Back in March, the Band Committee met to consider what arrangements would need to be made in connection with the Band qualifying to play in the “Kapitol Promotions†National Brass Band Championships (Third Section) to be held in Cheltenham on 21 September.  Committee members were woken with a start when Malcolm Peach, Musical Director, announced that he would be returning south, to live and work in Hertfordshire and, regrettably, he would have to relinquish his involvement with the City of Chester Band.

After recovering from the shock news, committee members set about advertising for someone to lead the Band in the “Nationals†and beyond.  A series of auditions followed and the Band is pleased to announce that Malcolm’s successor is Stephen Gittins, from Shrewsbury.  Stephen’s extensive experience as a tuba player includes playing with Foden’s from Sandbach, Black Dyke from Queensbury, Yorks and the Gloucester-based Flowers Band.  He has also conducted a number of bands in Shropshire and the north Midlands.  The City of Chester Band looks forward to working with Stephen, building upon the success achieved in recent years by his predecessors, Philip Mottershead and Malcolm Peach.

August is normally a time when bands take a break due to members being away on holiday.  However, with the competition looming in September the Band is aiming to keep on with rehearsals.

Before going to play in “The Centaur†suite at Cheltenham Racecourse, the City of Chester Band plans to include a performance of the test-piece “Symphony for Brass†in a concert, further details of which will be announced shortly.  “Symphony for Brass†is an arrangement for brass band by Michael Hopkinson of Brass Quintet No. 1 Op. 5 (1902, rev. 1912) by Victor Ewald (1860-1935), who was a professor of civil engineering in St Petersburg as well as a cellist in a celebrated Russian quartet of its time.

There will be no rehearsals on Monday and Wednesday during the week beginning 4 August.

Saturday afternoon was spent in Saughall, leading the procession which preceded the village fete held in the grounds of Saughall Parish Church.

In the evening band members, descended upon the Chester Tandoori, in Brook Street, for a curry evening.  During the evening a presentation was made to Malcolm Peach ahead of his move south over the summer months.  The presentation of a tankard is a tangible thank you from the Band for an exhilarating 15 months as musical director.

On Sunday evening the Band returned to Saughall Parish Church to accompany the hymns at the evening service, held in the church grounds.

The Band is in the process of appointing a new md to take over from Malcolm and it is hoped an announcement can be made shortly.

 

The City of Chester Training Band has been busy in recent weeks performing at Newton School's Summer Fete on Saturday 14th June and Eccleston Church Fete on 21st.   Young people, from 7 to 70-plus, are welcome to try playing a cornet, tenor horn, trombone or euphonium.  Maybe you played as a child and would like to resume?  Or,you've always wanted to play in a brass band but have never found the time?  If interested, please contact Tony Blain on 01244 398468.

We've recently received a cheque for €900, the prize
money for winning the Troisième Division in the French Open Brass Band Championships, which is most satisfying.

Following our successful participation in the Whit Friday march contests on 13 June the Band has had another busy weekend, performing in the Quarry Park, Shrewsbury on Sunday 22 June.  Shrewsbury was a busy place: band members had to contend with traffic delays caused by a Half Marathon before entertaining crowds watching Dragon Racing on the Severn.  Shrewsbury's
bandstand is situated close to the glorious Dingle, full of floral colour in the glorious summer sunshine.  A great venue.

Next weekend, the City of Chester Band will be leading the parade at Saughall Village Fete on Saturday 28th and accompanying hymn singing at the Sunday evening service at Saughall Parish Church on 29th.

Well done to all in the Training Band who performed at Eccleston Church Fete today.  The Band performed 4 spots between noon and 4 o'clock.

Two more members of the Training Band Guy & Lewis have recently passed there grade 4 exam on the Euph. Not only has Guy passed but he also received the Player of the Month award for june . Well done to both of them . Tony

Members of the City of Chester Band are proud to report on their success in the 2014 French Open Brass Band Championships, held in the beautiful old town of Amboise, on the banks of the River Loire.  Again led to success by their Musical Director, Malcolm Peach, the band performed in three events: an indoor concert which included the third section set test-piece “Episodes For Brass†(by Gareth Churcher), a march contest held in the lee of the imposing Chateau royal d’Amboise, followed by a concert of light music, again held beneath the castle walls.

The outward journey by coach and channel ferry began at Wednesday midnight arriving in Amboise on Thursday evening; this included an alfresco march practice at a motorway service station on the A1 between Dunquerque and Paris and meeting heavy traffic in the Parisian Thursday evening rush-hour.  The homeward-bound journey on Sunday, via Calais, was slightly shorter, about 14 hours.  Organiser of the Band’s foray into France, Andrew Smithson, had even arranged for the Channel to be as calm as a mill-pond in both directions!

Soloists in the Band’s concerts included Kathryn Peover (euphonium), Paul Donoghue (cornet) and James Flynn (tenor trombone).  A work commitment in Italy mean Kathryn had to miss the final rehearsals in Chester and she had to fly and travel by train to join up with the Band in Amboise.  However, that did not stop Kathryn giving a fine performance of “Myfanwyâ€.

The Band was made to feel very welcome throughout its stay in Amboise and met many friends in the banding world from England, France, Holland, Norway and Italy. 

On Friday, prior to the day of competitions, the Band rehearsed in the morning in a local college and in the afternoon visited the “Closerie Chanteloup†on the outskirts of Amboise, where the party were given an insight into vine cultivation and the fermentation and bottling processes,  prior to sampling a variety of wines.  Before leaving “Closerie Chanteloup†the Band played a hymn tune and a march for the owners.  The day concluded with a visit to the gardens of Clos Lucé, once the home of Leonardo da Vinci, where the draw for order of play in the various sections was made.

11 bands competed in four sections throughout Saturday.  The competition culminated in an evening concert presented by the Rotterdam-based Rijnmond Band at which the results were declared and trophies presented.

On Saturday the band became the French Open 3rd section champions! Full write up to follow...

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 If you shop on line and support the Band you can help in a positive way by registering the Band as the good cause.  To register log on to the easyfundraising.org.uk site the link shown above.   The cause to support is the City of Chester Brass Band. You then fill in a very basic form with name, email and password followed by installing the Add-on at the bottom of the 2nd page of registration.

When you open a website that supports Easyfundraising, a banner at the top of the page asks whether you would like to 'Activate donation' or 'No thanks' - you simply make your choice and the banner is then hidden. Any purchases are calculated automatically and the money made is sent directly to our band account once we have accumulated at least £25.00.