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It is with great pleasure that we announce the appointment of Kevin Robbins as our new Resident Conductor.
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On Sunday 18th of February 2007 the Annual General meeting of Yeovil Town Band was held.
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To round off the Yeovil entertainment contests' 30th year celebrations, the Enfield Citadel led by Bandmaster Andrew Blyth performed a concert of predominantly Salvation Army repertoire in the presence of a healthy audience on Saturday evening, at the splendidly named The Gateway, a community Church within the town.
Enfield's reputation as an ensemble is second-to-none and throughout the concert they demonstrated on numerous occasions why their level of music-making is acknowledged throughout banding circles. They were led superbly by Ralph Brill on Principal Cornet and what a joy to see half a dozen or so players performing with the band having come up from their Young Recruits Band.
William Himes' Festival March, Motivation was taken at a lively tempo and featured some excellent dynamic contrasts throughout the band closely followed by Candle of the Lord, for which its familiarity is enhanced from it's prominence within Shine as the Light. The control of the ensemble playing by Bandmaster Blyth had already been noticeable in the opening two pieces.
Of particular interest to this reviewer was the inclusion of the overture by Dudley Bright entitled, Excelsior. It's certainly not written in a traditional overture style that band contests have survived on since they were invented; it was written for the International Congress Youth Spectacular in 1990 before later being rescored for the ISB and has that big-band/jazzy feel to it, showcasing the various sections of the band
Most impressive throughout the evening was the bands soloists; Maurice Patterson shined in Leidzen's popular Wondrous Day, Keith Loxley on euphonium featured in The Lark in the Clear Air whilst the deputy-bandmaster, Andrew Justice gave a scintillating performance of Ralph Pearce's three movement work, Rhapsody on an American Folk Hymn. The outer energetic movements gave the soloist the chance to demonstrate his fine technique but it was during the slower, reflective, middle movement, where Andrew's clear talent came to the fore.
During the evening, the band's Executive Officer, Lt-Col Lincoln Parkhouse linked the music together along with prayers and readings and it was after the bible reading that the band played the most poignant playing of the whole night.
It came courtesy of a new composition by Stephen Bulla entitled Chorale Prayer, that's based around the familiar hymn, Eternal Father, Strong to Save. The band's contributions also included arrangements from Sandy Smith and Stephen Roberts with Valero and Pastime with Good Company both of which demonstrated that the band can adopt to any style of music it wishes to perform; Curnow's Psalm of Praise was almost effortless on the ear, but the whole evening was concluded with the popular Finale from Tchaikovsky's Symphony No 4 that was taken at a steadier tempo than that which you might normally hear from a top band and the obligatory encore in the form of The Red Shield.
It brought to an end though a satisfying concert that was appreciated by a standing ovation from much of the audience. With commitments on Sunday morning back at their SA centres, it meant a round trip in the region of 300 miles.
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On Saturday 4th of November we made our way back down to Torquay for the 60th Anniversary South West Brass Band Association Contest.
Amongst a field of 6 Bands Yeovil won the Open section having played Spectrum, Stan Lippeatt stated during his speech, "only one band in this section had played the chosen test piece consistently from start to finish, and this band are the winners by 2 clear points"
Many thanks to Dave Barringer and Graham Boag for their hard work and perseverance during rehearsals. The band are now looking forward to Weymouth.
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On Wednesday 11th of October Olivia was born to Mark and Clare Gundry weighing in at 8lb.
The band wish both Mark and Clare along with Olivia all the best for the future.
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It is with great pleasure that we announce the appointment of Dave Barringer as our new Musical Director, Dave joins after leaving SWT Woodfalls after the birth of his daughter. This move will enable Dave to spend more time with his family.
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On 10th of February 2007 we are hosting the 30th Yeovil Entertainment contest and to celebrate this milestone following the contest we are hosting a Gala Concert with Enfield Citadel Band of the Salvation Army.
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On Saturday 17th of December our Percussionist and Principal horn player Paul and Anne interrupted the carol season and at last did the right thing and were finally married.
The Band put the Icing on the cake playing before and during the service and even though this was a joyful event the Band gave a few family and friends a sob during the tribute to Anne's Dad who died earlier this year when they played his favourite piece of music Londonderry Air.
