Another year, another fantastic performance at Shrewsbury Quarry band stand!! Always a pleasure to be asked to play once again 
What's new
Whit Friday 2023
Coronation 2023
As the country celebrates the crowning of our new King, the band were busy this weekend helping with Coronation celebrations across Cheshire!
The band were very kindly asked to perform again at Hebden Green School in Winsford to play a few tunes at their school's Coronation party on Friday May 5th. We hope all the pupils and teachers enjoyed themselves as much as we did!
On Sunday May 7th a small group of the band were over in Malpas to take part in their Coronation parade! Again, we hope everyone enjoyed themselves on what was a lovely sunny Sunday! (As you can see below, our players were definitely enjoying the sun đ)Â
North West Areas 2023
This year the band competed in the 2nd section at the North West Areas. Our test piece this year was Pilgrim's Progress, which challenged every member of the band in many ways. After weeks of hard work, the band walked away with a respectable result of 12th place out of 16 bands. A grand day out with lots of celebrating. The band are looking forward to another year up in the second section!
Merry Christmas from City of Chester
As another year of banding comes to an end, the last job on the list is to reflect and give thanks. This year was our first full ânormalâ year back to brass banding since Covid struck in March 2020, so there is a lot to unpack!
We started this year with recording our programme for âIn the Band Roomâ with East Leeds FM, which was a great experience for everyone involved!
After our radio performance, we swiftly moved onto our preparation for the North West Areas, which had been put on hold since 2020. Thanks to all the hard work of our players and our MD Ewan, the band scored 3rd place in the 3rd section, which gave us the points we needed for a promotion to the 2nd section. A special mention to George Pears, who also won best soprano player for the 3rd section.
June was another busy month for the band as we celebrated the Queens Jubilee and also had our first Whit Friday since 2019! It felt good to be back doing what many of our players consider to be the best job of the year!
In July the band celebrated the marriage of our very own E flat bass player, Sarah, to her husband Sean. The band had a fabulous time playing for the bride and groom on their special day, but itâs pretty safe to say the star of the show was Sammy on the karaoke.
August saw our friends from the Delta Music Makers come over and visit us for a joint concert, which was a huge success! The band also took part in the Chester Pride parade for the first time this year. The rainbow sashes were a colourful addition to our uniform.
By the end of August, our home on Bedward Row was finally open again to the band after 903 days! A huge thank you to all who were involved with the renovation of our band room, making it a brighter and better practice space for the band.
September saw the passing of our late Queen Elizabeth II, which struck sadness across the nation. As the country welcomed a new King, the band had the privilege of being asked to play for the proclamation of King Charles III in Chester.
November is when then band start to get busy again before the year end, starting with Remembrance Sunday. The band were honoured to be asked again to take part in Chesterâs Remembrance parade. Another special mention to George, who took on the challenge of playing The Last Post this year and delivered it beautifully. He made the whole band very proud!
For the rest of the year, the band were super busy with Christmas! With 14 Christmas jobs in total this year, I think itâs safe to say we were all exhausted by the end of it. A very big thanks to our secretary Jon for another year of successfully organising all the jobs for us.
Other band news outside of jobs, our solo horn player Kirsty and percussionist Alex announced they were expecting their first child, who is arriving in January 2023! We wish Kirsty all the best with the last few weeks of her pregnancy and hope the birth goes as smoothly as possible. We canât wait to meet Baby Bargh and bets are already on for which instrument theyâll be taking up in 8-10 years time!
The band saw players come and go this year too. In September the band welcomed Amelia who joined us after moving to Chester to study marine biology at the university. However, we also said goodbye to Callum in August, as his time at the university came to an end. The band are very thankful for the university and the wonderful players it brings to us.
Once again, the band would like to show their appreciation to Tony Blain, who retired from his role as Training & Junior Band coordinator after 20 years of service. We are extremely thankful for his hard work and dedication to all the players he has overseen and helped progress to the main band. He has made a huge impact to the future of Chester Brass Band. We wish him a happy and peaceful retirement.
Last, but certainly not least, the band would like to thank everyone who has supported us throughout 2022. We wish you all a Merry Christmas and Happy New Year.
We look forward to what 2023 has in store for the band!
Christmas concert at Elton Church Hall
Our last full band concert of 2022! A big thank you to our lovely audience tonight at Elton Church Hall, we hope you enjoyed yourselves!
Tony's retirement from Training & Junior band coordinator
The City of Chester Band would like to show their thanks and appreciation to Tony Blain, who after 20 years of service and dedication, officially retired from his role as Training & Junior Band co-ordinator last Monday (December 12th).
Tony has overseen hundreds of enthusiastic players pass through the bands organisation, and enabled a significant amount of players to progress to the Main Band that we see today. Highlights of Tony's time with the band included organising band tours to London, the first the band had experienced since 1982.
As a band we can't thank this man's commitment enough, and he will be extremely missed by all of us. We wish him well for the future as he welcomes his first Grandchild in the New Year.
Christmas concert at Winnington Park Rec Club
Another fantastic Christmas concert at Winnington Park Recreation Club last night. A huge thank you to them for inviting us back for another year, we look forward to the next one!
Chester's Christmas light switch on 2022
Christmas has arrived in Chester! A successful Christmas light switch on for 2022!!!
Chester Remembrance 2022
A glorious day here in Chester as we remember the fallen. The band are truly honoured, as always, to have been asked to take part in Chester's Remembrance service. A huge well done to our fantastic cornet player George Pears who played the Last Post beautifully today. We will remember them.
