December 2011
December is always a busy time of the year for us. we started off on the 2nd with a Christmas concert a St Cuthberts Blyth. The Concert was held by Blyth Rotary Club and the concert was shared with the Blyth Operatic Society, the concert was really well accepted and the back got some very good feedback form the audience.
Our next concert was on the 10th at Morpeth Mothodist Church. This concert was organised by Morpeth Rotary Club, this was a very special concert as the Rotary Clubs worldwide over the past 5 years have been raising money to help fight Polio. This was the clubs final year to hit their target (which they did) and I;m sure they'll find another nobal cause for use to play for next year.
Our final concert of the year was at St John's Ashington which always goes down well. The church was packed, the bands Junior Academy played at half time, conducted by Claire Hornsby the band played a small selection of Christmas pieces, they were fantastic! Well done to everyone who played in the Academy I'm sure they'll be a force to be reckoned with at this years Wansbeck Festival!
The band finished off December and 2011 wih a carol service at The Plough in Ellington, despite the freezing temperatures there was still qite the turn out in the pub car park.
Heres to 2012, the fisrt part is always busy for us as we have an annual competion at Butlins in January and then its the Regional Finals in March, wish us luck, I have a feeling 2012 will be a good year!
Finaly we would like to thank everyone who has supported the band through 2011 and we look forward to your continued support in 2012, We hope you have a Merry Christmas and a Happy New Year!
November 2011
November was a quiet month for us, it started with a rememberance service in Lynemouth where the band played a few humns in the village chirch and then we marched to the local cenotaph where the publis laid their wreaths and John played the Last Post. The month ended on the 26th with the band making thier 1st christmas appearence with the switching on of the Morpeth Chistmas Lights.
We say hello to a new player this month! Dave McKeague joins us on cornet. Dave used ti play with the Reg Vardy Band untill about a year ago when he joined Brighouse & Rastricks Percussion section. Dave has since decided to go back to his routes and join us on cornet. Welcome Dave!
October 2011
October started with the band playing a small concert at Chantry School in Morpeth. The idea was to try and entice some more kids to join our Junior Brass Band Academy, so the concert was opened by our Junior Band who play a small selection of pieces from the Movies such as “Summer Nights” and “All That Jazz”. The concert was very well received and went down really well with the kids, so much so we’ve got about 10 new kids who come along on a Monday night for lessons. But, there’s always room for more so if you know anyone, no matter what age they are, feel free to get in touch.
We finished off October with a Charity Concert in behalf of S.I.S (self-injury support) at Carlisle Cathedral. What a concert it was, the band helped raise funds dor the organisation and the band sounded fantastic in the cathedral, it had an amazing an acoustic! We look forward to hopefully playing there again next year.
September 2011
September was kicked off with band playing at the Hilton Gateshead. Northumbrian Water held a Ball at the Hotel for one of their charities Water Aid, well this year was Water Aids 30th Birthday and the CD we recorded in July is now on sale and all proceeds will be going to Water Aid, CD’s are on sale NOW!! Please feel to get it touch to purchase your CD or even better come to one of our Concerts and buy it there!
We ended September with a small concert in Blyth Bandstand, this is the 3rd year in a row we’ve been asked to play in the band stand and the concert is always well received. I must admit, there’s nothing quite like watching a Brass Band in an old fashioned Bandstand!
We would also like to welcome Charlotte Burton who joins our Cornet Section, Charlotte is the current music teacher at Chantry Middle School which I’m sure will build strong bridges between the school and the Band, and hopefully, entice more kids to join! Welcome Charlotte!
August 2011
August is always quiet month for the band with most members away on holiday we don’t like to commit ourselves too much. However we did have our Annual General Meeting. The band is continuing to go from strength to strength, if we look over the past 12 months we have had a lot of new players join the band and a couple who have left, thankfully more have joined than left. The band haven’t done as well contest wise but this won’t deter us from bring home a trophy next year (hopefully) as we have Butlins in January and the North of England Championships in March. Band officials were also elected, Martin Joicey was re-elected as Band Chairman, John Colvine was re-elected as Band Manager & Secretary, Winnie Brannan was re-elected as Treasurer, Bob Shotton was re-elected as Vice Secretary & Registration Officer and Beth Barnes was re-elected as Band Liberian. Les Barnes, Hewie Marshall, Daryl Rose, Kane Dunnett and Susan Colvine were all elected as committee members. Hewie was elected as Vice Chairman in Richard Northey’s Absence.
