2003 News

We had a dreadful start to the year when we were given the devastating news of the sudden death of cornet player, Emma Paterson, along with her friend, Judi Angus, in a road accident on 3rd January. Claire McLean, also a passenger in the vehicle, suffered serious injuries but, thankfully, has made a full recovery. The band played at Emma’s funeral service at the Lorne and Lowland Church and many former band members were also there.

Before the end of the month we found that we were to lose our Musical Director as Gordon Evans decided, after 25 years in Campbeltown, to move to Cumbria to take up a teaching post there. Many of us wondered if that would be the end of Campbeltown Brass but we needn’t have worried as we will see later.

Saw us undertake our annual trip to England and we competed in the 16 and under British Championships at Manchester gaining a very creditable third place. It is always difficult travelling to the heart of brass band country so we were all delighted with the gold award we received. 

After competing at Manchester it was on down to Corby where we performed that same evening in St. Ninian’s Church. As always we were very well looked after and the concert takings went towards the Church’s new toilet fund, the second time in three months we had played for such a cause – is someone trying to tell us something! On Sunday morning the band played at the church service at St Ninian’s where the sermon could only be described as "different". Then it was on to Bedford to play at the W.I. concert. On Monday we played in Corby Town Centre (an open air bandstand in February!). It was not warm but the welcome was, with the Mayor of Corby coming along, complete with chain of office, to welcome us. At night we played at the Salvation Army Citadel in Kettering and on Tuesday made the long journey to Colchester to play at the Salvation Army there. Then it was a quick dash back to Corby and a concert at the Corby Silver Band Club in the evening. By Wednesday everyone was exhausted and quite pleased to return home to Campbeltown. This was our seventh trip to Corby and Kettering, originally as the Campbeltown Grammar School Brass Band, but now as Campbeltown Brass, and the hospitality and kindness shown to us on every occasion has been second to none.

Saw us competing at the Scottish Area Championships where we put on a reasonably good show, certainly good enough to consolidate our position in the third section. Later in the month we took part in the Mid Argyll Music Festival, winning the band contest for the thirteenth year in a row and returning home with several solo and ensemble trophies.

April

Was a fairly quiet month as we prepared for the Carnegie Invitation Contest at Dunfermline and we contemplated Gordon’s now imminent departure for Cumbria.

On 17th we put on a concert in the Victoria Hall to say farewell to Gordon. The hall was packed with members of the public and ex-band members, many of whom played in a massed band at the end. Special guests were John Boax of Dalmellington Band and NYBBS and Alan Edmond of Livingston Band, who have been great friends of Campbeltown Brass for many years.

The following week we travelled to Dunfermline with a fairly young band and took second place in our section in what was Gordon’s last contest with us. The following day, on a beautiful early summer day we played, along with the Grammar School Wind Band, the Kintyre Schools Junior Wind Band and Kintyre Schools Pipe Band to a packed crowd in Burnside Square.

By now Gordon had gone and we were feeling a bit lost. Paul Murphy was in temporary charge of the band and we are extremely grateful to him for helping us out through a difficult time. Towards the end of the month Katrina said that she would like band practices to continue on an informal basis throughout the summer holidays and also to invite some young players along on a Tuesday night to give them a flavour of what Campbeltown Brass was all about. She asked if some of the older players could come along to help out and at the first practice 29 turned up along with 14 new members.

Tuesday and Thursday practices continued throughout the month with tremendous turnouts on both nights. It was great to see ex-members also coming along to help out. By the end of July we decided that we were confident enough to continue without Mr Murphy and Katrina became interim Musical Director. We played at various local functions with great success. Such was the confidence we were feeling that we entered Brass in the Park and Katrina agreed to conduct what was to be her first contest.

As always we were well represented at the annual NYBBS course at St Andrews and rehearsals continued throughout the month. At the end of the month we travelled to Newtongrange to compete in Brass in the Park, very nerve-wracking for all concerned, but we put up an excellent show. Although we weren’t amongst the prize-winners the fact we were there at all was a triumph and Karen McCormick took second place in the under-16 solo contest. We were accompanied on the trip by Mr Rob Farmer, Gordon’s replacement at Campbeltown Grammar School, who had agreed to become our new musical director.

Saw big changes taking place with the Thursday night band being reduced in number to allow it to progress to a higher level and all other members meeting on a Tuesday with Katrina and Willie. This move caused understandable upset but was proved by subsequent results to be the correct decision. We put on our first concert with the junior band and the audience were overwhelmingly full of praise for what our youngsters had achieved in such a short time. This was also the final appearance with the band for Leigh-Ann MacInnes, Claire McLean, and Emma Morrison who moved on to university and college. Brendan Campbell gave his last performance at Brass in the Park.

We entered two bands for the Scottish Youth Championships and several soloists and ensembles for the West of Scotland championships so October was largely taken up preparing for them. We also entered for the Borders Brass Band contest at Innerleithen. Had we taken on too much?

We purchased new uniform jackets for the contest band as well as new stand banners. These were worn for the first time at a concert in the picture house and, as well as looking smart, the band was beginning to sound really good.

We were all saddened in November by the passing of Mrs Jean McGlashan after a long illness. Jean had been very much a part of the band for many years, accompanying us on nearly all of our trips away, the last one being the Scottish Championships in March when she was clearly not well. Her funeral service in the Highland Parish Church was well attended by band members, past and present. We will miss her and our thoughts remain with Iain, Ross and Craig. We postponed our band members solo contest, which was due to have been held that day, until into the new year.

The following week we travelled to Innerleithen for the Borders Contest, our first contest with Rob as conductor. We came second in the third section and fifth over-all. Many observers thought we should have finished higher but it was a terrific result to go to the Borders where the home bands always appear to have an advantage!

Some members then went to Kilmarnock for the West of Scotland solo and quartet championships. Congratulations go to everyone who played but in particular the following who qualified for the Scottish Final on 7th February 2005, at Livingston:

Our last trip in November was to the Scottish Youth Championships in Glasgow. We entered two bands, one in the under 16s and one in the under 21s. Katrina conducted both bands and we were absolutely delighted to be given gold awards in both contests with the under 16s coming second and the under 21s becoming Scottish Champions. Considering our oldest player was only 17 this was a terrific result and it has to be said that the under 16s included all the young people who only started playing with the band in July. Some were only 10 years old with one just 8 years old!

As always we were very busy in the run-up to Christmas, playing at various carol services, functions and the switch-on of the Christmas lights. We also entertained the shoppers in the last few days before Christmas and raised some much-needed money as a result.

Finally

We are very grateful to Mr Geoffrey Heald-Smith, a noted conductor and band trainer, who now lives in Oban. Mr Heald-Smith has given up his valuable time on several occasions to come down and conduct the band at rehearsals.

We are also grateful to Mr Hedley Wright of Springbank, who has financed the Royal Scottish National Orchestra Brass Quintet to come to Campbeltown to hold a series of master classes with the contest band. We still have one class to come and this will culminate in a concert to be held in the Lorne and Lowland Church on Tuesday 24th February, a date definitely not to be missed.

So there we are, a momentous year for the band, with many ups and downs. We now look forward to another year which, as always, will provide new challenges. Confidence is very high, enthusiasm even higher and the future looks very bright indeed.