Loughborough Concert Band

This concert was a rather more jolly occasion than the Remembrance Service. There was a mix of pieces including Winter Wonderland which the band played to back the Loughborough Community Choir and for which we received an encore!

We played Cockleshell Heroes, the Beatles’ Here there and everywhere and The Magnificent Seven for which the alto saxes received private praise! In the second half the band played Come fly with me and Fairytale of New York

We were joined by old friends Sue Masters, Steve Boyles on tuba, Sally and Simon. Thanks to all of you!

New concert dates are still being added but for up-to-date concert listings please visit www.loughboroughconcertband.co.uk  where you will also find details of playing opportunities.

The Service of Remembrance is always a solemn occasion. And a rather awe inspiring one, too, as we see so very many people gathering in the park to pay their respects to those who have died in conflict. And the park, with its beautiful trees, reflected the solemnity of the occasion. The foliage, whilst retaining some of its autumn tint, stood shoulder to shoulder with all present to mourn the death of so many. 

Among the well chosen pieces we played Slow March, Scipio and Stal Himmel, Fantasia on a Theme by Thomas Tallis and the beautiful and heart rending In Flanders Fields.

As the strains of The Last Post faded away, the Carillion cried poppy tears that drifted gently in the still air.

After the service we played rather more uplifting music, notably The British Legion March and Cockleshell Heroes.

We were joined by old friend Rachel Gordon on oboe and deps Ian Bartram on bass trombone and Steve Boyles on tuba.

New concert dates are still being added but for up-to-date concert listings please visit www.loughboroughconcertband.co.uk  where you will also find details of playing opportunities.

The wonderful All Saints’ Church in Thurcaston was the venue for our October concert. The church is a lovely place to play and the enthusiastic audience are always very receptive to our performance. In fact the evening is a very sociable occasion with wine and nibbles available during the interval and always has a relaxed feel.

This year was our 12th visit here and although the theme of “Music from Stage and Screen” may have been familiar the band brought a programme with many new pieces for 2024, including a selection from The Greatest Showman, Here There and Everywhere (The Beatles - played during an episode of “Friends”), The Good The Bad and The Ugly, Hawaii Five-O and the Magnificent Seven. Paula Gardner was the soloist for the beautiful Gabriel’s Oboe from Morricone’s music to The Mission.

One new piece “Stahl Himmel” presented compere Eddie Pearson with a conundrum of how it linked with the theme for the concert. Eddie skilfully described a fictitious film about German miners who come across to Scotland to meet their counterparts and the music describes the “Steel Skies” found there. If that film is ever made then surely Stahl Himmel would be a part of it.

At the end of the concert the vicar described how water had been pouring through the roof of the church only a few weeks beforehand, and the band was pleased to learn that the concert had raised around £500 towards the repairs.

Our next concert will be at the Hodson Hall with the Charnwood Community Singers on 30th November at 7pm raising money for Beacon Rotary.

For this concert we were joined by the Caroline Sharp Singers. The evening opened with a spirited arrangement of Liberty Bell (Sousa) and then went into the moody The Good the Bad and the Ugly (Morricone)

The Singers first songs included songs about love –When I fall in love and a very surprising madrigal arrangement of Wannabe. And being a child of the 1950s, I had to look the spelling of that up!

The band closed the first half of the evening with the theme from Hawaii Five-O, the beautiful Gabriel’s Oboe, with the solo played by Paula Gardner and the jaw dropping Magnificent Seven (Bernstein).

The second half included Superman and Come fly with me and a talk from Anne at the Food Bank and Karen from the Volunteer Centre. The Food Bank now provides food to 23 000 individuals, 10 000 of whom are children. The whole evening ended in a mass singalong as the band played- the audience sang their hearts out to - Abba’s Mamma Mia.

Hats off to Dave Coble and Yvonne Renouf who combined playing flute and conducting with singing. Wendy Burns compered the whole evening with style and grace, the band was helped out by deps Joe Simpson on trumpet, Andrew Beaumont on trombone and Steve Boyles on tuba. Although not all the money has been collected (it’s now Monday 16th September) but I am advised the evening raised over £700. A magnificent amount!

New concert dates are still being added but for up-to-date concert listings please visit www.loughboroughconcertband.co.uk  where you will also find details of playing opportunities.

The word of the day was snug. And not in the pub sense.

We installed ourselves snugly into the beautifully decorated bandstand at Queen's Park.

How did the band get so big? I’m sure there was more room at Remembrance!

Once settled, we realised that we were surrounded by a sizable audience of

people who braved the rather uncertain weather. The programme we had prepared was a

mix of marches (The Thunderer) show tunes (I don’t know how to love him) theme from radio

and television (Devils Galop, better know as the theme from Dick Barton and Hawaii 5-0)

and light classics such as Handel’s Arrival of the Queen of Sheba.

The highly appreciative audience enjoyed an hour and a half of music which culminated in

an encore of The Magnificent Seven and closed with the National Anthem.

It’s impossible to mention the many, many individual players that played featured spots in

the programme but everyone brave enough to play in such splendid isolation rose to the

challenge magnificently. In fact, everyone played their part as did our compere, Eddie

 Pearson. We were helped out by talented deps, Frances Tart on Clarinet, Steph Blatchly on

trumpet and Rachel Blatchly on trombone.

New concert dates are still being added but for up-to-date concert listings please visit www.loughboroughconcertband.co.uk  where you will also find details of playing opportunities.

St James Church, Normanton on Soar, is a beautiful building but one in need – or so the church authorities have decided – of additional building work. To fund this, money has to be raised and after a successful concert in 2023, the band was invited to return in 2024 for a fundraising concert.

