Latest News:

Annual Charity Concert at Kirkham Grammar School

with Blackpool Music Service Concert Band

7pm start!

Coach and Horses Concert

The first free Coach and Horses concert of 2009 is on Thursday 11th June at 8pm. Come along and support the band!

Successful Day in Blackpool

The Freckleton Band took part in the Spring Festival contest in Blackpool on Saturday 9th May. As the only 1st section band in the Grand Shield, we performed well and avoided our usual 'YoYo' result, earning an invitation back to next years contest.

This is a great achievement for us, and is down in no small way to the preparation and dedication by our guest conductor, Gareth Pritchard. All of us at the band thank him for his expertise and patience.

Photos courtesy of Ian Clowes, http://www.pbase.com/troonly/brass

European Success for Boss!

Dave 'Boss' Hogg, our Percussionist currently living and working in Germany, has just reported that his new German Band, 3ba-brass, has won the B section of the European Brass Band Championships.

Congratulations to them all. No doubt several steins were consumed...

Conductor break at Freckleton

The Freckleton Band had some bad news on Sunday 19th April when their conductor, Paul Dalton, rang at 4pm to inform us that he had broken both bones in his conducting arm in a cycling accident that day. Unfortunately, the Band had one of its prestigious Lowther Pavilion concerts that evening with Guest Soloist Peter Moore and compere Tony Berry from the Houghton Weavers.

After a frantic 10 minutes panic, Andy Cattanach, Chairman, made a desperate call to Richard Evans who, at 2 hours notice, agreed to not only conduct the concert, but get there for the 6pm rehearsal. The concert passed without incident, and the Band thanks Richard for his help, professionalism and altruism, especially as he’d just settled down to watch his team, Everton, when we rang. Luckily, they won, and the Band had an extremely enjoyable time with Richard as well as gaining from his vast experience.

That brought the Band on to the pressing matter of the Grand Shield in less than 3 weeks. Paul Dalton confirmed he would be out of action for 2 months or more, so a plea for help was issued, and within hours several very kind offers of help, in any way they could, were made by several conductors. Alex Thomas, the Bands Principal Cornet, received a text from Gareth Pritchard, who briefly worked with the Band last year, just as he was about to call him and ask if he could help. The Band enjoyed Gareth’s rehearsal last year, and the way he works suits the Band. At very short notice, Gareth agreed to take Freckleton to the Grand Shield and cover all the rehearsals we had pencilled in.

Gareth said: ‘I worked with the Band at the end of last year and there was obviously an immediate rapport.  I’m excited therefore about working with the Band again, this time with a Contest performance at the end.  Due to the late nature of this appointment and the distance between South Wales and Freckleton, rehearsal time is at a premium, but I am confident that we will do everything in our power to give justice to Wilfred Heaton’s masterpiece.  The piece has fond memories for me as a player having played Principal Cornet 3 times - 1st place at the British Open with Rigid Containers conducted by Bramwell Tovey; 3rd place at the Area with Ransomes conducted by Peter Parkes and 3rd place at London RAH with Brodsworth Colliery conducted by David James.  It will be good to now conduct the piece and I will unashamedly incorporate some of their very different and personal interpretations as well as my own into my work with Freckleton.’

Rehearsals have begun with Gareth, and the Band looks forward to the contest, as well as sending Paul Dalton best wishes for a speedy recovery!

Lytham Brass Festival

The first annual Lytham Brass Festival took place on Saturday 21st March at St. Cuthbert’s Church, Lytham.

Organised by Sylvia Howard, and adjudicated by Malcolm Brownbill, there was a healthy entry of solo and quartets with the following results
 
Primary Slow melody  
1st - Gemma Riley, Pemberton Youth Band.
2nd - Asim Iqbal from St. Annes.

Junior Slow melody
1st - Jonathan Bates, Thurlston Band.
2nd - Leslie Harrison, Blackpool Training Band.

Open Slow Melody.  
1st - Richard Cookson, Bass,  Preston,
2nd - Tom Johnson, Soprano,   Blackburn and Darwen Band.