July 2011
July was a busy month for us! It started with a recording of a CD. We were asked by our sponsor Northumbrian Water to record a CD which they will be revealing at one of their corporate balls. The CD is made up of a selection of pieces we played in our summer concerts. The day we recorded it was quite an experience and one I don’t think the band will forget, it all kicked off at about 8:00am with a trip to the band room to collect all the instruments and equipment we would need. The recording session started at about 10am, we recorded a colossal 11 tracks in just 6 hours, which we thought was quite an achievement! The CD is being released in September and will be available for purchase.
We would like to thank Daryl and Beth who spent a number of hours in ASDA making sure we were well supplied with water, tea, coffee and biscuits and a huge thank you to John and Susan Colvine who supplied us with Pie Peas for lunch, and thank you to all he friends and Family of the band who help out as well. We would also like to thank our guests on the day, Dave for helping out on Sop, Kieran on Percussion, Michael on Trombone, Roy on EEb Bass, Cath on 1st Horn, John and Phil form Reelsound Audio for making the process rather enjoyable, Father David Palmer and the church wardens for letting us use St Andrews Church and finally to Steve Malcolm for being our Executive Producer on the album.
July also brought us the Durham Miners Gala, where for the second year we marched Usworth Collieries Banner into Durham City. Thanks to the glorious British summer we all got soaked, but all in all it was a very good day. Looking forward to next year.
We have quite a few outdoor jobs throughout July, Brook Heatherdale Care Home in Amble on the 24th and Picnic in the Park in Morpeth on the 31st which kept us busy. Thank you to the public for your continued support and for cheering us on
June 2011
June is a very busy time of year for the band, we would like to thank all of our member for their commitment during this busy time and for attending all rehearsals and all the concerts and we would like to thank you the public for your continued support. We started the month will a well recieved concert at St Jonhn's in Ashington, followed a by a summer concert at St Mary's Church Blyth the following Friday, a Wedding on the Saturday and finally a Renewables festival at Blyth Harbour on Sunday (Busy weekend). We finished off June with a concert at the Officers Mess at RAF Boulmer where the band always enjoy themselfs.
Sadley we say good bye to one of our members, Lawrence Peart our Soprano Cornet Player who is leaving the band to persure his career down in Plymouth. Lawrence has been with the band for many years and has played a key role in the bands servival. He is a very flexable player and has played in many seat with in the band from BBb Bass to Bartione and Euphonium, and Solo Horn. Lawrence has also conducted the band on many occassions, helping out when Jonathan has been unavailable and he really kept the band going when we went a short period with out a Conductor. Lawrence gave his Final Bow at St John's where he played a beautiful redition of "Flowerdale".
But as Lawrence departs he hands the seat over to out new Sporano player Wesley Sutton who joins us from Dunston Silver Band. Wesley is a keen young Soprano player and he makes a great addition to the cornet section and to the Band! Welcome Wesley!
July looks exciting! we're starting the month by recording TWO CD's. We been asked by Northumbrian Water to recorded a CD for them and we have also been asked by Woodhorn Colliery to recorded a traditional CD for them. Watch this space for an update in July!
March 2011
March, as always, brings us the North of England Regional Finals. For all we came 6th and didn’t get the result we felt we deserved the band had an amazing day, we were well rehearsed and the band went on stage as a team and played without fear, onwards and upwards. Our Conductor was very pleased with our performance and we would also like to thank Jonathan for all the extra rehearsals he put on giving up a lot of his time to give us sectional and one-2-one tuition. Bring on 2012, I’m sure if the band continues with all the hard work we’ll come away with a Trophy soon.
