Chalgrove Band's new mobile app

All the latest news, events and pictures of Chalgrove Band are now available on your mobile phone, thanks to the band's new app. If you have an Android, an iPhone, or any other device with web access, you can access the mobile content, which brings together information from the band's own website as well as Facebook and Twitter. You can check out forthcoming events, read the latest news, browse photos and email the band. All of the content is constantly updated. The app is, of course, free. Click the link on the homepage to check it out.

Butlins 2012 - just the result we wanted

The weekend of 21st-22nd January represented Chalgrove's first outing as an official Second Section band, and the first time the band has taken part in the Butlins contest. This annual event is quite a spectacular occasion, with 4000 band people descending on Butlins in Skegness (or "Skeg Vegas", as it's often known). It's a whirlwind weekend of relentless banding, both playing and listening. 4BarsRest, in their traditional pre-contest article, described Chalgrove as an "ambitious" band, and we certainly lived up to that, achieving ninth place out of nineteen bands. Competing with some of the best Second Section bands in the UK, this was quite an achievement. To add to this, Chalgrove came second out of the group of six London and Southern Counties bands who were also competing, which bodes very well for the Areas contest in March.

This coming week it will be back to the grind again, with sectional rehearsals of the Areas test piece, Cross Patonce. 

The Seaside to The Centaur

A New Year beckons: On New Year’s day, ten of our regular players helped the legendary Frank Wolff, mastermind of over 85 overseas tours with different bands, including his Young Ambassadors Brass Band of Great Britain, raise money for a new care home in Sandford-on-Thames to accommodate forty elderly people with Alzheimer’s who can no longer live at home. Frank organised a fantastic concert at Cowley Conservative club with his Oxford Brass Players Brass Band.

Terry Brotherhood, Chalgrove's MD, was among the players that evening but now turns his attention to wagging the stick and putting the band through its paces for its first attempt at the Butlins Mineworkers Brass Band Championships taking place at Skegness over the weekend of 20^th January. This is the first time the band will compete officially as a Second Section band and will play Sir Granville Bantock’s comedy overture "The Frogs of Aristophanes", composed in 1935 and arranged by Frank Wright for the 1952 National Brass Band Championships. We look forward to a great weekend. Wish us luck.

The band is also rehearsing another interesting piece. Cross Patonce was written by the late and great Goff Richards and commissioned for the 1990 Northern Open Brass Band Championships sponsored by Pilkington PLC. The Cross Patonce (see image) is the logo of Pilkington Plc. This lovely three-movement piece has been selected for the Second Section 2012 London and Southern Counties area contest taking place at Stevenage on Sunday 18th March. As good as Terry is at preparing the band, he will be seeking advice from the masterful Richard Evans, who will entertain and rehearse us over the weekend of 24^th February. The band arrives in the Second Section with automatic mid-table position (promotion and demotion is worked out on the results over three consecutive contests) as one of the “new boys” but we will be playing to win and in the very least hold our own, and above all play well.

After the “Areas” we take the foot off the gas a little and start preparing our summer concert programmes. Our big event of the year is a trip to Maastricht over the weekend of 1^st June where we will entertain the city’s visitors to the sounds of an English brass band with at least three concerts kindly organised by an overseas friend of the band.

Back home we will squeeze in a few village fetes, concert events and competitions to keep us on good contesting form, but hopefully we may be looking ahead to the National Finals– if we qualify by coming first or second in the Areas – taking place over the weekend of 22^rd September at The Centaur Conference Centre, Cheltenham. Watch this space.

Au Revoir, Johnny

Amid the festivities at Chalgrove's Christmas Concert on Saturday 17th December, there was a moment of poignance as the band said goodbye and thanks to John Noall, who has occupied the soprano seat since 2005. John has a long and illustrious banding pedigree, having played with the Morris Motors Band under Harry Mortimer for sixteen years, as well as various other top bands around the south of England.

John has been an inspirational member of the band over the last few years, always happy to share his experience, give advice and tell the occasional dodgy story of his adventures with Chalgrove's Musical Director, Terry Brotherhood, who he has known for over thirty years.

We hope that whatever John decided to do in terms of banding, he finds it fulfilling and enjoyable, and we look forward to seeing him again.