News from 2006

Band Members Solo Competition    28/01/06

We held our annual Solo contest in the Community Centre, with 36 of our members taking part. This contest is very special to us, as it is in memory of Jenny Ralston, Lynsey Wardrop and Emma Paterson, all of whom were members of this band and whose lives were tragically cut short.

Ronnie Tennant of Band Supplies in Glasgow returns to Campbeltown for the 2nd time to adjudicate our contest, after he adjudicated our 1st competition in 1998. The accompanists were Catherine Black, Angela McEwan and David McEwan.

New Year News and a weekend of lessons!    14/01/06

Happy New Year!! 

Campbeltown Brass started 2006 of with some fabulous news of a successful grant application being awarded to us, enabling various tutors to come to the town and provide free lessons for all members. To start the year off we invited Alison Bonnar and Charlie Farren from the Scottish Co-op Band down again and along with Craig they spent their weekend with one-to-one lessons. This weekend was very useful for the players as they used their lesson time to concentrate on preparing for our own Solo Contest at the end of the month and also for the Scottish Solo Championships in February. 

We also had a 4 hour practice on Sunday with Craig, to start work on our set test piece, Entertainments, for the forth-coming Scottish Championships in March.

February

Training Weekend for Scottish Championships    24/02/06 - 26/02/06

After last years successful training weekend in Glasgow before the Scottish Championships, we held another one, this time in Campbeltown. We invited the Co-op's Charlie Farren down again, as well as our newly signed Soprano player, Tom Poulson, to help out, and along with Craig began to dig out our test piece, "Entertainments".

It was straight into a practice on Friday night to see which parts of the piece needed the most work, then it was sectionals all day on Saturday and Sunday with a full band practice at the end of each day. By the end of the weekend, the piece was sounding pretty good and hopefully we'll be able to give our best performance on the stage in Motherwell, on March 11th.

Stephanie also benefited from some lessons from Tom, and was playing the solos beautifully by Sunday afternoon. Tom, who is originally from Sussex, is now studying at the RSAMD in Glasgow. He is a member of National Youth Band of Great Britain and also a member the European Youth Band. We're very pleased to have signed Tom on the Soprano chair, although he did get a bit of stick from the result of the Scotland/England rugby match!!!

Instrument Changes

We have had a few people shifting around instruments and positions just in time for the Scottish Championships, to make the sections stronger.

Katrina Barr had 1st decided move onto EEb Bass to help Willie and Ewan in the bass section, as she wasn't getting much time on baritone due to conducting the band when Craig's not here, but found herself going back onto cornet, to strengthen up the back row!

Murray Ralston moves up from 2nd to 1st baritone to fill Katrina's place and Julie Brown has moved onto 2nd horn from euphonium as Karen Semple has just acquired a shiny new set of braces and will be taking it easy for a while!!

With only having two basses for the contest, we can afford to use David Cosgrove alongside Mark on 2nd trombone and use two 2nd baritones, Greg Bannatyne and George Good.

Scottish Solo and Ensemble Championships    4/02/06 - 5/02/06

The start of February saw members of the band travelling to Livingston for the Scottish Solo and Ensemble Championships, where Roger Webster (Grimethorpe) and David Thornton (Black Dyke) were adjudicating.

The Quintet retained their title of Intermediate Ensemble Champions, for the 3rd year. Its just as well they did, as nobody could remember where the trophy was from last year!! It was eventually found after they had all left for Livingston, still in the engravers shop, where it had sat since April last year!!!

Erin McSporran continued her winning success by coming 1st in the Junior Solos playing Wiederkehr, beating a very strong field of 14 competitors in the class.

Mark Good and Lynne Campbell came 5th and 9th respectively, in the Intermediate solos, where 18 competitors took part.

Willie Ralston came 14th out of 19, in the Open solos. He decided to do try something different this year, playing "Blue Bells of Scotland", on the BBb Bass, something that raised a few laughs between the other soloists when they 1st heard what he was doing!!!

