Proms Picnic
On the afternoon of Saturday 18th July the Band provided the entertainment in three segments for a Picnic in the Park Proms concert by the village hall at Uckinghall. The audience and their picnics were treated to a wide selection of music from our current repertoire culminating in our last night of the Proms selection where the audience were all invited to come closer to the marquee where the Band was playing to join in the singing.

A big thank you goes to our three guest players: Ben Stratford on euphonium, Clare Jakeman on Eb Bass and Phil Storer on flugel.

Parisian Adventures!
Several of our younger band members (Hannah Williams, Jonathan Petticrew, Grace Windsor and Lucy Windsor) joined the Gloucestershire Youth Brass Band on its first international tour, to Paris in France.  Helen and I also accompanied the GYBB, Helen in her official capacity as the administrator for the GYBB and myself as an adult helper. The band played two concerts, the first at 7:30pm on Monday 13th July on the Fantasy Festival Stage at Eurodisney...Helen even got to conduct half of the programme, and the second to a huge audience in the Jardin de Luxembourg on Bastille Day.

Cabaret Independence in Bredon!
American Independence Day, Saturday 4th July 2009, was the date of the Training Band's annual Cabaret Evening where the members of the Training Band get to showcase their ever-improving talents in an informal concert environment. The pieces played by the Intermediate and Beginner Training Bands included an American theme. The evening commenced with a fantastic marching band style performance of the bright march 'Touchdown' especially choreographed for the occasion by the Training Band Leader, Helen Walters.

This was followed by the first of the solo items from our talented youngsters, Nicole McGillivray took to the stage in Bredon Village Hall dressed as a post-girl to play a fantastic rendition of 'Postman Pat' on her Bb Bass. This was followed by some daredevil antics from Emma Keene as she walked along a rope playing 'The Tightrope Walker' on her cornet from memory without a slip! Next came Thomas Petticrew as a vampire to play a spooky version of 'Dracula's Song' on his trombone.

The Beginner Band then gave a good Country and Western performance of 'Afternoon Cowboy' complete with cowboy hats and checked shirts! Hannah Williams on cornet then gave us a smoky jazz style piece 'They Can't Take That Away From Me' before Thomas Keene dressed in a resplendent pink boa gave us a sparkling version of 'I Feel Pretty'. One of the bands youngest members Amy Williams dressed as an Irish dancer to take us on a trip to hear 'The Galway Piper'.

After a brief refreshments break the Intermediate Band opened the second half of the concert with 'Swingin' USA Style'. Henry Hick then took us to the cartoon world of 'The Flintstones' on his euphonium before Grace Windsor told us to 'Take That Look Off Your Face' with some beautifully warm cornet playing. BA Baracus then took the stage disguised as Matthew Lee to build a fantastic version of 'The A-Team Theme' on his trombone!

Hannah Norman then displayed her great tone on the euphonium as she whisked us off 'Over a Rainbow' to the musicals. Alex Blencowe gave us a Rat Pack feature with a rendition on his cornet of the song 'Aint That a Kick in the Head' before Lucy Windsor and her horn transported us across the Atlantic Ocean to hear a 'Nightingale Sing in Berkley Square'.

The Intermediate and Beginner Bands then combined forces to play a fitting tune entitled 'Little Acorns' hinting at their continued future development into great players. The evening was completed by Jonathan Petticrew giving us his superhero trombone version of the 'Superman' theme and a trio of our adult learners (Linda Lee on flugel, Penny Windsor on baritone and Sue Wilmot on horn) playing a specially arranged piece entitled 'Triotissimo'.

A fantastic evening of fun and music that highlighted the ever increasing depth of talent within the Tewkesbury Town band family.

Pittville Park
On Sunday 16 August the Band made its first appearance at Pittville Park in Cheltenham for a number of years. It was a fine but windy day and there was a large audience enjoying Sunday afternoon in the park.

Our programme included several items from our summer programme including the Frisian Air ‘The Boy From Menaem’,   the ‘Overture to the Royal Fireworks’, ‘Argos’, ‘Goldcrest’ and the jolly ‘A Stroll in the Park’.
 

We also featured several of our soloists during the afternoon and due to the wind the stand holding skills of Hannah Norman were required to prevent the loss of music! Hannah’s brother Will played the lovely ‘Rusalka’s Song to the Moon’, Kev Bennett played the haunting ‘Once Upon a Time in the West’, Helen Walters gave a lively rendition of ‘Fiesta Mexicana’, George Cullwick entertained with ‘The Bare Necessities’ and Hadrian Walters played ‘Every Time You Say Goodbye’.

We would like to Thank Andrew Jones and Ben Stratford who helped us out on horn and euphonium respectively.

On Sunday morning the children of the Training Band undertook the task of planting several young trees for the campsite owner in the woods surrounding the campsite. Each tree was named after members of the Band Camp organising team. On Sunday afternoon we visited the nearby town of Dorchester to give our final concert of the tour on the bandstand in the park. The sun continued to shine attracting a large audience for our concert which was also recorded by the local hospital radio volunteers.

Wedding Music!
On Saturday 1st August, a sextet from the Band (Helen Poole, George Cullwick, Robin Purser, Nigel Morgan, Helen and Hadrian Walters)  were pleased to provide the background music at the wedding reception for former member, Mandy Hounsome and her husband Gavin Neill. It was good to be part of such a wonderful occasion. We played for approximately two hours and provided a selection of light fun music to suit the occasion.

Our Congratulations go to Mandy and Gavin Neill and we wish them a long happy life together.