The band will be playing at the Music in the Meadow charity concert in West Hoe Lane, Bishop’s Waltham on Sat 22nd July. The event is in support of the Liver and Pancreatic Cancer Charity and will be a Last night at the Proms type concert. The poster for the concert is shown below.
Charity Concert Poster
June has proven to be a busy month for the band. The month started with a trip to Winchester Cathedral to support the Master Mariners at their annual Shipping Service. The band played before the service and then for the hymns during the service. Finally, the band played a short concert for the congregation at their reception afterwards.
The following week the band played at Sherborne House School Fete and Open Day in Chandlers Ford. The band were thankful for the shade afforded by a couple of gazebos as the sun was beating down. The temperature was also well into the 30s and so it was strictly shirt sleeve order.
The weather remained similar the following day for the Bishops Waltham “Party in the Park” where the band played a couple of sets during the afternoon.
It’s with sadness that we heard the news that David Hill our Vice President died over the weekend. David has been very supportive of the band over many years. He was our last Drum Major when we used to play at the Dell during half-time at Saint’s matches. Even when he retired he still played an active part in the band’s affairs, often turning up to band practice and committee meetings. We wish his family our heart felt condolences at this sad time.
David Hill receiving certificate from Fred Dinenage.
On St. George’s Day the band played at the Southampton Marathon to help spur the runners on their way around the course. The event consisted of both a full marathon, a half marathon and a 10K event. The band were situated on the Common and so were able to play for the full and half marathon runners. The 10K course was different. Many of the runners clapped the band as they ran past and there were many appreciative comments from runners at the finish line saying how they found the music kept them going. The marathon course passed the band twice and the half marathon once. Therefore from approximately 9:15am through to 12:00pm there was a consistent stream of runners going past. The band played throughout the morning and felt as though they had done their own marathon by the end of the morning.
Band playing at Southampton Marathon
Thankfully, the weather stayed dry and as the morning wore on the sun came out and the temperature increased.
In March the band played at the annual Southampton Round Table Dinner hosted at the Ageas Bowl Hilton Hotel. This is an event that the band particularly enjoy doing as there tends to be a fun atmosphere throughout the evening. It can be a bit difficult competing with the noisy balloons being let off at regular intervals and we are regularly used as pea shooting targets but the band normally give as good as they get!
We were able to play a standard set of music before moving onto “crowd participation” when we start playing items like the Dambusters March, the Great Escape, You’ll Never Walk Alone, the Can-Can, Land of Hope and Glory and Rule Britannia. It’s a hard blow for the end of the evening but it’s great to hear the guests singing along waving their union jacks.
The annual Master Mariner’s Sea Pie Supper was held at St. Mary’s Stadium at the beginning of February. It’s an annual event that the band has performed at for several years. It has moved location several times but has now been based at St. Mary’s for a few years. The band were placed in the centre of the room this year allowing all the guests to be able to hear the music. As usual we performed a set of music with a nautical theme. We do vary the music from year to year but there are some standards that we play every year like Fantasia on British Sea Songs, a number of sea shanties with the “Shantymen” who were making their farewell appearance this year.
For the second year in succession we were asked to play at the Go Travel show. This is a travel show put on for travel operators rather than for the general public. Last year the event was held in the “Copper Box” in the Olympic Park in London. This year the event was moved to the Olympic Stadium itself. The band set up in the lobby of the building and were able to be heard throughout the building where the various stands were being manned. The band chose to play a mixture of music from around the world to fit in with the travel theme of the show. They played a selection from the show Can-Can (France), Gay Senorita (Spain), Little Swiss Polka (Switzerland), Fehrbelliner Reitermarsch (Germany), and the theme from Around the World in 80 Days.
The band had been promised a tour of the stadium once they had finished playing but due to some administrative mix up this ended up being cancelled. We did wonder whether it had something to do with the band playing “When the Saints go marching in”!
On Saturday 3rd December the band held their annual Christmas concert in St. James Road Methodist Church, Shirley. In the first half they treated the audience to a mix of music from all genres including excerpts from Fiddler on the Roof, the Thundercrest March and the 70s pop song “Music”. Additionally, they performed Karl Jenkins Palladio and the theme from Game of Thrones each of which were getting their first performance from the band. Game of Thrones particularly went down well with the audience. The second half focused on Christmas music and included Merry Xmas Everybody, Stop the Cavalry, A Christmas Festival and the theme from the Christmas children’s serial A Box of Delights. The concert was attended by a good sized audience that made for a good atmosphere throughout the concert.
Band at Christmas Concert
Our Christmas concert this year will be on Saturday 3rd December starting at 7:30pm. It is being held at St. James Road Methodist Church in Shirley. Tickets will be priced £5 and can be obtained from members of the band in advance or on the door on the night.
Here is the poster for the event.
Xmas Concert
On the 15th May the band made the first of two trips this year to play at Romsey Bandstand. The new café in Romsey Memorial Park has made a big difference and was most welcomed by the band. The weather for this event has traditionally been “varied” but we were blessed with some fine sunshine today allowing people to sit out on the grass and enjoy the music. The band played two sets each of about 45 minutes with an interval in between. The music we played included Lustspiel, Demelza, I Know Him So Well and the Clog Dance. The audience were certainly appreciative of the music that we played.
Romsey Bandstand