Also congratulations to former bandmember Stuart Gorringe, and close friend of Campbeltown Brass, Alan Edmond, who are part of Broxburn & Livingston's Senior Quartet. They won the Open Ensemble class by a 5 point winning margin, and of which Roger Webster said of their performance, "it was without doubt the best playing (so far) I have heard all weekend." Well done to Stuart and Alan and the rest of Broxburn's ensemble!

March

Mid Argyll Music Festival    25/03/06

The band travelled to Lochgilphead to compete in the annual music festival on Saturday 25th March, with also quite a few of our players of the band playing solos and duets throughout the day. Our players nearly managed a clean sweep of all the trophies on offer from their competitions during the day, but Greg and George narrowly missed out in their duet class. The Quintet were on fine form as usual and won their class too. Nigel Boddice was adjudicating the classes and gave a very high opinion of the standard our players performed during the day and of both bands performances at night.

Alison Bonner, Caroline Munro and Charlie Farren from the Scottish Co-op were down again taking lessons with the kids throughout the weekend. We were very grateful to Charlie for stepping in to conduct the band at Lochgilphead, as Craig was busy, and to Alison and Caroline for joining in and playing. This was Charlie's 1st competition conducting a brass band, and was in great order on winning the contest as well!!

Adjudication Sheets from Championships    21/03/06

This is the remarks that our adjudicators, Raymond Tennant and John Maines wrote about our performance from last weekend's Scottish Championships in Motherwell. Some very good points mentioned and also some points that we need to improve our playing on for the future! 

Click to enlarge the comments.

4th at Scottish Championships!    11/03/06

The band travelled to the Civic Theatre in Motherwell to compete in the 3rd Section of the Scottish Championships. The test piece the competing bands had to play this year, was Gilbert Vinters' Entertainments. Although we knew our section would be a tough one with 1 or 2 other bands to watch out for on the day, we still were hoping for a good result. Drawn 6th, we gave a very good and satisfying performance, and after the results were happy to come 4th.

It was a tricky piece, but our performance got a lot of praise from the adjudicators and from various members of the audience. With 19 players under the age of 18, playing against adult bands with lots more experience, and playing a test piece that was widely considered far too hard for the 3rd section, we were just a couple of points short of qualifying for the Nationals Finals and promotion to the 2nd section. But well done to Tullis Russell and Broxburn Silver in qualifying for the finals.

April

Success at Dunfermline!    24/04/06

Campbeltown Brass travelled to Dunfermline to compete in the Fife Brass Band Festival on Saturday 22nd April. There were 6 other bands against us in the 3rd section, but we managed to come 1st despite some tough competition. Fielding only 2 basses, we had space for Karen Semple to join Julie Brown on 2nd horn and also to use both Greg Bannatyne and George Good on 2nd baritone. We also had to take to the stage twice as we had been drawn 1st and had sat down ready to play, only to find the adjudicator wasn't in the box, so we had to come off the stage and go back on once he was seated!!!

We played "Mission Impossible, Over the Rainbow (Horn Soloist Lynne Campbell), Punchinello, The Shepherds Song and An American Trilogy."

Former band member Hazel Barr collecting 1st prize on our behalf.

Mark and Jamie also played for our former conductor's band, Flimby Saxhorn and Willie also played for Craig's other band Newmilns & Galston.

Campbeltown Head For the Whit Marches    22/04/06

Campbeltown Brass are organizing a scratch band to go to the Whit Friday marches, and are looking for players to join the line up.

We are leaving on Thursday evening 8th June, with a pick up in Glasgow at approx 8pm, and staying in Carlisle overnight. Rehearsal on Friday morning, check in to the hotel in Oldham approx 3pm, and start contests at 4pm. We will try to do as many contests as we can, with any prize money won split equally. For the return journey the band will leave the hotel at approx 11am Saturday.

