Friary Brass Band

Welcome to Friary Diary issue 84 - a monthly round up of news about the Friary Brass Band. REGIONAL CHAMPIONSHIPS: Ah well, all good things must come to an end sometime, and when you’ve been at the top for such a long time, sadly there’s only one way to go … At yesterday’s Regional Championships in Stevenage, Friary still made a podium finish, as has been the case each year since 2012, but agonisingly, it was third place, with only the top two bands being invited to the Nati

No, Friary hasn’t been elevated to compete in the European Brass Band Championships … yet, hence the inverted commas! But as revealed in Nigel Stevens’ interview with 4barsrest editor Iwan Fox on 10th March https://www.4barsrest.com/news/53670/interview-with-nigel-stevens Friary was asked to record the set work for the European Brass Band Championships, ‘Saints Triumphant’, by the composer, Prof Philip Wilby to ensure it sounded as he intended before being released to the com

There was disappointment for the Band at last Sunday’s London & Southern Counties Regional Championships as Friary was pipped to the National Finals qualification places by Haverhill and Redbridge. Being drawn to play the last of the 12 competing bands meant a wait of over six hours before the players were on stage, and enforced closure of the booked rehearsal venue whilst most players were already en route to Stevenage resulted in an urgent search for a replacement venue. T

Latest signing for Friary Brass Band is Ben Miller, who joins the Band on E flat bass. Ben’s tuba playing has taken him to all sorts of places, including a rehearsal in a multi-storey car park in Vancouver and Pinewood Studios as a brass playing extra in the Oscar-winning movie Les Miserables. He grew up in West Lothian, the brass banding heartland of Scotland, and spent his teenage years playing with West Lothian Schools Band, Broxburn and Livingston Band and at the Royal Co