As always. the band have been busy over the summer season, with concerts taking us from Worthing seafront to bandstands in Woking, Farnham and Godalming, as well as a trip to London’s Westminster Abbey Gardens. We’ve played to some fantastic audiences and have been really lucky with the weather for our outside summer concerts!
However, the concert music takes a back seat for a few weeks whilst we focus on our preparation for the National Finals at the Royal Albert Hall on 10 October. This is our third consecutive year at the Finals, and this year definitely presents us with the hardest test piece so far - Spiriti by Thomas Doss. With only two weeks left until the contest, it is full steam ahead with the last few sectionals and our five remaining full band rehearsals. We’ve managed to improve our final placing each year, so we’re hoping to do that once again again this year!
Looking further ahead, we’re delighted to have been invited to compete at this year’s Brass in Concert contest at The Sage in Gateshead. We’ve already started to devise an entertainment programme for this contest, but there’s still a lot to do!
In the meantime, once the National Finals is behind us, we have a couple of concerts to look forward to – where we hope to run out our Brass in Concert programme.
The first concert is on Saturday 24 October at the Electric Theatre in Guildford. We’re pleased to have been invited to take part in their autumn concert series – we haven’t performed at this venue since our appearance in the Brassed Off production with our friends, The Pranksters Theatre Company. Tickets are available to purchase from the Box Office 01483 444789 or www.electrictheatre.co.uk for £10 (£8 concessions) plus booking fee.
The band will be holding our own autumn concert on Saturday 31 October at Connaught School in Aldershot. We’re really pleased to say that we’ll be joined by The Fairey Band, current North West Champions and ranked 11th in the World. In addition, we’ll have special guests, the North East Hants Area Schools’ Band who will again wow the audience with their talented young musicians.
Tickets are now on sale and available from FGBSecretary@gmail.com or 07974 804 394. They are priced at £12 (£10 concessions and accompanied children under 16 free)
We hope you can join us at one of these fantastic local concerts.