Now Christmas is behind us.
After a very hectic lead up to and including the beginning of the Christmas period, during which we performed a Christmas concert, went for an interview at Radio Lancashire and on the following Wednesday did a recording at Radio Lancashire which was broadcast on Christmas day evening. In amongst this there were several out door caroling events in both Blackburn town centre and Darwen Market, plus one for the Sunnyhurst residents association at the beginning of December, a small carol concert at Hoddlesden. This should have been on the green, but snow and ice conditions meant it was indoors in the social centre. A carol service at Pickup Bank Chapel, and another along with the Friends of Sunnyhurst woods on December 21st, the same evening we finished this seasons work at St Georges Church in Mill Hill for a carol service there.
Now into the New Year.
We are now looking forward to the new year with a concert in Thwaites Theater for the British Legion on Saturday 10th January. This to be in the style of a "Last Night At The Proms" event and hope it will be well attended. A similar concert is also coming up on February Thursday 5th at Haslingden High School. Then there will be some more serious work to be done for the first contest of the year, the "Area Contest" in Blackpool.
16th Nov 2008 - Another good result for Darwen Brass!
The band entered the Wilkinsons contest which is an annual event that takes place in St Helens. We were drawn to play fifth in the fourth section, and after a good deal of hard work in rehearsals leading up to the contest, that hard work paid off with being awarded a third prize. This prize was won in a field of other extremely good bands so we are proud of our efforts.
Allan our Flugel player honoured at Fleetwood contest.
Allan Cordall was honoured at Fleetwood Contest by the North West Brass Band Association for his service to Brass Bands. Allan has been associated with brass bands for over 60 years but as the association only recognise 50 years Allan was presented with a certificate for 50 years service and a tie which he wears with great pride.
Allan started playing aged 16 in 1948 with Heywood Old Prize Band. He joined Bury Silver Band in 1949 and stayed with them until Feb 1953 and joined the Army sevice. He did 3 years as a musician the with Lancashire Fusiliers. When he came out of the Army in 1956 he went back to Bury Silver for 1 year the joined the 5th Battalion Lancashire Fusiliers Band (this was a Brass Band) in 1957 for 10 years. In 1967 the band was disbanded so he joined the Royal Artillary Military Band (TA) and stayed with them for 12 years.
Allan joined the Darwen band 14 years ago and joined the Greater Manchester Police Band 10 years ago.Allan has been with Darwen Brass since it first formed in 2007.
Allan has also played the trumpet with various amateur operatic societys over a 30 year period.
Allan is a founder member of Darwen Brass and is a great servant to the Brass Band movement We are very proud to have him in our ranks.
The band will play some hymns and maybe other music at her cremation in her honour on Monday 27th October at 2-30PM. Pleasington.
She was a good player and supporter of the band, and a warm and friendly person in general. Rest in peace Alison.
October 8th 2008
I am pleased to announce our newest recruit to our cornet section. A big welcome to Anna Harvey, another talented player to join the ranks. A report to follow......
October 3rd 2008
I am pleased to announce that we have won the "website of the month award" for September courtesy of www.themouthpiece.com
New tiny addition to the band
Darwen Brass are pleased to announce that two of our members Ruth and Dominic, are now the proud parents of baby Evie, we wish them well and hope that Evie will soon be joining us at rehearsals.
Joint Concert at St Augustines High School Billington.
Another successful concert was held with the St Augustines Swing Band in a joint concert on Friday 26th September. The Swing band were in good form and played first, with Darwen Brass playing second in both the first and second halves of the concert. A short break in the middle provided refreshments for all. It was a well recieved with a packed audience. It was such an exciting concert our Solo Trombone player Ruth Mciver (who was in the audience for the evening) went into labour and had a beautiful little girl Evie Catherine some three hours later.
Concert at St Joseph's RC Church Darwen.
5th September 2008
The recent Concert held on 30th August at St Joseph's RC Church in Darwen was a great success and since the purchase of new stand banners and blazer badges it was our first opportunity to be able to show these off to our audience. A mixed program of music was played consisting of fifteen pieces in total, although there was a slight detour from the program in the second half as it was our Bass trombone player Matt Haworth's birthday, so Happy birthday was played with much amusement for the audience.
During a break at half time for refreshments tickets were sold for a raffle with several good prizes on offer.
We also offered for the first time a concert program which contained the list of music played accompanied by a brief history of the band and our MD Steve Hartley. Also included in the program were details of our new sponsorship program, which can be viewed on the sponsors pack page on this website.
New signing at Darwen Brass
10 August 2008
We would like to welcome Millie Forrest to the band.
Millie is the newest addition to our cornet section and becomes the youngest member of our band at aged 10. She is a very talented player and will be making her debut appearance at our next concert on the 30th Aug.
Welcome on board Millie!!
Sponsorship details revealed
09 August 2008
We are now looking for sponsorship to help us along with expenses. If you can sponsor our band it will be greatly appreciated, and in turn may be of benefit to you in terms of extra advertising and product awareness. For further details please have a look at our sponsorship pack and our sponsors.
We welcome ETL Air conditioning and thank them for their sponsorship.
N.H.
We welcome ETL Air conditioning and thank them for their sponsorship.
N.H.
New banners arrive
16 July 2008
After a very busy year of engagements we have now been able to purchase new "Darwen Brass" livery in the form of new banners for our music stands.They are in gold/old gold and feature Darwen tower as a distinctive motif.
A big thank you goes to all band members for all their hard work throughout the year which has enabled us to purchase them.
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New signings at Darwen Brass
01 July 2008
New Signings for Darwen Brass!
We would like to Welcome the following new members to Darwen Brass
Mandy Pickles (Sop/Cornet/Horn/Baritone/Euphonium/Percussion with Triangle!/) - just need to try bass & trom now - and she'll be a One Man Band!!!
Bruce Martin (Cornet)
Lewis Taylor (Baritone) - although he never really went away!!
This is great news for the band and we hope they can enjoy more success with us!
We are also pleased to announce that due to hard work and perseverance our third cornet player Alex Cairns, has been promoted to lead second cornet player. A well deserved promotion and reward for his hard work in the last 18 months.
The band has performed several outdoor concerts in recent times, including one which was well received in Whitehall park. The band is now looking forward to the contest in Fleetwood and further concerts later in the year.
We would like to Welcome the following new members to Darwen Brass
Mandy Pickles (Sop/Cornet/Horn/Baritone/
Bruce Martin (Cornet)
Lewis Taylor (Baritone) - although he never really went away!!
This is great news for the band and we hope they can enjoy more success with us!
We are also pleased to announce that due to hard work and perseverance our third cornet player Alex Cairns, has been promoted to lead second cornet player. A well deserved promotion and reward for his hard work in the last 18 months.
The band has performed several outdoor concerts in recent times, including one which was well received in Whitehall park. The band is now looking forward to the contest in Fleetwood and further concerts later in the year.
Concert and march season.
22 June 2008
We have seen a good start to the concert and marching season with our concert at Darwen live kicking things off, since then we have had several successful marches and two outdoor concerts, at Rhyddings park Oswaldtwistle, and the following weekend in Whitehall park Darwen, where unfortunately the weather wasn't too good, plus a swarm of midges made life unpleasant. However, in both cases our music was warmly welcomed and received. Next in line is a march and outdoor concert at Forton on the weekend Saturday 28th June. This will be followed by a short march and hymns for St Silas' Church on the sunday 29th morning.
N.H.
N.H.