The whole day day went great and this now means that Yeovil Town have 5 married couple all playing within the ranks of the band.
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On May 14th Yeovil Town Band started the Octagon festival season with The World Whistling Champion David Morris.
During this concert David showed his versatility and technical ability in astounding the audience with a wide variation of music accompanied by the band, David started his section with Trumpet Triplets followed by a rendition of The Londonderry Air and then a breath taking rendition of Czardas, In the second half he arrived during the band playing Stars and Stripes, went onto a very heart rendering Sunshine of your Smile and amazed the audience with his finale of The Post Horn Gallop.
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After a late invitation to attend the Senior Trophy at the Spring Festival in Blackpool early in May and playing Connotations the band moved heaven and earth to accept this honour and by all the band digging deep into our own pockets we made our way up the M5 and M6, although with a short rehearsal schedule leading up to this contest we manage a credible 12th position against a very strong field. A great thanks to David Hayward for putting through our paces and securing a placing which should qualify us for an Invitation next year.
On Sunday 13th of March Yeovil trundled down to Torquay for their 5th Contest playing in the Championship Section, Rienzi proved an Interesting piece of music for the band, we put in a good performance but could only manage 10th!!!
The Annual General meeting was held on Wednesday 2nd of February and the new Committee was elected.
The Annual General Meeting of Yeovil Town Band will be held on Wednesday 2nd of February 2005 at the Band room on Houndstone Business Park, Yeovil.
The meeting will start at 8:00 pm.
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It is with great delight we welcome back to our ranks Kevin and Cath Darby.
Both Kevin and Cath have played with us before and are both looking forward to rekindling the relationships once again
Kevin will take up the position of Principal Cornet vacated just recently by Pete Daniels and Cath will slot back into the position on First Baritone.
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We are pleased to announce that our Associate Conductor Ian McElligott is back in front of the band for this years Regional Qualifiers in March.
Over the past two years Ian has directed the band to two successive third positions in the West of England Qualifiers a Victory and Second place at WBBA Contest in Weymouth and is now looking forward to working with the band again and building on these results.
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It is with regret that we announce the departure from the Principal Cornet seat of Pete Daniels, who due to work relocation is moving up to Reigate in the new year. Over the past two years Pete has been a great corner stone for our cornet section and will be greatly missed, Pete has however agreed to make the journey back down to the West Country to help the band at the Regional's in March.
We all wish Pete the best for the future and hope to see him soon.
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On Saturday 4th of December we all took the short journey down to Weymouth for the annual Wessex Brass Band Association Contest, Under the baton of Ian McElligott our current Associate Conductor, the test piece was Cloudcatcher Fells we put put up a sterling fight but only managed a 2nd placing.
In the Evening under the baton of David Hayward, we went on stage to perform in the Annual Gala Concert along with City of Bristol and Poole Borough.
Many thanks to all our players and supporters.
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On Saturday 6th of November we back down to Torquay for the annual SWBBA contest, the test piece was Spectrum and we pulled a clear 2 point victory under the baton of our resident conductor David Hayward.
A thanks to all players for a great victory.
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On Saturday 24th of April Mark our Soprano Cornet and Clare one of our Solo Cornets got Married at East Knoyle. The Band played prior too and during the service giving both Mark and Clare the sounds they wanted. In the evening we all went to Shaftesbury for the evening reception where the band once again entertained the family and friends to a 45 minute Concert. To see pictures go to Photo's on the main page.
The Band would like to wish Mark and Clare all the best in their new life together.
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On Sunday 28th of March Yeovil trundled down to Torquay for their 4th Contest playing in the Championship Section, Tristan Encounters proved a very difficult piece of music for all the band but with hard work and under the direction of our two conductors (David Hayward - Resident and Ian McElligott - Professional) we put in a good performance and gained a 3rd placing for the second year running.
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On Saturday 6th of December Yeovil made the short trip to Weymouth to take part in the Wessex Brass Band Championships playing Eric Balls High Peak, Under the direction of our Professional Conductor Ian McElligott Yeovil took the top prize for the 4th year running.
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