Open Quartet
1st - Freckleton Tuba Quartet
2nd - United Co-op Crewe Cornet Quartet.
 
Malcolm’s comments were, as ever, helpful and constructive whilst completely honest, and he was keen to point out that the Slow Melody and Quartet styles were hard to master as some competitors had shown, while nerves played a part in a number of performances.
 
There were entries from all over the North West, with United Co-op Crewe providing 4 of the 8 quartet entries, and Blackburn and Darwen, the Longridge Trombones, Longridge Basses and Freckleton Tuba Quartet making up the entries. Hopefully next year’s event will attract even more entries and may include an Air-Varie solo section as well.
 
The event ran smoothly, and to time, with a lovely venue both acoustically and aesthetically, good warm up facilities, healthy prize money and food provided by a Michelin Starred chef to boot.
 
The day concluded with a gala concert by the Freckleton Band, with guest soloist internationally renowned Soprano Nicola Howard, also featuring the bands soloists Alex Thomas (cornet), Caroline Cross (horn), Patrick Howard (euphonium) and Peter Lockett(Eb Bass).
 
No date for next year’s festival is set yet, but it will probably be in April, after Easter, but before the Spring Festival. A Press Release will be made when the date is known.

Listen to the (Freckleton) Band!

The band was featured on Friday 13th March in a broadcast we recorded last year for the BBC. If you missed it, you can hear it for a week from now at the Listen to the band website.

http://www.bbc.co.uk/radio2/shows/listentotheband/

Listen to the (Freckleton) Band... Eventually!

The band is featured on Friday 13th March in a broadcast we recorded last year for the BBC. It's on at 9.30pm, BBC Radio 2 on Listen to the Band programme with Frank Renton.

Try and tune in!

We wuz robbed !

No, really, we were!

After a fine performance today, expected by most people to be top 3 or the winner, we were placed 9th at the North West Area competition at Blackpool. The band is gutted with the result after such a good performance, and most people we've spoken to have said how dismayed they are at the result.

That's banding, hard though it is to take at times. Congratulations to those who were looked on more favourably than us, we'll be back next year!

Get Twittering!

If you're one of the growing number of Twitter users, the band now has an account that you can follow us on. Just got to http://twitter.com/Freckletonband.

The band also has a Facebook Group if you use that. A simple search on Facebook will find us!

Player influx!

As with all bands at this time of year, we have a couple of new faces for the forthcoming contests. Our regular percussion team is unable be with us, with Dave Hogg relocated to Germany, and Dave Little busy with work inspections, so we have had to draft in some help!

We welcome Rachael Keefe on Percussion, and Chris Starr, also on Percussion, makes a welcome return to the band. Rachael plays with Wigan Youth Brass Band and Jazz Orchestra, and Chris is formerly of YBS and Faireys.

Paul Hawkin, formerly of BT, recently joined the band on cornet, but can't be with us for the contest as he had already arranged to go to New Zealand. We welcome him all the same though!

Good result at Brass at the Guild.

The band put in an excellent performance today at Preston's Guild Hall at the annual 'Brass at the Guild' competition.

We were awarded 2nd place, a great achievement as we beat several local rivals as well as many bands in the section above us!

Congratulations to Pemberton who won the competition.

1. Pemberton Old - Music of the Spheres

2. Freckleton - Variations on an Enigma

3. Sovereign Brass - Diversions on a Bass Theme

4. Jackfield - Trittico

Entry Date Extended .

The entry date for Lytham Brass Festival has been extended until the 6th March! Time for everyone to get over the competitions coming up, and get an entry in.

Busy year ahead for the band.

After a short break the band is back hard at work, preparing for Preston and the Area contests. Also coming up are Formby Hall

(15th March) and the exciting new Lytham Brass Festival (21st March). See our Events page for more details.

We have exciting plans for a trip to Canada at Easter 2010 as well, and the initial arrangements are being discussed for this.

Keep up to date with all the goings on by checking back regularly!

Happy New Year from the band!

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