THE UNITED CO-OP BAND (CREWE).
NEWS
The United Co-op Band (Crewe) goes from strength to strength with a new signing and some new principal players.
We are very pleased to confirm the signing of very talented young man Nicholas Birch – who joins the band on baritone from the Audley Band, where he occupied the Solo Euphonium seat. Nick’s father, Kevin, has also held this position for Crewe Co-op in the past and it’s great to have the family connection back in the bandroom.
This week has also seen a shuffling of seats as our star Flugel player Sarah Brown has taken over as Principal cornet from Andrew Welsh, who steps down due to an ever increasing work load as a local high school Head of Music. Andrew remains in the band on the cornet bench, thankfully, as he is truly an outstanding player and we thank him for his leadership over the last 6 years.
The move for Sarah has allowed Emma Reay to move from cornet back to her chosen instrument – flugel. Emma joined the band recently to further her level of playing and in doing so left the flugel horn behind, but now we are very pleased to reunite them once more.
Our thanks also go to Heather Smyth for her nine years of commitment to the band and wish her all the best in the future.
The band wishes Nick, Sarah and Emma well and looks forward to a positive and successful 2007.
Hot on the heels of our Derby success came a second place in the first section of the North West Regional Championships in Blackpool on 12 March 2006 marking an excellent return, for the band, to the first section. The second place gains the band the all important invitation to the National Finals in Harrogate in September.
The band is currently in the process of recording its latest CD. The final recording session will take place on September 18th 2005 and the new CD will be on sale in time for Christmas presents. You can order advanced copies from the band or you can purchase your copy at any of our concerts in the run up to Christmas.
Without giving away any secrets we can reveal that the CD includes some items that have gone down well with audiences at recent concerts as well as a few brand new items that we haven't played in public yet. Most notably the CD includes a new tenor horn solo written especially for our talented principal horn player, Annette Sparkes, by Andrew Duncan.
The band have been kept busy this summer with appearances at the annual Weston Fete and a new venue, for us, at Sutton Lane Ends, near Macclesfield, at the flower festival. A good day out was also had by the band on Whit Friday where we managed to be placed sixth overall in the Tameside area with an individual win at Droylsden, a second place at Micklehurst and a fourth place at The Station. The band are now gearing up for the Wychavon Festival of brass and a busy concert schedule in the weeks up to Christmas. There are also rumours from the band room of a new CD being recorded soon so keep your eyes and ears peeled for more news.
Sunday 28 September 2003, the band came second today in the first section of the Wychavon Festival of Brass at Pershore. Annette Sparkes was worthy winner of the soloist prize for her rendition of Over the Rainbow. Well done Annette! The band has a good record of coming in the prizes at Wychavon having won just about everything they have on offer including, in 1997, winning the championship section whilst only coming second in the first section.
Thus our contest season draw to a close. Next year we start again in the Championship section. 2003 hasn't been a bad year in terms of contest results. Of the six contests which we entered we walked away with one twelfth place, one third place, one second place and three wins.
The band has just returned home from a weekend in Scotland where we followed up our area win back in March with a third place at the National Finals in Dundee. The band was beset with illness and injury problems in the run up to the finals which meant that our second man down, Tony Brookes, had to move on to the end chair with just a fortnight to go to the contest. Everyone in the band thinks that Tony did a terrific job, particularly so in the difficult cicumstances. Solo Horn player Annette Sparkes has been singled out by 4barsrest.com as being our star soloist on the contest platform. Four Bars Rest said "Star Player: Solo horn - a calming influence whenever called upon". The band would like to thank all of those people who sent their messages of good luck for our trip to Dundee and also those people who were complimentary about our performance when we came off stage. Thanks also to Doyen for their excellent recording of our performance. We enjoyed listening to ourselves on the coach coming home. A very special thank you to Fiona for doing an excellent job of taking the pictures.
The band continues to enjoy a long association with the Royal British Legion. On Sunday July 13th 2003, we had the privilege of leading the parade through Chester city centre before and after the Cheshire County Annual Thanksgiving Service. A special word of praise is deserved by assistant principal cornet, Tony Brookes, for his excellent playing of The Last Post and Reveille during the service in Chester Cathedral. The band had a trip over to Rhyl on sunday 22 June and won the top section of the Rhyl Festival of Brass with another Jef Sparkes winning programme which comprised Amazonia, from Peter Graham's Windows of the World; Tom Brevik's arrangement of Love Song; Napoli, stunningly played by our principal cornettist, the highly talented, Andy Welsh; and culminating with Doyle's Lament and Cossack Wedding Dance from Peter Graham's Call of the Cossacks. Not only did we win the top section but Andy Welsh won the, much deserved, soloist prize - well done Andy! It was also fantastic to have Roy Sparkes on stage compering our performance. We did notice that you changed your script, Roy. Millenium is a difficult word, though, so we'll let you off. The band had a very successful trip to Blackpool on Sunday 9 March 2003. We were tipped to win the area by 4barsrest.com and they weren't wrong. We are now going to Dundee in September to have a crack at winning the national finals. Sadly the day marked the end of Jamie Meredith's tenure as principal euphonium. After a very distinguished few years with the band Jamie has decided to take a sabatical. The band wish him every success for the future, and would be glad to see him back in Crewe any time he feels like it. Jamie's departure sees an old friend return to the band in the shape of Dave Mason. Dave has previously been the band's pincipal euph. and returns after some time off. Good to have you back, Dave. February 2003 was, sadly, a time to say goodbye to the band's long serving band manager, Mr. Clive Tong, who died after a short, but hard, fight against caner. Clive has been with the band longer than anyone else can remember. Clive will be sadly missed by the band. On a more positive note February also saw the following item published in the Co-op News about the band following their success at the annual entertainments contest at Buxton last summer. For more information, contact jim@britcliffe.net
2006 has started well for the band. A trip to the NEMBBA contest at Derby on 19 February 2006 proved to be a useful run-out for the area test piece, Goff Richards' "Voyage of Dicovery", and also gained the band a few trophies - winner of the first section, best horn player and best bass section.
