Mon 19 Sep 2011
A Happier Day....!

Yesterday we got on the band bus and headed down to Pershore for the Wychavon Festival of Brass.

After last weeks dissapointing result at Bolsover we spent time in rehearsals over the last week refining our performance and we feel it paid off nicely.

We came 5th out of 8 in the Championship section and it must be said the bands competing were of a very high calibre so a fifth place in their company was a very creditable result for us.

The adjudicator Dr Robert Childs commented on how much he enjoyed our performance and that he felt our programme was very well put together. He also remarked how lyrical our Tenor Horn soloist Helen Moore was in her performance of An Untold Story by Paul Lovatt-Cooper.

Our Programme was as follows:

Wychavon Festival of Brass - Championship Section
Conductor: Colin Short

Caravan - Tizol arr. Sykes
An Untold Story - Lovatt-Cooper
Soloist: Helen Moore
The Waltonian
It's A Lovely Day Tomorrow - Berlin arr. Snell
Excerpts from 'The Little Russian' - Tchaikovsky arr. Gordon

Full results are HERE

 

Mon 19 Sep 2011
Departing Players

We would like to officially say 'Goodbye and Thanks For All Your Hard Work' to a number of players who are know departing the band various reasons.

Helen Moore, the band's Solo Horn is leaving the band to concentrate on here Teacher Training course and Loic Losey, front row cornet, is heading back to Switzerland to go do his National Service.

We also say goodbye to Dale and Karen Hitchen (Bb Bass & 2nd Cornet) who after a number of years have decided the time is right for them to leave the band.

Many thanks to you all from everyone at the band and our best wishes for your futures.

The band now has number of vacancies that need filling in preparation for numerous Christmas concerts and the Championship Section Regional Competition in February. Please look at the Homepage or the Players page to see the positions available.

 

Mon 12 Sep 2011
A Disappointing Day...

A long day at Bolsover Festival of Brass, starting with a rehearsal at the venue at 1.30pm, our performance (Draw No.4) which didn't start until after 5.30pm and the adjudication which didn't happen until after 8pm.

Whilst our performance wasn't perfect, we certainly didn't expect the Last Place (7th out of 7) that adjudicator Alan Morrison gave us, especially as audience members had us placed much higher, in fact one experienced adjudicator (who happened to be sat in the audience) had us in 3rd Place.

But that is Brass Band Contesting for you... the results are based on the preferences of one man, so we shall move on and look forward to next weeks contest at Wychavon where hopefully we will receive a far more favourable result.

 

Fri 09 Sep 2011
New Contest Season Begins...

After a long summer break the band has been hard at work for the last few weeks preparing for the new banding contest season which starts this coming Sunday at the Bolsover Festival of Brass entertainment contest.

Colin Short will be conducting the band in the Championship Section of the contest with an exciting programme ... but we won't tell you what the programme is yest (don't want to give away any clues to our rivals!). We expect to be on stage at around 5pm.

Also, the following week the band will be competing in the Championship Section of the Wychavon Festival of Brass, but before these contests we still have to do a Last Night of the Proms concert for a friends at Heald Green!

We'll update you with our contest results as we find out.

 

Mon 11 Jul 2011
See you soon Pete!

The band would like to say 'Au Revoir' and 'Thank you' to solo cornet Pete Weaver. Pete has been with the band for a couple of years but is taking a sabbatical for a few years as he has moved to Charlotte, North Carolina, USA due to work commitments.

We hope to see Pete, who has played pretty much every position on the front row at various times during his time with the band, when he pops back to visit family and friends at Christmas.... we'll be keeping a seat warm for our many Christmas Concerts that are coming up!

 

Fri 01 Jul 2011
Listen again on BBC iPlayer

If you missed the band on Radio 3 (or would just like to hear it again), follow the link below and fast forward to 2:10.30 for the start of Vernon Building Society (Poynton) Brass Band performing 'An Untold Story' by Paul Lovatt-Cooper. Featuring the band's Solo Horn, Helen Moore.

http://bbc.in/jJl1ed

 

Wed 29 Jun 2011
VBS on Radio 3 on Thursday 30th June...

Following the band's recording session with the BBC last Sunday, we are pleased to announce that Vernon Building Society (Poynton) Brass Band's recording of Paul Lovatt-Cooper's 'An Untold Story', featuring the band's Solo Horn Helen Moore, will be broadcast on Radio 3 this Thursday (30th June) sometime after the regular evening concert. We expect this to be around  9.40pm, but please tune in a little earlier to make sure you catch it.

It will also be available on 'listen again' on the BBC iPlayer for one week after the broadcast.

Enjoy! 

 

Mon 27 Jun 2011
Last Brass Band To Record in BBC Studio 7

On Sunday, the band was privileged to be the last brass band to ever record in the hallowed halls of BBC Studio 7.

For many years Studio 7 was the home of the BBC Philharmonic Orchestra, that has now moved to its new home in Salford’s Media City, and has seen some of the world’s finest musicians record there.

As part of BBC Radio Radio 3’s festival of light music, ‘Light Fantastic’ , the band recorded ‘Summon the Dragon’ by Peter Graham, ‘An Untold Story’ by Paul Lovett-Cooper (played by the band’s Solo Tenor Horn Helen Moore) and ‘Dundonell’ from ‘Hymn of the Highlands’ by Philip Sparke.

We will announce the dates that the these recordings will be ‘On-Air’ as soon as we know, but we expect it to be within the next couple of weeks, so please keep checking back here for details.

You can see a few photos of the day in our gallery section of the website

 

Tue 14 Jun 2011
The Cornet Shuffle

The band would like to welcome Loic Losey, from Switzerland, who joins us for 6 months whilst studying in Manchester, on front row cornet.

We are also delighted to welcome back Tim Brocklehurst on Soprano cornet. Tim depped with us for the Regional Contest back in February, but is now back as a regular member of the band.

 

Mon 18 Apr 2011
Music Meets Machines at the Anson

FROM THE VERNON BUILDING SOCIETY WEBSITE
(www.thevernon.co.uk)

Anson Engine Museum hosts the premier performance of 'The Anson', written for the Vernon Building Society (Poynton) Brass Band.

Vernon Building Society (Poynton) Brass Band marked the 150th Anniversary of the internal combustion engine at the Anson Engine Museum on Thursday 7th April 2011 with the premiere performance of ‘THE ANSON’, an original piece of music written by RNCM composer Jonathan Taylor.

Museum Director, Geoff Challinor, commissioned the piece as he wanted to capture the musical qualities of engines and create the museum's very own signature tune. Geoff said, "So many visitors are enchanted by the musical qualities of our historic engines and so we knew it would be fascinating to see how a composer would respond to the sights and sounds of the museum.

"With a celebrated championship section brass band in our village too, we seemed to have all the right ingredients to create our very own signature tune."

The museum is a registered charity and does not receive government or public funding to help towards running costs. Most of the work is carried out and funded by the volunteers and friends of the museum and so the Vernon Building Society was delighted to support the museum by providing refreshments for the premiere evening.

The museum re-opens on Easter Sunday and so if you would like to see our industrial heritage brought to life then visit http://www.enginemuseum.org/ for further details.

 

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