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2000

FIRE BRIGADE CHRISTMAS CONCERT - Another memorable concert was given in the Royal Hall in aid of the Fire Services Benevolent Fund. This year the band shared the stage with the choir from St Aidans' School in Harrogate and formed the highlight of the festive season for many in the audience and the band.

HARTLEPOOL HONOURS AGAIN! - Second place in the First Section at the Hartlepool Borough Brass Band Contest was a great achievement for the Band. We fought off stiff competition from seasoned residents of this section in a close competition which the adjudicator, Alan Exeley, judged to be of high standard. The Band had entered the First Section, rather than the Second Section which was held the previous weekend, due to a clash with a long standing concert engagement (which in the event was cancelled at the last minute). Nevertheless, our own-choice test piece, Year of the Dragon by Philip Sparke, not only pleased the audience and the adjudicator, but also is very popular with the Band. The contest at Hartlepool was brought to a close with an excellent concert by the Ever Ready Band in lieu of the Championship Section contest which was abandoned due to a number of withdrawals. Another superb result in what is our most successful and enjoyable competition - over the eight years of the contest's history the Band has won 5 first places, 2 seconds and 1 third - never being out of the prizes - and on two of those occasions playing in a section above our national grading.

A FIRST AT THE GRAMMAR SCHOOL - The Band visited the Harrogate Grammar School for the first time to play in a joint concert with the school's concert bands and musical groups. A highly enjoyable evening was spent and we were all very impressed with the verve and proficiency of the school musicians. Two of our leading cornet players, Neil Cole and Karen Shore, are fairly recent ex-Grammarians and we hope this event will be the first of many similar and that closer links are maintained between us.

NORTH EAST COMMUNIGATE - We are pleased to participate in a new internet gateway for community organisations in the North East. The North East Communigate is a portal web service providing easily built webpages for groups in the area and also links from these to existing websites where appropriate. The Harrogate Band's presence can be found here (somewhat basic at present).

NO PRIZE THIS TIME! - Our performance in the Royal Albert Hall on Saturday 21st October (drawn 12th of 17 bands) was, we felt, a good one and we were confident of a good result as we left the stage. Unfortunately the adjudicators disagreed and we ended up in 11th position - a disappointing result. However, the band is not despondent - a very enjoyable weekend was had by all players and supporters alike who mixed the wealth of music making and bandsmen at the RAH with more traditional London entertainments. Our congratulations to Oldham Brass 97 who won the Second Section Championship Finals - we look forward to meeting them in 2001 in the First Section!

The band at the Royal Albert Hall. Click to see a larger versions.

FINAL PREPARATIONS FOR THE NATIONAL CHAMPIONSHIPS - The Band is hard at work rehearsing the test piece for the National Brass Band Championships Final in the Royal Albert Hall on the morning of Saturday 21 October. The music for Second Section bands is Abstractions by Torstein Aagaard-Nilsen. The three movements provide visual impressions recreated as music, abstract representations of a motif - Aurora Borealis; Rocks; and Seascape. Rehearsals in a number of contrasting locations will be held in the final week and include a joint concert with the Yorkshire Champions (4th Section) Wetherby Silver Band, who will be competing themselves in the RAH on the morning of Sunday 22nd October. Good luck to all bands concerned!

30th ANNIVERSARY GALA CONCERT - This took place in Ripon Cathedral on 30th September. We were delighted to welcome our guest soloist, Nick Hudson, regarded by many as the country's leading trombonist. A truly superb evening of music delighted the audience, particularly the excellent musicianship of Nick Hudson, whose command of the instrument thrilled his listeners. The programme included works by Ravel, Bernstein, Samuel Barber, Rodney Newton and a tribute to Wilfred Heaton, the Harrogate-based composer who died earlier this year. There was also plenty of lighter music including the world premiere of Jungle Music by David Lancaster in which the whole band (briefly) became percussionists, and some new big band arrangements. We also ran our Interactive Band Jukebox in which members of the audience helped to shape the content of the programme in the second half. All proceeds of the evening go towards our Albert Hall 2000 fund. Many thanks to all who supported the evening.

The pictures below are from the concert. Click them to view larger versions.

NETHERLANDS CONCERT TOUR - The Band had an excellent week's music making and experiencing the culture and sights of Noord-Brabant and Limburg provinces of the Netherlands. The tour started with a weekend spent with the Gerwens Muziekkorps (GMK) Band in Gerwen and Nuenen, the highlight of which was our joint concert with GMK in Nuenen. The obligatory tour of a nearby brewery made a very welcome start to the weekend. Near hurricane winds on the Sunday caused us to abandon plans for our final concert with GMK, but did not dampen our enjoyment of their hospitality! The second part of the week was based around a stay at the Het Meerdal Center Parc which provided many pursuits and distractions for the Band between musical excursions. Once again a planned concert was abandoned, for different reasons this time, but we managed to replace it with a visit to Maastricht and a subsequent concert in the nearby town of Valkenburg. Our final concert destination was Roermond - with a beautiful bandstand setting in the town square by the local church. Despite the problems we had getting the coach to the venue, as most of the access roads were being dug up, the concert was a great success in the best weather we had of the whole week. (For more details follow this link).

