Tue 09 Jul 2013
West End Star to appear with the band

We are pleased (even excited!) to announce that West End Musical star Tasha Sheridan will be appearing with the band on Friday 27th September at our charity concert!

As well as being the lead role in the West End production of Mamma Mia, she has toured with numerous shows such as Evita and starred alongside Lesley Garrett in Carousel!

Further details about this exciting concert will be announced soon.

 

Mon 08 Jul 2013
Take That, Beatles... and ... Poynton Band!

As the band's concert schedule winds down over Summer its always good to finish on a high, and as usual we managed it with style, playing to thousands at two high profile outdoor events.

Saturday 15th June saw the band as one of the headline acts at the annual Party in the Park organised by Poynton Rotary. Alongside Want U Back (Take That tribute band) the band entertained the 2000 or so people who had come along for an evening of great music, dancing and fun. As usual the band finished off the night with a Last Night of the Proms set, seeing the whole park bobbing up and down to the Sailors Horn Pipe, and singing and flag waving to Rule Brittania and Jerusalem! The event will once again have raised lots of money for worthy causes and we will see you all there again next year!

Just two weeks later the band were out the beautiful surroundings of Nether Alderley in another field! This time performing with the Backbeat Beatles at the Brass & Beatles festival. Several hundred people were there singing and dancing (and running round the field pretending to be fighter pilots as the band played Dambusters!), once again raising money for 4 great causes. It had been mentioned that this may be the last time that this event is to have been held, however, this has been said before and it keeps on coming back... and at the end of the evening the organiser did say that having seen how much everyone enjoyed themselves it may be worth doing again soon!! Hopefully this wonderful fun event will continue for a few years yet!

 

Fri 21 Jun 2013
Welcoming new higher notes...

The band would like to welcome Lauren Lilly as our new flugel player.  

Lauren replaces Beth Haworth and joins after enjoying her banding with Rainford, Leyland and more recently Drighlington.

Lauren will be with the band full-time after our Brass & Beatles concert which will give her plenty of time to settle in to her seat over the summer in preparation for the new concert/contest season from September onwards.

We would like to thank Beth for the hard work she has put into the band over the last few months and wish her all the best for her future endeavours.

 

Wed 19 Jun 2013
Welcoming new low notes...

The VBS Poynton Band are pleased to announce the arrival of Gareth Steele, who will be joining us on BBb Bass.

Gareth adds a wealth of experience to the current bass line up having previously played with BT, Glossop Old and Marple Bands. Gareth's first concert was last Saturday at 'Party In The Park' in Poynton where the band played to over 2000 people. Gareth will replace long serving BBb Bass player Garry Beswick.

MD Neil Samuel said "I feel very lucky to be able to welcome a player of Gareth's calibre to the band. Gareth not only brings his playing talents with him but he also brings enthusiasm by the bucket load!".

Paying tribute to outgoing BBb bass player Garry Beswick, band chairman Pete Cookson said "Garry has been an absolute pleasure to have in the band room, and more importantly a bandsman who's commitment has never faltered. On behalf of the band I would like to wish Garry all the best for the future".

 

Mon 10 Jun 2013
Sunshine, Brass & Beer

Sunday saw the band performing outside in the sunny beer garden of the Ring O' Bells in Marple. This was the first concert in this year's series of brass band events at the pub, and the band was delighted to see so many people (locals, friends and brass band aficionados) there.

A fun and contrasting programme saw the band play music that included The President (the march we had great success with at this year's Whit Friday contest), Sing (Gary Barlow's Jubilee composition), Prelude on 'The Old Hundredth'Stal Himmel and the ever popular You'll Never Walk Alone. Conductor Neil Samuel also paid tribute to the beautiful ladies in the audience by dedicating a performance of Queen's Fat Bottomed Girls to them!

We also featured a number of soloists over the concert. Principal Cornet Tony Wyatt performed the music from Dances with Wolves in the form of the solo Here's to the Heroes, Tony along with Adrian Horn and Nick Harrington played with high tempo technical wizardry in Bugler's Holiday, Solo Horn Jilly Hazlewood performed a beautiful version of the Carpenter's hit Goodbye to Love, and Solo Euphonium Andy Ingleby gave a stunning rendition of The Holy Well from Peter Graham's testpiece On Alderley Edge. Not forgetting the incredible vocal talents of Pete Cookson in Bannerman !

