BANDROOM NEWS

MONTHLY DRAW

As you will be aware, Fishburn Supporters club, based in the Fishburn Workingmen's Club, are a huge support to the Band giving essential financial aid through their efforts at fund raising. The following numbers are this Months winners of the Fishburn Band draw organised by the supporters club (Drawn 12 April 2008):

£60

2001

£30

1269

£20

2204

£10

1115

£10

1397

£5

2298

£5

645

£5

2347

£5

441

£5

2200

£5

225

Bandroom News 16.04.08

MASTERCLASS

The Band had another enjoyable afternoon as Durham University's Brass Band in Residence on Sunday 13 April 2008 with Ray Farr's 'Conductors masterclass'. The set piece was the strange but intriguing 'Songs for BL' by Elgar Howarth. The piece was specially commissioned for the National Brass Band Championship of Great Britain held at the Royal Albert Hall, London, on 21 October 1995 at which Fishburn participated under the direction of Ian Robinson. Elgar Howarth led the proceedings putting both the Conductors and the Band through their paces. Elgar explained the background to the piece was a musical picture of his own family, detailing the different characters involved - including himself, but didn't give away who BL actually was! Our own resident Musical Director, Philip Rosier, was once again among the fine ensemble of conductors as part of his University course. We look forward to our next venture with the conductors on 8 June 2008 under Ray's leadership on the excellent Tallis Variations. We are now starting to prepare Martin Ellerby's difficult 'Elgar Variations' for the Senior Cup contest under the Direction of Ray Farr, which is to be held at Blackpool Winter Gardens on Saturday 10 May.

Bandroom News 16.04.08

AREA CONTEST

Despite a good performance of the excellent Festival Music (Eric Ball) by the Band at the Dolphin Centre in Darlington, it just wasn't quite good enough for the adjudicator, David Horsfield. We were awarded a very creditable 190 points, but were unfortunately placed 4th behind winners Reg Vardy, Runners up EYMS and 3rd placed Felling Band (Who did themselves proud on their return to the top section). Many thanks to Russell Gray for all your hard work with the Band, sorry we didn't quite reach our goal. Thanks also to Suzanne Kay who played 1st Horn at the contest. Suzanne travelled from her new home in Preston, Lancashire, leading up to the contest showing extreme commitment to the Band. Congratulations to those bands who qualified for the Albert Hall, London. We should also mention our ex-player/committee man, Len Potts. Len was awarded best Soprano Cornet player whilst playing for Ferryhill Band at the contest. Considering he also plays Bass, Bb Cornet, Tenor Horn and Percussion, he is a force to be reckoned within the Brass Band scene with his versatility! Click here to read our remarks

Bandroom News 07.04.08

FANTASY FOOTBALL

Well done once again to John, Mal and Kieran Gill and their team 'Die Hard Trilogy' on becoming Managers of the Month for both February and March 2008 with an excellent 49 and 92 points respectively, edging out Neil Parkin's team 'Bari Town' in February and Neil Simpson & Ronnie Bannister's team 'Winterton Rangers' in March. These 3 teams are still setting the pace at the top of the league at present, but we will be interested to see what the final placings will be. Click here to visit our Fantasy League site.

Bandroom News 07.04.08

SOMETHING IN THE WATER?

We are delighted to announced the safe arrival of 2 new babies for members of the Band. Cornet players John and Andrea White have had a baby boy, Samuel, born on 28 February, and Horn player Ann Hall and her husband Andrew, who plays Horn with Reg Vardy band, have had a baby girl Isobel Grace, born in March. A huge congratulations to you from all the Band. Enjoy the sleepless nights!

Bandroom News 30.03.08

HAPPY 7TH BIRTHDAY!

Happy 7th birthday to our website which came online on 25 February 2001. We would like to thank all our visitors for the last 7 years support - it makes all the effort worthwhile. Here's to a long and successful future to both the Band and the website!

Bandroom News 25.02.08

MASTERCLASS

The band had another enjoyable afternoon as Durham University's Brass Band in Residence on Sunday 24 February 2008 with Ray Farr's 'Conductors masterclass'. The set piece was the excellent 'Connotations' by Edward Gregson. The piece was specially commissioned for the National Brass Band Championship of Great Britain held at the Royal Albert Hall, London, on 8 October 1977. Our own resident Musical Director, Philip Rosier, was once again among the fine ensemble of conductors as part of his University course. We look forward to our next venture with the conductors on 13 April 2008 under Ray's leadership.

We are now getting down to business in rehearsing for the area championships on the set test piece 'Festival Music' by Eric Ball (1956), which is to be held at the Dolphin Centre, Darlington on 30 March 2008. We will be conducted by the brilliant Russell Gray at the contest and we will being doing our best to qualify for the National Finals in October.

Bandroom News 25.02.08

SAGE CONCERT, GATESHEAD

We had a very full day of rehearsals and massed bands concert with soloist at the spectacular 'Sage' in Gateshead on Sunday 17 February 2008 under the Musical Direction of the excellent Ray Farr. There was an excellent turn out of over 1,400 enthusiastic patrons at the concert which set the scene for a most enjoyable event. The Cornet Soloist, Richard Marshall of Black Dyke band, was in brilliant form making his extremely difficult solo's sound easy. Ray was also at his best and had the audience enthralled. The bands taking part where Fishburn Band, Reg Vardy Band and Felling Band who all played with precision and style.

