands - Concert, Town and Training. The pièce de résistance was the Concert Band's final set with the players appearing in costume and being conducted by none other than Batman!

The Training Band opened the evening with the National Anthem in celebration of the Queen's 90th birthday before proceeding with their set of movie music from Rocky, Great Escape, The Muppets, Ghost Busters and Pretty Woman. They all looked very resplendent in their very smart new jackets and ties, replacing the previous polo shirt uniform.

Next the Concert Band opened up their first half set with an apt rendition of the 20th Century Fox fanfare to set the scene which lead in to their big movie blockbusters including a great soprano cornet solo from Andy Watson playing 'Live and Let Die'.

The Town Band got the second half under way with another iconic war movie theme tune, 'A Bridge Too Far' before leading in to a delightful cornet solo by Naomi Selby Grace from the Breakfast at Tiffany's tune 'Moon River'. The set also included 'For Your Eyes Only' which featured lovely playing from Ellie Mullins on flugel horn. The band left the audience feeling happy with a great version of 'Happy' from Despicable Me 2.

Much laughter then ensued as the Concert Band reappeared for the closing set all dressed in movie character costumes but with no conductor! Never fear Batman came to the rescue! Bizarre though that was how about a beautiful version of 'Over the Rainbow' from 'The Wizard of Oz' on tenor horn played by Graham Carter . . . dressed as Dorothy! Of course there had to be an encore which was 'Incredibles' to end an incredible evening.

Another successful ensemble charity gig completed!

Verwood Concert Brass Ensemble play for the Dorset Youth Cancer Trust

Verwood Concert Brass Annual General Meeting

VCB held its AGM on Monday 21st March and what a time it was to reflect on a fantastic year it had been for everyone in the organisation.

Of course being so soon after the regional finals it was easy to recall the fantastic achievement of the principal band now competing in the Championship section and against such esteemed bands such as Flowers, ranked 5th best brass band in the world. The Town Band also enjoyed its best every result of 5th and off a No1 draw too.

However, there was much success throughout the previous year both in contesting terms and in performing many concerts including the successful new venture of FREE Picnic in the Park concerts during the summer.

VCB also takes much pride in supporting community events such as the Verwood Carnival, Rustic Fayre, Palm Sunday and Rememberance Sunday, as well as charity fund raising via Christmas Carolling collections (£1,000 was donated to Dorset Youth Cancer Trust) and Blushing Brass, organised by Jan Tiller, which raised over £4,000 for Breakthrough Breast Cancer.

But it was not all about looking back but looking forward too and the next generation of brass band players which are being nurtured through the Acorns, Training Band (which now has over 40 regular attendees) and the Youth Band which has started rehearsing every third Sunday of the month.

After the formal business was concluded it was awards presentation time for Player of the Year from each band and an Easter egg raffle.

This was then followed by an open rehearsal which had players from all of the bands playing alongside each other. This rounded off a great evening and another year at VCB, doing what we like best - Enjoying making music together!