The programme was very well received by the audience. They were guided by a new compere, Andy Smith, who couldn’t conceal his disappointment when the audience knew the answers to his quiz questions.

The programme opened with Sousa’s The Thunderer which, as Andy informed us, had been written for the Freemasons of Washington DC in 1889, and the band played it with beautiful dynamics. Another highlight was Shostakovich’s Waltz Number Two with solos being taken by Zoe Felton alto saxophone and Mark Greenaway on trombone.

Canapes were served during the interval and the programme recommenced with

Happy Birthday played to those members of the band and audience who were celebrating.

We were helped out by old friends of the band, Chris on trumpet, Rachel on trombone and Kevin on bass trombone as well as Steve Boyles on tuba.

Our next outing is at 2.00pm on Sunday 30th June in Queen’s Park, Loughborough.

New concert dates are still being added but for up-to-date concert listings please visit www.loughboroughconcertband.co.uk  where you will also find details of playing opportunities.

Well, we had our parking challenges and the wind ruffled our music, but the rain held off and the sun shone equally on both sides of the band this year!

The park of busy with families enjoying the sun and our seated audience received our programme enthusiastically.

We gave them, among other things, Sousa’s march The Thunderer, and for a complete change of mood Barbie Girl (Norreen and Rasted,) the very soulful Stal Himmel (Fernie), the hugely popular Hawaii Five-O (Stevens) Ravel’s beautiful Pavanne and rounded it all off with The Magnificent Seven (Bernstein.)

We were aided by our kind and talented deps, all old friends of the band: Ian Bartrum on euphonium, Margaret Benson on oboe, Katherine Lee on clarinet, John Warner on trumpet and Steve Boyles on tuba. Thank you to all of them. And special mention of Claudia who took her keyboard but was unable to play it owing to power problems…

Our next outing is on 15th June St James Church in Normanton on Soar, Loughborough.

New dates are still being added. 

For up-to-date concert listings please visit www.loughboroughconcertband.co.uk  where you will also find details of playing opportunities.

After a very wet end to the winter of 2023/24, we were delighted to visit Lark Hill in sunshine, albeit with a very strong wind. Some of us even managed to sit outside in shelter, a sure sign the spring is on its way, at last.

Our knowledgeable and enthusiastic audience responded to our compere, Eddie Pearson, and his questions such as “What film would you think of if I mentioned Yul Brynner?” and “Can anyone remember Dick Barton?”

Their attention was rewarded by a journey in time and space as we played music from (among other pieces) Cockleshell Heros (Dunn 1955) The Arrival of the Queen of Sheba (Handel, 1749) Irish Tune from County Derry (Collected by Grainger) You’ll Never Walk Alone (Rodgers and Hammerstein 1945) Out of Africa (Barry 1985) and (the question of questions) Is this the Way to Amarillo? (Sedaka and Greenfield 1977.)

As in past years, we thoroughly enjoyed our outing to Lark Hill, where we are sure of the warmest of welcomes and the most appreciative of audiences.  

Further opportunities to hear the band early in 2024 include:

12th May Spring in Abbey Park, Leicester.

30th June Music in Queens Park, Loughborough.

New dates are still being added. 

For up-to-date concert listings please visit www.loughboroughconcertband.co.uk  where you will also find details of playing opportunities.

Passion was created by Churches Together in 2009. It was formed by Churches Together as a response to the needs of young people in Shepshed, giving them a safe space in the heart of the community. Several years on, Passion continues to help the young people of Shepshed by offering - among other things - drop in facilities and a Community Café at weekends. Such a project is supported by grant applications, gratefully received donations and evenings such as our concert with the Caroline Sharpe Singers.

The concert was played in the presence of the Worshipful Mayor of Charnwood, Councillor Margaret Smidowicz JP, and the Chair of Shepshed Town Council, Councillor Jane Lennie, as well as Lord Crawshaw, a most generous supporter of Passion.

The concert had a Royal theme and got off to a stirring start with Alford’s Holyrood March and progressed through Richard Rodger’s music for The King and I.

The Caroline Sharpe Singers performed three songs including Alleluia (O Clap your hands) a song commissioned for the coronation of King Charles lll in 2023.

Band and singers came together for the Ascot Gavotte from My Fair Lady and featured a drum solo from Henry Marvell, and for Highland Cathedral.

Unsung heroes, players who are rarely in the spotlight with solo performances but whose contribution to the band’s overall sound cannot be over stated, today included Claudia Shum on keyboards and Roger Stone on string bass.

The band was ably supported by deps Sarah Rigby, Frances Tarte both on clarinet and two trombonists Jill Theobald and Andrew Beaumont. Thank you to them all!

This concert, filled with the exuberance of youth, was also a testament to the hard work and dedication of Dave Coble. It was the 37th Christmas concert he has arranged at the Church. This year the band shared the musical honours with the St Botolph’s school Christmas choir who stunned us with their singing and their movement whilst singing. Speaking for myself, I hope they haven’t given Dave ideas!

The band’s programme included Christmas carols and the congregation was encouraged by Eddie Pearson, our Compere, to stand and join in with The First Nowell, See Amid the Winter Snow, O Come All Ye Faithful and We Wish You a Merry Christmas. The programme also included the atmospheric Walking in the Air, and from the screen Polar Express and Frozen. We played Fairy Tale of New York a tribute to both Shane MacGowan and Christmas.

The concert was played in the presence of the Lord Mayor of Charnwood and the Leader of Shepshed Town Council.Saturday 16th December 2023

Christmas Concert with the children of St Botolph’s School Christmas Choir.