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We've got a new addition to this autumn's concert schedule! On Sunday 8th October, Lydney Training Band will performing at the Forest Showcase Food Festival at the Speech House, right in the middle of the Forest! This is a really vibrant event that we've had great fun performing at in the past, with loads of food and crafts stalls available - perfect for a well earned post-concert snack!  Last year, Lydney Town Band and Lydney Training Band came together for a very special concert to celebrate the band's 130th Anniversary and it was an incredible night. It was an absolute thrill to perform in Lydney Town Hall to a full house! On Saturday 14th October, we're returning to the Town Hall with a special Celebration Concert. We'll be looking back and celebrating the successes of the last twelve months including our second place finish at the Wychavon Brass Festival and the ongoing work of Lydney Training Band to develop the next generation of brass players! This year, entry is free with a retiring collection! The concert starts at 7:00pm with doors open from 6:30pm. There will be a raffle and the Town Hall bar will be open for refreshments!  It is with great pleasure that we welcome Neil Crowe as a member of Lydney Town Band on Bb Bass. Neil, a previous member of the band, was part of the team that helped build the successful Lydney Training Band. It's great to have him back in the Lydney Band family. (L-R: Thomas Dunne, Musical Director, Neil Crowe and Kevin Ford, Chairman)  This weekend, we're packing up our instruments and taking a trip over to Stroud! Lydney Town Band will be performing at Stratford Park Bandstand on Sunday from 2:30pm! Bring a picnic and a blanket and settle in for an afternoon of music and entertainment! If you get there early, you can take the opportunity to visit the Stratford Park Arboretum - said to rival the nearby Westonbirt!
Enormous congratulations to our team who all successfully finished the Severn Bridge 10k! Thanks to all the marshalls and stewards who helped out along the way . We also managed to hit our fundraising target of £1,000!!! Thank you so much to everyone who donated to our fundraiser! Big thanks also to everyone who shared it online on our behalf! Your help means that the Band is one step closer to getting a storage unit which will allow us to better utilise our facilities to continue the brilliant work of Lydney Training Band in developing the next generation of brass players!  This Sunday, our team of intrepid runners from the band will be taking on the Severn Bridge 10k! For two members of the team - Kerry and Louise, our Principal Cornet and Flugelhorn player respectively, this will be their very first 10k race and a massive achievement after months of training! We’re over 60% of the way to our fundraising target of £1,000 to help fund a new storage unit at the bandroom, which will help us make better use of our tuition spaces for the benefit of our aspiring musicians in our Starter Group and Training Band! If you’d like to sponsor the team, head on over to:https://www.justgiving.com/.../lydneytownbandcontainerfund  Summer is nearly over but Lydney Town Band have got a great season of events planned to keep you entertained as the leaves turn brown and the evenings start to draw in! Our Autumn 2023 programme kicks off on Sunday 3rd September with a bandstand concert in Stratford Park, Stroud - a rare trip to the other side of the river for us! On Saturday 23rd, we'll be supporting a fundraising event for the Forest Foodbank at St Mary's Church, Lydney. Following on from the success of last year's 130th Anniversary Concert, Lydney Town Band and Lydney Training Band will be returning to Lydney Town Hall to celebrate all the successes of the last twelve months! And finally, in November, the Town Band will be competing in the Wychavon Brass Festival and the GBBA Own Choice Contest, where Lydney Training Band will also be returning for the first time since 2019! Next month, we'll be bidding a fond farewell to our first trombone player, Alasdair, who is heading off to university. We've got a really exciting autumn programme of concerts and contests coming up, including our 2023 Celebration Concert at Lydney Town Hall! If you or someone you know might be interested in joining us, please get in touch! We'd love to hear from you.  There's just two weeks to go until the Severn Bridge 10k, where a team from the Band will be amongst the throngs of runners!
As part of the challenge, they're looking to raise money for a shipping container for the Band which will help us make better use of our bandroom and facilities. Anything you can give in sponsorship would be greatly appreciated! If you've already donated - thank you so much! If you'd like to give but maybe can't at the moment, you can still help out by sharing this link: https://www.justgiving.com/crowdfunding/lydneytownbandcontainerfund Enormous congratulations to Ben! Last week, he attended the National Youth Brass Band of Great Britain Summer Course in Norfolk and won the Con Buckley Award for Percussion, which recognises the best all round percussionist on the course! He's pictured here with Andrea Price, Musical Director of Wingates Band and former principal percussionist of Black Dyke Band. Previous winners of the award include Jordan Ashman, BBC Young Musician of the Year award in 2022, and Mark Landon, Principal Percussionist at Foden's Band.  We had a fantastic time opening Scarr Brass Fest in the wonderful environs of Scarr Bandstand, this afternoon! It was great to see this event as well supported as ever! It was also lovely to be able to settle down afterwards with a cream tea and hear some cracking pieces from Severn Tunnel Band and Cinderford Band.  In spite of yesterday’s inclement weather, we were able to have a fabulous time performing at The Rising Sun Inn! Enormous thanks to the players who stepped in (some at the last minute and some straight from other engagements) to help the band out! If you missed us yesterday, you’ll have another opportunity this Sunday at Scarr Brass Fest, starting at 1:30pm at Scarr Bandstand  Earlier this week, our Starter Group (made up of players who are at the very start of their musical journey) and members of the Training Band paid a visit to Rodley House, Lydney! It was great to be able to entertain the residents with a combination of solos and group performances, earning our aspiring musicians some valuable, confidence boosting, experience of playing in public! Many thanks to Rodley House for having us.  There’s more to banding than just playing music… During the pandemic, when the band couldn’t rehearse together, we were able to meet up for walks during the summer evenings. One of these walks has stayed on as a tradition for us - the annual post-rehearsal glow worm hunt! Although they’re not the easiest creatures to spot, they are fabulous to see (and very other worldly) when you do! This year we spotted a whopping six!  Lydney's Outreach Programme to local schools continued last week with a visit to Lydney CofE School. Our planned ‘Proms in the Playground’ turned into ‘Proms in the Hall’ because of the weather but we were joined by Matilda, one of the pupils at the school, on cornet! The school hall was buzzing, especially with the crowd pleasers Baggy Trousers and Sweet Caroline, before the finale of British Sea Songs, which just got faster and faster and faster, much to the kids’ delight.  |