Many thanks to all those who came and supported the band the Ring O' Bells. We raised a superb £400 for the band and hope to be invited back for the concert series again next year.

 

Mon 27 May 2013
Strength in Numbers

There are a number of new faces to be found at the Vernon Building Society (Poynton) Band.

Simon Highfield has joined the band on percussion from the Hawk Green Band. He made his debut for the band at the recent North West Regional contest in Blackpool.

Meanwhile, 17 year old Rachael Jones comes in on Eb Bass joining from Whaley Bridge Band.

Adrian Horn returns to the band, after a short break, on assistant principal cornet.

We would like to to welcome all three players to the band during what can only be described as exciting times as we continue to build on good results under the new direction of Neil Samuel.

 

Sun 26 May 2013
Dukinfield Whit Friday Champions!

The band might not have won the overall prize of Tameside Whit Friday Champions 2013, but it did come away with a number of prizes.

Playing the Contest March The President by William German and the Street March The Middy, the band managed to get round all eleven Tameside Whit Friday contests, starting at Denton at 4pm, where the band got their first prize of the evening by being the first band to perform at that venue!

The weather, certainly for the first part of the evening, couldn't decide what to do. One minute rain, the next sun... but nearly always a very cold wind! but the band battled on and gave a number of great performances of The President throughout the evening bringing about a 6th Prize (and highest placed 1st Section band) at Hurst Cross, a 4th Prize at Droylsden (you can watch a video of this performance on our Multimedia page) and, to top the evening off, our very last performance of the night at the Tame Valley (Dukinfield) Contest saw the band take 1st Prize where we beat the current National and British Open Champions Fodens Band who claimed the overall Whit Friday Tameside Champions Prize.

Of the 42 bands that competed in the minimum of 6 Tameside contests in order to gain an overall position, Vernon Building Society (Poynton) Brass Band came a very creditable 7th Place.

All members of the band (including our two Whit Friday virgins Nick Harrington and Michael Hunt) had a great time and thanks must go to Andy Ingleby for sorting out the route, Alan Lawton for taking a couple of rehearsals on the contest march and, of course, our conductor Neil Samuel for making the band believe they could win some prizes.

A few photos of the evening can be viewed here.

The video of the band playing at Droylsden can be found here.

 

Mon 20 May 2013
Can We Tame(side) Whit Friday?

Friday 24th May sees the band returning to the Whit Friday Brass Band March Competition. This annual contest sees well over one hundred bands from all over the country (and in some cases further afield) travelling between the villages of Delph, Denshaw, Diggle, Dobcross, Friezland, Greenacres, Greenfield, Grotten, Lees, Lydgate, Scouthead and Uppermill in Saddleworth and between Audenshaw, Broadoak, Carrbrook, Denton, Droylsden, Dukinfield, Heyrod, Hurst, Stalybridge and Upper Mossley in Tameside and performing a Contest March of their choice at as many of these villages as possible in the hope of winning as many contests as possible and becoming either the Tameside or Saddleworth Whit Friday Champions (to be in with a chance you must compete at 6 contests in either the Tameside or Saddleworth regions).

After many years of competing mainly in the Saddleworth area, the band has decided to make an assault on the Tameside contests (no doubt with a raid or two into Saddleworth territory) and are hopeful that, under the watchful eye of new conductor Neil Samuel, we can get some good results and maybe take a few scalps from the some of the 'big name' bands who will be out in force.

Follow the band on twitter (@VBSPoyntonBand) or Facebook (https://www.facebook.com/VBSPoyntonBand) from 4pm onwards to keep up with the action!

We'll let you know results on the website as and we when we know them during the Saturday and Sunday after the contests.

 

Sat 11 May 2013
Asthma Troubles Blown Away

For World Asthma Day, the Band's second euphonium player Helen Mossman tells us how playing in a band has helped her asthma after first being diagnosed 27 years ago.

http://stockportccg.org/wp-content/uploads/2012/02/World-Asthma-Day-.pdf

 

Mon 29 Apr 2013
Success at Buxton & 50 Years for John Anderson

This weekend saw our first outing after the formal appointment of Neil Samuel as Musical Director. Following a hard week of rehearsals the band came 2nd place in the Championship / First Section with a performance of Dances and Arias (E. Gregson).

The weekend also marked a celebration for the bands Principal Trombone, John Anderson, who was presented with a certificate by NWABBA for 50 years service to the brass band movement.

 

 

 

 

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