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July 2010 - Contest Success and a Road Trip!
Saturday 10th was a busy day for the band, with the annual Barnsley Mayor's Parade in the afternoon, followed by the Silkstone March Contest in the evening, at which we gained the prize for Best 2nd Section Band. As if this wasn't enough, the following day saw us in concert at Wetherby Bandstand.
The next weekend (17th/18th) sees the band on the road to London, to play for two days at the Mayor's Newham Show, as part of Barnsley's "Olympic Partnership". Let's hope the East End is ready for a band night out!
February 2010 - Open Rehearsal February 26th
With preparations for the Area contest well underway, the band will join with Worsborough Brass on Friday 26th February to give an open rehearsal of their respective test pieces. The event takes place at Tankersley Welfare Hall (Postcode S75 3AP), starting at 7.30 pm.
John Roberts will provide the expert analysis and there will be refreshments on sale (including pie and peas!!). All welcome.
January 2010 - Area Preparations
Following a successful Christmas programme (although the snow did beat us on Christmas Eve!), rehearsals are now well underway for the big Regional Championships contest at Bradford in March. Philip Harper's "Kingdom of Dragons" is an interesting test, portraying industrial South Wales in a way that makes the former pits of Barnsley seem positively jolly!
There's still room for cornet and/or percussion players on the team for Bradford, so please get in touch quickly if you're interested (see vacancies page)
25th October 2009 - Pontins Contest
The band had a successful trip to Prestatyn, finishing a very creditable 5th in the 2nd Section. The field of 15 bands was drawn from around the country and included some opponents already promoted to the section above. All in all a very satisfying performance and hopefully a good indicator of things to come.
The weekend marked MD Rob Straw's debut as a conductor in a major contest, as well as Russell Cavanagh's first appearance on principal cornet for more years than he would care to mention. Both acquitted themselves very well, as did the band as a whole.
3rd October 2009 - Successful Charity Fundraising Night
Over 100 current and former players, families and friends enjoyed a very successful Race Night and Hog Roast last Saturday (October 3rd). Originally planned as a social event, it was decided to use the opportunity to support the "Little Fox's" charity. This organisation supports cancer patients in the Barnsley hospital, where one member's wife recently had lengthy treatment. The event raised a total of £529 for the charity.
September 2009 - Become a fan on Facebook!
Members of the social networking site are invited to visit our official page here. You can become a "fan" of the band and present and former players can browse our photo gallery and "tag" themselves wherever they appear. Exciting stuff!
September 2009 - Back to Work!
Following a successful summer, including a 2nd place at one of the Silkstone march contests, the band took a short holiday and are now ready for the Autumn season. The main event will be the Pontins contest on October 25th, but before that there will be the annual appearance with Cudworth Male Voice Choir at the Methodist church on October 10th.
We've had one or two changes to the line-up, including a new principal cornet - more on this soon.
May 2009 - Barlow Proms Date Confirmed
Barnsley Building Society Brass Band have accepted an invitation to appear at the prestigious "Barlow Proms" festival which takes place just south of Sheffield on Friday June 5th. We will be performing alongside the award-winning Grand Central Chorus barbershop singers. Tickets are now on sale for this event and can be obtained via the event website.
This does, of course, mean that the band will be absent from this year's Whit Friday Marches, which take place on the same evening.
April 2009 - Knockout Performance Not Quite Enough
The band performed creditably in the first round of the Kippax knockout entertainment contest, but just fell to the musical ability of the higher ranked Drighlington Band. Nothing to be ashamed of there, then, and our easy-listening and very entertaining programme certainly struck a chord with the audience and the adjudicator. Drighlington presented a much more "traditional" and technically demanding programme, but pulled it off with sufficient style to leave adjudicator Jim Davies in no doubt. Good luck to Drighlington in the final and, if you want to see and hear what they all enjoyed so much in our performance, make sure you catch one of our summer concerts!
March 2009 - Mixed Fortunes in Spring Contests
The band enjoyed a tight performance and a well deserved 2nd place at the NEMBBA contest at Derby, with everything looking on target for the "Area" two weeks later. Unfortunately it didn't all go to plan at Bradford and we found ourselves stuck in the midfield rankings for 2009.
On April 19th there will be a chance to redeem ourselves when we take on the Drighlington Band in the first round of the Kippax Entertainment Contest. With Drighlington just promoted to the top flight, Barnsley will be very much the underdogs, but that won't stop us going all out to give the audience (and hopefully the adjudicator) a suitably entertaining evening!
11th January 2009 - Band Unveils New Conducting Duo
Following a very successful Christmas programme, The band have started the new year with the unveiling of a new conducting “team”.
William Rushworth returns as professional conductor and will shortly begin preparing the band for upcoming contests at Derby and, of course, the all-important Regional Championships at Bradford. The former Carlton Main MD did some much appreciated hard work with the band early last year and both parties were keen to renew acquaintances.
Working closely with William will be the band’s new Resident Musical Director, Rob Straw. Rob is a well known figure around the South Yorkshire banding scene, having played principal cornet for the Stannington and Strata bands, among others. In recent years, however, he has focused more on jazz music, both as a trumpeter and pianist. Rob was engaged by the band to conduct us through the Christmas period and impressed sufficiently to be offered the job on a permanent basis.
With a number of player signings also ”in the pipeline”, the band is looking forward to a very successful 2009.
November 2008 - Building Society Merger
The band have been re-assured by Barnsley Building Society that the proposed merger with the Yorkshire Building Society will have no effect on their sponsorship arrangements. This should put an end to the various rumours which have abounded recently, ranging from the band's imminent demise to us becoming the new "official" YBS Band!
The Barnsley Building Society brand is one which is held in high esteem in the community and the merged group intends to keep the brand's name and much of its structure intact. We are proud to be associated with the Barnsley Building Society brand and look forward to continuing our relationship well into the future.
5th October 2008 - New (and not so new) Faces at Contest
Today's
Bolsover Entertainment Contest (we think we came 4th, but no-one is quite
sure!) marked the debut of our new flugel horn player, Amy Shepherd.
Kent-born Amy was previously with Regent Brass in London, but recently moved up to Sheffield to start a postgraduate course in immunology and we were glad to welcome her into the BBSBB ranks.
Amy has settled in well in the short time she has been with us and says she can't believe how much nicer we all are here "up north"!
Neil Twist, on the other hand, is a rather more familiar face, who seems to have been around for ages! However, his transfer from the Stocksbridge Band is now complete and we can "officially" welcome him to the band on the bass trombone chair.
Neil has played with a number of bands, including Hatfield, Haydock and Marple. A very versatile trombonist, he is also often found playing principal for the Sheffield Symphony Orchestra or Sheffield Philharmonia.
October 2008
We are pleased to report that the website is now back "up and running" and, while much of the historic content will remain as it is, we should be able give more regular updates on the band.
Coming up this month are contests at Bolsover (actually in Shirebrook) on the 5th and at Pontins, Prestatyn, on the 25th. Both of these will be under the musical direction of Russell Gray. The former MD of the Royal Artillery Band did a fair bit of rehearsal and concert work with the band over the summer and agreed to continue the the relationship into the Autumn contest season. He has previously conducted Stannington, Kippax and, most successfully, Wakefield Metropolitan, with whom he won the "Area" in 2007.
BBSBB will be appearing in concert at Cudworth Methodist Church on Saturday 11th October, in conjunction with Cudworth Male Voice Choir. More details to follow, in addition to news on some new player signings.
Other News from around the banding world: