3pm Friday 9th June - and the band embarked on the first Whit Marches campaign for several years. Completing 6 of the famous march and contest events around the Tameside and Saddleworth areas, the band was well placed receiving a particularily rousing reception at the impressive venue in Dobcross. Arriving back home well after 1am Saturday morning the band was out again that night, playing at a charity fund raising event in the local village of Thornton-le-Moors. A small village, nestling under the shadow of the giant Stanlow oil refinery, was the venue for a celebration of 2 80 year-olds, and in remembrance of a third, Joe Platt, who unfortunately died of cancer before the event. His wife Margaret was determined the party would go on - and decided to also raise funds to support the fight against cancer at Clatterbridge hospital. Over £1,000 was raised on the night... and Margaret has issued a challenge to the younger members of the village to repeat the event next year! Tired and weary by Sunday morning, the band did have time for a lie-in before setting off on the march on Sunday afternoon from the Castle Square to the Cathedral and back with the annual Cheshire Scout Parade (coffee and cake during the service!)..... It was a hot day and several pounds was lost by band members - but as always the band sounded in good form as it marched between the Chester rows. Phew... time for a cold beer.

Our Training Band coordinator Tony Blain recently attended the Youth Federation awards in Chester Town Hall, where he was presented (by new Lord Mayor Sandra Rudd) with an award certificate acknowledging his tremendous work with the Training Band - well done Tony!

Congratulations go to Wingates Band www.wingatesband.org from Chester Band as they have just succeeded in retaining their French open title for a second year. Friends of Chester band Wingates, played a 25 minute programme, including the test piece “The Judges of the Secret Court� to beat Avley and Newham Band at the French open in Amboise in France this weekend. Check out their web page for further details when they get back.

4 band members celebrated exam success recently: Matthew: Grade 2 cornet William: Grade 3 cornet with merit Jessica: Grade 2 cornet with merit Kirsty: Grade 8 tenor horn with merit Congratulations!!!!

18th, 19th, 20th May Keep an eye out in the local papers for info on this year's charity beer festival. Held at Chester Rugby Club (Vicar's Cross) it's a huge event, and of course an opportunity to see the City of Chester band performing in a 'friendly' environment. All the festival favourites will be there including the famous post horn galop. The band is normally on at around 7.30 to 8pm or so (very approx.). It's a tough job, but somebody has to do it!

Saturday May 13th will see both bands playing at Tattenhall Parish church as they lead off a musical 24 hour charity marathon. You can see the main band performing at 10.30am, followed by the training band. Come along and support us.....

One of the first days out in Chester for the band this year found them sitting in the stands at Chester Racecourse at 10am this Sunday - keen or what? This was in support of the charity 'Business Walk', held annually, that starts from the Racecourse. Immediately after this, the band hot-footed it to the Castle Square (Bass player Les puzzled as hundreds of business people 'followed' him out of the racecourse!), in time to lead the Scout St George's Day parade through the City streets to the cathedral, a new route causing some anxieties amongst the leading players. After the obligatory coffee and cake, the band led the Scouts back to the Castle Square - passing swiftly though red lights in the city centre, finishing with an impressive 'general salute' from the cornet section. With sunshine all the way it was a fantastic start to the 'season'. Checkout our events section to spot where you can catch the band out-and-about this summer. We're at several local fetes, and playing on 3 occasions down by the river at The Groves bandstand. Don't miss us.

A well attended AGM and social was held last Friday (March 24th) in the bandroom. Food thanks to Sylvia, music Paul Jones. Once reports are compiled we'll publish more information on the band's busy last 12 months as well as the plans for an even busier year ahead. In the meantime a quick update on the new band committee, elected on Friday night: Chairman - Paul Donoghue Secretary - Brian Mottershead Treasurer - Doug Dalzell Bandmaster - Robert MacDonald Band Manager - Paul Jones Contest Sec. - Rob Fletcher Training Band - Tony Blain Coordinator Minute Sec. - Sylvia MacDonald Librarian - Sylvia MacDonald Equipment Officer - Rob Fletcher PR Officer - Ian Clowes Musical Director - Phil Mottershead TB Conductor - Ian Clowes

The City of Chester Band braved the elements on Sunday 12th March to compete in the North West Area Brass Band Association Regional Championships at Blackpool, finishing in a very creditable 6th place out of 15, and being awarded a trophy along the way! The Band's day started as it did for everyone else in the North West of England - covered in snow! However, despite Mother Nature's best efforts to prevent the players getting to Blackpool, we made it and, after an early-morning rehearsal at The No 1 Club adjacent to Blackpool FC, arrived at the contest venue - the appropriately-named Winter Gardens. Training Band Co-ordinator Tony Blain was on-hand to draw the Band's order of play, and this year we were drawn to play 5th rather than our usual 1st. After a short walk through a blizzard to the registration location, a relaxed Band took to the stage to perform the test piece - Entertainments by Gilbert Vinter. The performance was probably the best complete performance that the Band had achieved in all the weeks of rehearsal, and we left the stage happy with a job well done. It was at this point that those players that had made their way to the contest independently of the Band coach decided it would be better to leave straightaway because of the bad weather. Those that remained went for a relaxing cup of tea(!) in a local hostelry before returning to the venue to hear the results. It would be fair to say that coming 6th in the contest is a great achievement for the Band, particularly bearing in mind the diffiiculty of the test piece. The result consolidates our position within the 3rd Section and gives all of the players lots of confidence in their individual abilities, as well as the abilities of the Band collectively. Well done all!

The latest update on sectional and extra rehearsals for the Area contest is as follows: Sunday 26th Feb, 1pm - Cornets, Horns, Baritones, Euphoniums (Bandroom). Monday 27th Feb, 7.45pm-10.00pm - Full Band (Huntington). Wednesday 1st March, 7.30pm - Percussion, Cornets (Bandroom). Sunday 5th March, 11am - Full Band (Bandroom). Monday 6th March, 7.45pm-10.00pm - Full Band (Huntington). Saturday 11th March, 11.00am - Full Band (Huntington). (Friday rehearsals as normal in the Bandroom).