As Musical Director of Lydney Town Band, I look back on 2022 with a real sense of pride and satisfaction in our achievements as a group. We began the year having only recently recovered from the lockdown periods of the pandemic, but thanks to our proactive only activity had recruited a number of new players to the ranks, setting us up well for the year ahead. Our first challenge was the West of England Regional Championships, for which we prepared Facets of Glass by Gordon Langford. Unexpectedly however the regional was cancelled, and so we entered the Oxford and District Brass Band Association contest, in which the band delivered a fine performance of Olympus by Philip Harper. In the meantime, however, the West of England Regional had been reorganised, and we returned to our work on Facets of Glass, building to a fine performance for which we were awarded 5th place, achieving our goal of a top-six finish, and consolidating our ranking within the 3rd Section.
Our attention then turned to the summer season of outdoor concerts in parks, bandstands, and other community venues. In previous years, Lydney Training Band had been the driving force behind these engagements, but in 2022 the Town Band returned to the summer concert scene for the first time in nearly two decades, sharing the workload with the Training Band. Our concerts provided entertainment to hundreds of people, helping to rebuild awareness of the organisation in the community, as well as being a great source of enjoyment for the players. We then began planning for the two main events of the latter part of 2022, our 130th anniversary concert at Lydney Town Hall, and a week later, our competitive performance at the Wychavon Festival of Brass. Following much hard work from the organising committee, the concert was an outstanding success, with both the Town and Training bands performing together to a sell-out audience. The Town Band featured four world premieres, including a preview of our Wychavon programme, celebrating the history of the band and the local area, alongside some concert favourites. The Town and Training bands also joined forces for the first time ever in a massed bands finale, earning a standing ovation. The following weekend we reprised our programme in the 3rd Section of Wychavon Festival of Brass. The band played splendidly, and were delighted to be awarded 2nd place, while the band’s Solo Horn player Samantha Ford was deservedly awarded the Best Soloist prize, for her beautiful rendition of Over The Rainbow. Following all this excitement, the band enjoyed a quieter end to the year, with a highlight being some well-supported Christmas Carolling around the town, bringing festive cheer to the community. Looking ahead to 2023, we want to build on the progress we made in 2022 in a number of ways. This year we want to aim for a top-three placing at the West of England Regional contest, with an eye on qualifying for the National Championships. We will continue to develop our summer concert series in the community and deliver a diverse and challenging set of new repertoire. Following the success of our 130th anniversary concert in 2022, we hope to be able to feature both the Town and Training bands together in concert once again, and later in the year aim to go one place further at the Wychavon Festival of Brass. Most importantly though, our main goal is to continue to enjoy making music together as we continue to develop into 2023 and beyond. I for one am eagerly looking forward to the future with this fantastic group of musicians. Thomas Dunne Musical Director, Lydney Town Band Comments are closed.
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NewsNews stories from the Lydney Town and Training Bands, and Starter Group! Archives
January 2025
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