Good news, we would like to welcome back Laura Attwood who has come back after an 18 month break due to her duties and service in Afghanistan, Welcome Back Laura. We would also like to welcome to the band our new percussionist Patrick Taylor, Patrick joined our Brass Academy a few years ago and impressed Jonathan so much he was asked to join the senior band. Welcome Patrick. Congratulations to our Baritone player Kirsty Maier, Kirsty and husband Roger are expecting the birth of their first child later on this year! We wish Kirsty and Roger all the best for their future as a family. Unfortunately we must say farewell to Chris Travis and Joseph Gauden. Chris leaves the band to pursue a career in the Army and Joseph leaves the band due to other school and sporting commitments we wish both Chris and Joseph all best and you are welcome back at anytime.
Don forget you can follow us on Facebook. Just search "Northumbrian Wather Ellington Colliery Brass Band". Or simply click on the following link.
February 2011
The band was approached by a music composer called Benjamin Till who had written a musical celebrating the 30th Anniversary for the Tyne and Wear Metro called “METRO The Musical”. The band had been recommended to Benjamin by BBC Newcastle. We recorded our parts in Hall 2 at the Sage Gateshead on Sunday 6th Feb. What an experience that was! Once the music had been recorded it was time to shoot the video, the BBC recorded us in a scrap yard just outside Pallion Metro station. It was a night the band will never forget, standing in muddy water on a freezing February evening; in the long run it was worth it. The end result is fantastic and it was unveiled live on Look North on 24th March 2011. If you missed the show you can watch the video on one of the following websites, www.bbc.co.uk/tyne or www.bbc.co.uk/wear. The video will be available to purchase soon, or you can pre-order your copy at one the mentioned BBC websites. All proceeds will be going to Children In Need.
January 2011
Now we’re into January it’s time for Butlins. The band had an amazing weekend away for all the result wasn’t what we’d hoped. Although, it was the best result we have ever come away with at Butlins, so some good news there. We would just like to take a chance to thank John for all his hard work putting the weekend together, he made sure we were all where we were supposed to be and that we were there on time, which made the whole weekend a lot easier for us. Thank you John.
December 2011
December is always a busy time of the year for us. we started off on the 2nd with a Christmas concert a St Cuthberts Blyth. The Concert was held by Blyth Rotary Club and the concert was shared with the Blyth Operatic Society, the concert was really well accepted and the back got some very good feedback form the audience.
Our next concert was on the 10th at Morpeth Mothodist Church. This concert was organised by Morpeth Rotary Club, this was a very special concert as the Rotary Clubs worldwide over the past 5 years have been raising money to help fight Polio. This was the clubs final year to hit their target (which they did) and I;m sure they'll find another nobal cause for use to play for next year.
Our final concert of the year was at St John's Ashington which always goes down well. The church was packed, the bands Junior Academy played at half time, conducted by Claire Hornsby the band played a small selection of Christmas pieces, they were fantastic! Well done to everyone who played in the Academy I'm sure they'll be a force to be reckoned with at this years Wansbeck Festival!
The band finished off December and 2011 wih a carol service at The Plough in Ellington, despite the freezing temperatures there was still qite the turn out in the pub car park.
Heres to 2012, the fisrt part is always busy for us as we have an annual competion at Butlins in January and then its the Regional Finals in March, wish us luck, I have a feeling 2012 will be a good year!
Finaly we would like to thank everyone who has supported the band through 2011 and we look forward to your continued support in 2012, We hope you have a Merry Christmas and a Happy New Year!
November 2011
November was a quiet month for us, it started with a rememberance service in Lynemouth where the band played a few humns in the village chirch and then we marched to the local cenotaph where the publis laid their wreaths and John played the Last Post. The month ended on the 26th with the band making thier 1st christmas appearence with the switching on of the Morpeth Chistmas Lights.
We say hello to a new player this month! Dave McKeague joins us on cornet. Dave used ti play with the Reg Vardy Band untill about a year ago when he joined Brighouse & Rastricks Percussion section. Dave has since decided to go back to his routes and join us on cornet. Welcome Dave!
