2007 - A Year In The Life Of..

Bradwell Silver Band has not produced a regular newsletter during the past twelve months and so the editor of the website asked me to summarise the activities of the Band for the past year. We are happy to report that we now have a newly appointed newsletter editor and plans are well in hand for the issuing of regular editions of the Bradwell Bugle.

2007 has been another busy year for the Bradwell Silver Band appearing at a wide variety of events and functions. By the end of December we will have made some 34 public appearances and with twice a week rehearsals this represents a high level of commitment from the playing membership and Musical Director. Chris Johnston.

We began the year’s public performances by playing at a birthday party in Downs Barn towards the end of January.

In February a ten piece ensemble played at the Stony Stratford Methodist Church in an enjoyable evening of joint music making with the church choir.

March brought the annual London and Southern Counties Region of the National Brass Band Championships of Great Britain qualifying contest held in Stevenage. This year’s test piece was Darrol Barry’s ‘Prelude and Jubilate’ and proved to be a stern test of our abilities. Despite a lot of hard work having been put in at rehearsals, our performance failed to make any impression on the adjudicator and coupled with our similarly poor result last year means the band will be relegated to the Fourth Section as from January 2008.

Fortunately there is much more to being in a band than contesting and we were soon rehearsing for some high profile events. The first of these was in April where we performed a joint concert at the Stantonbury Theatre with our closest neighbours, Wolverton Town Band, to celebrate the 40th anniversary of Milton Keynes. Both bands enjoyed the experience and the wish was expressed that we do this again on an annual basis.
This was followed a week later with our annual Spring concert in the Parish Church of St James.

May saw us playing at the May Day Fayre organised by the New Bradwell Sports and Social Club. This should have been an outdoor event but having set up ready to play the heavens opened and we were obliged to move inside the clubhouse. With everyone else trying to seek shelter we were cramped into a tight space for our allotted one hour spot.
   
We then unusually had a six week gap before our next engagement in June, a marching job for the Bletchley Branch of the Royal British Legion commemorating the 25th anniversary of the Falklands Campaign. On the last day of June we played in the prestigious Woburn Golf Club as guests were arriving for an elegant dinner dance, the theme of the evening being “A Night at the Oscars”. To add to the atmosphere a stretch limo was parked outside the entrance and guests were greeted by a group of “extras” posing as fans who cheered each new arrival as though they were famous film stars.  

The following day we were at Paganell Grange, a residential care home. As was the case for most of what was a poor summer weather-wise, we played indoors rather than outside as had been the plan.

July saw the New Bradwell School Carnival with the Band proudly marching at the head of the procession of colourfully decorated floats that wends its way round the streets of New Bradwell. We then gave a performance as part of the events organised in the school grounds. Later in the month we provided musical accompaniment for the Patronal Service in the parish church of St. James

August saw the band performing at The annual Drayton Parslow Village Produce Association summer show and Tiger Moth Rally at Woburn Abbey, both events affected somewhat by the continuing poor weather. August Bank Holiday brought a rare dry day as we performed at Stony Stratford Town Fayre, an event organised by the ladies of Milton Keynes (Stony Stratford) Lions Club the theme being celebrating 40 years of MK as the ‘New City’.

The first Sunday in September we were at the head of the parade for the annual Memorable Order of Tin Hats (MOTHs) service at their national memorial in central Milton Keynes. A concert was performed in the Parish Church of Stony Stratford and we took part in a special church service at St. James to welcome their new curate.

October saw the Band’s own soloist competition which attracted a bumper entry from our members. An enjoyable concert was given at the newly opened retirement village at Willen, a complex of some 250 apartments and bungalows equipped with virtually every service and facility residents will need – from a health centre to a bowling green. An autumn concert was performed at St. James.

November brought the annual Remembrance Day parade and we entered the Leicester Contest. Fuller reports on these can be read in the December/January issue of the Bradwell Bugle.

December will be a busy month with a scheduled 15 engagements culminating in the traditional tour of the streets starting at 6:00 a.m. on Christmas morning.

During the course of the year we have lost the services of Liz Keech who decided to retire from playing, Adam Keech who has gone to university and most recently Mike Sanders. We have been pleased to welcome new members Byron Cox and Brin Carstens.