DOMAIN NAME - This website now has its own "domain name" web address, www.harrogateband.org, which has already been in use for the last couple of months. The original web address will continue to work in addition to the new one. Similarly the Internet Bandsman's Everything Within is now accessible via www.ibew.co.uk. Many thanks to Harrogate Online once more for their continuing support of this web site.

BUXTON AND SCARBOROUGH - Recent contest outings have kept the band busy over the last few weeks. A trip to the Buxton Brass Band Festival resulted in a disappointing fifth placing. However the band played much more convincingly at the YHBBA Annual contest in Scarborough, competing for the first time in the Premier Section. We achieved one first place and two second places against keen competition. The adjudicator, Derek Broadbent, expressed his opinion that we were very close to taking first place overall. Maybe next year!

A NEW BAND MEMBER!! - We are delighted to announce the birth of Luke Morland to Catherine and Steve. Our warmest congratulations and best wishes to the proud parents. A very welcome addition to the Morland clan who already play a major role in the band - Steve (Chairman, percussion), Catherine (Public Relations, baritone), Sue (Secretary) and Ron (transport etc..) - though it may be a few years yet before Luke can help shift his dad's kit around! In the meantime, you can read his own opening address here.

E-ZINE FEATURE - The Band features in the April 2000 edition of the online brass music magazine Brass World International. The article, entitled The Millennium Brass Band, reports our pictorial presence in the Millennium Dome and describes the success of the Band through interviews with David Lancaster and Gavin Holman.

THE ROYAL ALBERT HALL - HERE WE COME! - The Band has become the Second Section North of England Regional Champions by winning first place in the contest held at Darlington on 19th March. A convincing performance of the test piece, Sword, Jewel and Mirror by Philip Harper, persuaded the adjudicator, Gary Cutt, to award Harrogate the honour in the face of stiff competition. Many, in fact, thought it was the best rendition of any test piece over the whole weekend. This piece of music refers to the sacred treasures of Japan and depicts dreams of the three objects between the opening and closing sunset and sunrise movements. The influences of Japanese music are strongly represented in the piece, which includes vocal passages for the band to add to the colour of the music! This win qualifies the band to compete in the National Brass Band Championship Finals, which will be held in the Royal Albert Hall over the weekend of 20-22 October 2000. This will be the Band's sixth appearance at the National Finals since 1985.

The pictures below show the Champion Band in action. Click them to view larger versions.

INVITATION TO JOIN US ON OUR DUTCH TOUR - The Band is visiting the Netherlands from Friday 26th May to Saturday 3rd June, and has some places available. Players or non-players are welcome. We will be travelling overseas from Hull to Rotterdam. The first few days will be spent with the GMK Band in Nuenen, then on to Het Meerdal (Center Parc) for the remainder of the visit. Concerts will be performed in various locations during the week. For further details please get in touch with any of the contacts below.

MILLENNIUM DOME SELF PORTRAIT - An image of the Band is now resident within the Self Portrait Zone in the Millennium Dome. This zone is a celebration of all things British - objects, places, people, attitudes, sounds, tastes - expressed through the views and perceptions of ordinary British people. The Band is proud to be representing the brass band community in this way.

TRIUMPH AT ROCHDALE CONTEST - The Band made its first contest foray across the Pennines to challenge brethren in Lancastrian bands at the Town Hall in Rochdale in a day of lashing rain. The competition was stiff, with good performances from all the other seven bands in the second section, but adjudicator Lloyd Landry awarded Harrogate first prize for our excellent rendition of James Curnow's Trittico for Brass Band. The venue was a glorious example of Victorian gothic decoration and made a superb setting - despite its echoing acoustic qualities.

INTERNET OSCARS - We have just received another "Oscar" award for this web site, as a result of the second annual vote for sites nominated by the brass band movement throughout the world via the Internet . This year we share the title "Best Non - Commercially Produced Band Website of the Year" with the Whitburn Band who polled an equal number of votes. Congratulations to Whitburn and the other Oscar winners, and many thanks again to all who helped us achieve this!

HARROGATE THEATRE CENTENARY - On January 13th the Band was pleased to open the celebrations at the Harrogate Theatre, 100 years since the first opening night. The events of the evening closely followed those of the original with performances from various dramatic and musical groups. A packed theatre enjoyed a wide range of entertainments to commemorate this important occasion. Click on this image for a view of the commemorative programme. (177 K)