We may even be the only Scottish band there so this is a good opportunity to represent Scotland. We are taking a 49 seater bus so the more people that come, the cheaper it will be. Based on 30 people coming the cost is £80 which includes 2 nights accommodation and travel. The more people that sign up the less the cost will be.

There are no restrictions on numbers for the road march but only 25 players are allowed for the contest march so players would be rotated if the band is over subscribed.

Anyone interested in a fun weekend with lots of laughs, and probably lots of light refreshments, this is a great opportunity. Please email dakbar@globalnet.co.uk or call 07900980076 to book your place.

Black Dyke concert in Perth    1/04/06

We organised a bus trip to see the world famous Black Dyke Band play a concert in Perth's Concert Hall. There was 27 band members and 9 parents away to watch the band put on a fantastic concert which was organised to raise funds for a Resource Centre in Kasama, Zambia. It was a sell-out concert in the 1200 seater hall and we managed to get sitting in the front 2 rows, so it was very close to the action!!

As many of you will know, the bumper-up of Black Dyke, is former Campbeltown Brass player, Morvern Gilchrist. She was featured in the slow movement of Four Scottish Dances and played it beautifully. After the concert she took time to speak to our young cornet players of the band, who were just in awe of her and the rest of the band's playing during the night!!! She gave them some advice and promised to give them some lessons next time she's back home. Hopefully seeing Black Dyke in concert will give our kids some inspiration and realise that it is possible to reach the top, by sticking with their playing and working hard.

Mull of Kintyre Half Marathon and 10k race    28/05/06 

On Sunday 28th May, some members of the band competed in the races to raise money for band funds. Craig Anderson and Kenny Campbell did the Half Marathon, while a few parents ran the 10k. Kenny did exceptionally well and finished 7th in the marathon, the 2nd local competitor to finish!!! Well done to all who competed.

Also that weekend Craig took a rehearsal on the Friday night, and did a tutoring course on the Saturday for older members, so they could learn how to teach beginner players, which will come in very useful for the future!

Wedding Bells!!!    20/05/06

Congratulations to our 1st trombone player, Andrew Ralston who married his fiancé, Diane McDougall in the Lorne & Lowland Church, on 20th May 2006. Many of the band's members attended to witness their happy occasion and then it was off to a fantastic reception, being held in the marquee back at Andrew's farm.

Congratulations to Mr. and Mrs. Ralston, all of the band send their very best wishes for your happy future together.

Well done to Craig Anderson and Kingdom Brass!!    14/05/06

A big congratulations from all at Campbeltown Brass to our conductor Craig Anderson and one of his other bands, Kingdom Brass. He recently took them to victory by winning the Senior Trophy at the Spring Festival in Blackpool. They were playing the set test-piece "The Essence of Time" and were the only other Scottish band competing in that section. They gain promotion into the Senior Cup next year, one step closer to the Grand Shield Contest which qualifies for the British Open.

Associated Board Music Grades    12/05/06

A few of our members undertook the Associate Board Music Grades recently through the Grammar School, with every entrant passing, including 8 members passing with distinction. Well done to all.

June

Lifeboat Day    24/06/06

Campbeltown Brass turned out to play at the annual Lifeboat Gala day, down on the pier. Craig was down and conducted our short concert to the audience who had came out to support the local Lifeboat Station. The fundraising committee were also out working hard, selling helium balloons as part of our Balloon Race competition. Around 500 balloons were set off into the sky, we'll see who had the furthest travelled balloon and announce the winner shortly!

Annual General Meeting    22/06/06

Kintyre Music Festival    14/06/06 - 17/06/06

This past week saw the annual Kintyre Music Festival, held in locations across Campbeltown. All sorts of musicians, from singers to woodwind players to brass players, were extremely busy taking part. All musicians put in a huge amount of work, taking part in various competitions throughout the week. Most brass events took place in the Lorne and Lowland Church, an excellent venue for such competitions. Although numbers in the brass classes were lower than in past years, quality remained at an extremely high level.