October 2011
October started with the band playing a small concert at Chantry School in Morpeth. The idea was to try and entice some more kids to join our Junior Brass Band Academy, so the concert was opened by our Junior Band who play a small selection of pieces from the Movies such as “Summer Nights” and “All That Jazz”. The concert was very well received and went down really well with the kids, so much so we’ve got about 10 new kids who come along on a Monday night for lessons. But, there’s always room for more so if you know anyone, no matter what age they are, feel free to get in touch.
We finished off October with a Charity Concert in behalf of S.I.S (self-injury support) at Carlisle Cathedral. What a concert it was, the band helped raise funds dor the organisation and the band sounded fantastic in the cathedral, it had an amazing an acoustic! We look forward to hopefully playing there again next year.
September 2011
September was kicked off with band playing at the Hilton Gateshead. Northumbrian Water held a Ball at the Hotel for one of their charities Water Aid, well this year was Water Aids 30th Birthday and the CD we recorded in July is now on sale and all proceeds will be going to Water Aid, CD’s are on sale NOW!! Please feel to get it touch to purchase your CD or even better come to one of our Concerts and buy it there!
We ended September with a small concert in Blyth Bandstand, this is the 3rd year in a row we’ve been asked to play in the band stand and the concert is always well received. I must admit, there’s nothing quite like watching a Brass Band in an old fashioned Bandstand!
We would also like to welcome Charlotte Burton who joins our Cornet Section, Charlotte is the current music teacher at Chantry Middle School which I’m sure will build strong bridges between the school and the Band, and hopefully, entice more kids to join! Welcome Charlotte!
August 2011
August is always quiet month for the band with most members away on holiday we don’t like to commit ourselves too much. However we did have our Annual General Meeting. The band is continuing to go from strength to strength, if we look over the past 12 months we have had a lot of new players join the band and a couple who have left, thankfully more have joined than left. The band haven’t done as well contest wise but this won’t deter us from bring home a trophy next year (hopefully) as we have Butlins in January and the North of England Championships in March. Band officials were also elected, Martin Joicey was re-elected as Band Chairman, John Colvine was re-elected as Band Manager & Secretary, Winnie Brannan was re-elected as Treasurer, Bob Shotton was re-elected as Vice Secretary & Registration Officer and Beth Barnes was re-elected as Band Liberian. Les Barnes, Hewie Marshall, Daryl Rose, Kane Dunnett and Susan Colvine were all elected as committee members. Hewie was elected as Vice Chairman in Richard Northey’s Absence.
July 2011
July was a busy month for us! It started with a recording of a CD. We were asked by our sponsor Northumbrian Water to record a CD which they will be revealing at one of their corporate balls. The CD is made up of a selection of pieces we played in our summer concerts. The day we recorded it was quite an experience and one I don’t think the band will forget, it all kicked off at about 8:00am with a trip to the band room to collect all the instruments and equipment we would need. The recording session started at about 10am, we recorded a colossal 11 tracks in just 6 hours, which we thought was quite an achievement! The CD is being released in September and will be available for purchase.
We would like to thank Daryl and Beth who spent a number of hours in ASDA making sure we were well supplied with water, tea, coffee and biscuits and a huge thank you to John and Susan Colvine who supplied us with Pie Peas for lunch, and thank you to all he friends and Family of the band who help out as well. We would also like to thank our guests on the day, Dave for helping out on Sop, Kieran on Percussion, Michael on Trombone, Roy on EEb Bass, Cath on 1st Horn, John and Phil form Reelsound Audio for making the process rather enjoyable, Father David Palmer and the church wardens for letting us use St Andrews Church and finally to Steve Malcolm for being our Executive Producer on the album.
July also brought us the Durham Miners Gala, where for the second year we marched Usworth Collieries Banner into Durham City. Thanks to the glorious British summer we all got soaked, but all in all it was a very good day. Looking forward to next year.
We have quite a few outdoor jobs throughout July, Brook Heatherdale Care Home in Amble on the 24th and Picnic in the Park in Morpeth on the 31st which kept us busy. Thank you to the public for your continued support and for cheering us on