The concert included such pieces as Orpheus in the Underworld with it's Can-Can section, Bohemian Rhapsody, Nicea, Candide, Mexican Hat Dance (with the Reg Vardy comedy trio supported by sombrero and poncho clad cornet players from Fishburn and Felling), and Stars and Stripes.

Bandroom News 25.02.08

PRESTON CONTEST

Our trip to Preston for the Brass at the Guild Contest, Preston on 3 February 2008 where we performed the brilliant but very difficult 'Devil and the Deep Blue Sea' did not reap the rewards for the very confident and technically assured performance given. Ex-Fishburn old boy Alan Morrison was the adjudicator and we obviously didn't find any favour from his resultant decision coming in 9th out of 18 Bands. The winners were Pemberton Old Wigan JJB who have now won the competition 3 times in the 5 years that the contest has ran. Local rivals Easington Band also put in a spirited performance on their chosen piece 'Pageantry' and were awarded 11th place. Many thanks to our guests on the day, Michael on Horn, Andy on Cornet, Dave on Bass and Sarah on Percussion. The transfer forms are in the post! We are now working hard rehearsing for our forthcoming joint concert at the Sage, Gateshead where we will be appearing with Reg Vardy and Felling Bands along with cornet soloist Richard Marshall, on Sunday 17 February 2008. We are also rehearsing a piece specially written by Ray Farr's son for the lower sections of the European championships, which we will be recording on Friday 15 February at Durham University.

Bandroom News 09.02.08

FANTASY FOOTBALL

Well done once again to John, Mal and Kieran Gill and their team 'Die Hard Trilogy' on becoming Managers of the Month for January 2008 with an excellent 85 points, again edging out Neil Parkin's team 'Bari Town' who had 56 points. These 2 teams are still setting the pace at the top of the league at present, but we will be interested to see what effect our mid-season auction has had at which each team bid for up to 10 new players.

Bandroom News 09.02.08

PLAYERS

There have been some changes in personnel within the Band with us making some excellent acquisitions over the New Year. We welcome the return of the outstanding Martin Armstrong on Solo Horn who has rejoined the Band following his recent 'tour of the world' as solo horn of top bands such as Black Dyke, Fodens, Battle Creek, USA - (of which he is still a member), and culminating with the World famous 'Grimethorpe Band'. We also welcome the excellent Cornet player Anna Ferguson who was formerly Principal Cornet of Easington Band, Trombone player Andy Hunter who is a musician in the armed forces, and Eileen Dering who joins on Tenor horn from Langbaurgh Band having recently guested with the Band at the Scottish Open. The high standard of these players will only help improve the band and we look forward to a very successful future particularly in the contest field. This coupled with our busy schedule of concerts and masterclasses means that there are exciting times ahead for the band as we aim to become the top Band in the area!

Unfortunately, our former Solo Horn player Steve Hardy, has decided to move on to Reg Vardy band on First Horn. We wish him good luck in his new band and thank him for his excellent service to Fishburn Band.

Bandroom News 15.01.08

MASTERCLASS

The band had a very enjoyable afternoon as Durham University's Brass Band in Residence on 13 January 2008 with Ray Farr's 'Conductors masterclass'. The set piece was Wilfred Heaton's very difficult but rewarding 'Contest Music'. Our own resident Musical Director, Philip Rosier, was among the fine ensemble of conductors as part of his University course. We look forward to our next venture with the conductors on 24 February with the test being the excellent 'Connotations' under Ray's leadership.

Bandroom News 15.01.08

HAPPY NEW YEAR

Fishburn Band would like to wish all our visitors and supporters a very Happy, Healthy and Successful 2008. We've had a very busy period just prior to Xmas and completed our regular Xmas carol playing around the local villages and at Makro and enjoyed our Xmas concert for our supporters at the Fishburn Club on 14 December, along with a joint concert with Durham Choral Choir on 15 December at Elvet Church, Durham. We've had a well deserved short break and enjoyed the festivities but it was back to work on Sunday 30 December preparing for the Brass at the Guild Contest, Preston on 3 February 2008 where we will be performing the brilliant 'Devil and the Deep Blue Sea' and for Ray Farr's Conductors Masterclass on Sunday 13 January 2008 where we will be helping to put the conductors through their paces on Wilfred Heaton's 'Contest Music'

Bandroom News 10.01.08

FANTASY FOOTBALL

Well done to John, Mal and Kieran Gill and their team 'Die Hard Trilogy' on becoming Managers of the Month for December 2007 with an outstanding 104 points, edging out Neil Parkin's team 'Bari Town' who had a very good 87 points. These 2 teams are setting the pace at the top of the league at present, but we will be having our mid-season auction at the end of January which will shake things up when each team have to release 10 players from our squads.

Bandroom News 10.01.08