Everyone from players with less than a year’s experience to those reaching the age of leaving school put on performances to be proud of. However, a competition is a competition and the adjudicators were faced with some difficult decisions to make. The adjudicator of the brass classes was Mr Russell Cowieson. As always, a huge thanks is owed to him for his constructive comments throughout the festival.

(Thanks to Mark Good for the report and results from the festival)

Southend Conventical    11/06/06

Members of the both bands travelled down to Southend village for the Annual Southend Church Conventical, at St Columba's footprints. The weather was nice and there wasn't the usual midges about!! The band accompanied the singers on the side of the hill during the service.

Campbeltown and guests head to Whit Friday!    09/06/06

Campbeltown Brass organised a scratch band of current players and ex-members of Campbeltown Brass to travel down to Yorkshire, to compete in the Whit Friday Marches around the Saddleworth area. The band also invited guests from other Scottish bands, including members from bands of the Scottish Co-op, Irvine and Dreghorn, Lochgelly, Jedforest, Kirkintilloch Kelvin and also members from the famous YBS band and Black Dyke Band. Together they were called "Tartan Brass" and were conducted by former Campbeltown Brass conductor, Gordon Evans MBE.

Tartan Brass played the Scottish march “Moray Firth” on the traditional road march to the contest ring, where they then played “Punchinello” for the adjudicator. They were the only Scottish band competing against 139 other bands round the circuit, with big name bands such as Brighouse and Rastrick, Fodens, Faireys and also many youth bands and scratch bands. They competed at 6 contests in total around the different villages, starting at 4.30pm and then finishing in Delph village, around 12.00am!!! At Delph, they were booked in band number 69, and had to play after Brighouse and Rastrick, then the local band, the Delph Band!! The atmosphere was electric and the band had a great response marching down the street and into the contest ring! Some members wore their kilts to keep the Scottish theme going, which got a good reception from the audience. Special thanks go to the bus driver, Jackie Morrison of West Coast Motors for navigating the unfamiliar roads of the Yorkshire Dales, enabling the band to compete at 6 villages.

With the band meeting together for the first time at the rehearsal on the Friday morning, they played extremely well together and finished 28th out of the 40 bands that were eligible for qualification of prizes, (bands that did 6 villages or more), from the record 139 bands competing in the Saddleworth circuit.

With the success of this trip and with all the new friends made, the band plan to return next year, for “Tartan Brass on Tour 07”!!

Watch out for more photos that will be getting added to this page!!!!!

Official photographs from our performance at Delph at www.brassbandphotos.com

Bass Player plays with Virtuosi Brass!    10/06/06

After the Whit Friday contests, our BBb bass player Willie Ralston, travelled to Rainford, near Warrington to join in a concert hosted by the newly formed Virtuosi Brass Band. This band was made up from players from Fodens, Faireys, Leyland, BT, Sellars, Freckleton and Staffordshire bands, and with members from the Young Ambassadors Brass Band. They played a concert to raise funds for The Rainford band, who are heading to the National Finals in September.

The programme included The Champions, The Arcadians, Gaelforce, Vitae Lux, Toccata in D Minor and The Pines Of Rome. The soloists featured were Mark Wilkinson (Fodens)- Share My Yolk, Helen Varley (BT) - Goodbye To Love, and John Barber (Fodens)- Autumn Leaves. 

With such big name players as Mark Wilkinson (Principal cornet at Fodens), John Barber (Solo trombone at Fodens), Alex Thomas (British Open Solo Champion 2004), Brendan Wheeler (BBC Radio 2 Young Brass Soloist of 2005), and Russell Gray (Conductor of Leyland and legendary cornet soloist, "Mr Arban"), it was a full house and the concert raised £1900 for Rainford's trip to Harrogate later in the year.