Lyme Regis Town Band

Today we played at the Remembrance Service at St Michael’s Church in Lyme Regis. The church was packed, with standing room only. All local organisations were represented and we were very pleased to take part.
This service is always very moving but was particularly poignant this year as it was the last service conducted by Rev Jane Skinner who is shortly leaving the area with her husband, Rev Stephen Skinner. Jane has always been very welcoming to the band and we wish her every success in her new parish.
Following the service the parade moved to Cobb Gate where two minutes’ silence was observed and Last Post and Reveille were played to perfection by David Tozer. Luckily the rain held off and we all managed to stay dry.
Special mention to Alison Davies who conducted the band today. We are most grateful to her for her support – she did a fantastic job and we loved having her with us.

Happy Birthday to our trainee Enzo who has just had his 9th birthday. We’ve not forgotten you – as its half term we’ve put your card in the post. Have a lovely day and see you soon, back at practice getting ready for the trainee band’s next appearance at our Christmas Concert on Sunday, 16th December.

Congratulations to the Lyme Regis Branch of the Royal British Legion for organising a spectacular Festival of Remembrance Concert at the Woodmead Halls.
The entertainment was varied, including local singing group Harbour Voices, talented soloist Harvey Causley, who was representing local youth music group BSharp, readings by Alexandra Wood and David Ruffle, who had both penned very moving poems and a splendid piper, Scott Graham.
The evening also included the Parade of British Legion Standards, always a stirring movement, plus the Service of Remembrance which featured The Last Post and Reveille as the red poppies fell and concluded with a rendition of I Vow to Thee, my Country sung by Helen Webber followed by the band playing Sunset and Land of Hope and Glory.
It was a super evening – our pieces included Westward Ho!, London River and Bandology and several singalong numbers. Catherine Lancaster performed Share My Yoke beautifully and Bob Lovett made an excellent job of Last Post and Reveille.
We were very pleased to have some guest players with us – Malcolm Caddy on Euphonium and Laura Caddy, Geoff Davis and Bob on cornet and we are very grateful to them for their help.
Last, but not least, the band was conducted by David Tozer who did an amazing job. This concert can be a bit fraught for the Conductor as we are playing bits and pieces throughout the evening, as well as our set numbers. However David was on top of things throughout and we all benefited from his quiet confidence. Thank you, David!
All in all it was a lovely evening, in aid of a good cause, and the band was delighted to be part of it.

We had a very productive committee meeting earlier this month which included looking at the first draft of our engagement list for next year. Forward planning is the name of the game. We’ve had several requests to attend events in the local area so we hope to add these to our list of regular commitments.
Plans are underway for our Christmas Concert and we’ve managed to persuade a Barber Shop Quartet from All Saints to join us as guest artists this year. They are called The Four Tune Tellers and having seen them perform we know they will go down well with our audience.
The best bit of news is that we now have a volunteer willing and able to help us with our admin. Sandra attended the committee meeting and is now working alongside myself with a view to taking over when I stand down as Secretary at the AGM in January. She is super efficient and is already working on the poster and tickets for our Christmas Concert. The committee is going to be in good hands and we are very grateful to her for offering to help us.

Good news – we now have an adult learner in our training band – Mark, who is learning to play euphonium. It would be lovely if we had some other adults willing to learn as its always more fun to learn alongside other people. We have instruments available so if anyone is interested please feel free to come along for a chat. You would be made very welcome, especially by Mark!
The training band meets at Woodmead Halls on Tuesday evenings at 7.00 pm and is led by Ellis who is an excellent and very patient teacher. At the end of their practice the trainees join the main band to play a few hymns. We even had chocolates last night, courtesy of Jane, who gave them to us as a leaving present. Sad to see her go but the chocs were delicious!

Last night was our last performance on Marine Parade for the summer. We’ve been lucky this year and have performed every Tuesday evening throughout July and August without having to cancel a single performance due to bad weather.

Yesterday evening we had a very full band totalling twenty four players and we played a lively selection of music. Brian, our MD, had canvassed the band for their favourite pieces and we played our top ten choices. We were all surprised to learn that our favourite was Blueberry Hill!

As usual Ellis did an amazing job attracting children of all ages to come and join us on percussion, challenging them to play louder than the band and on this occasion they almost pulled it off.

Towards the end of the concert Paul, our Chairman, took the opportunity to say a few thank yous on behalf of the band. This year we’ve been so lucky in terms of guest players, many of whom have played with us all summer. These have included John on bass, Bridget on tenor horn, Jo on euphonium, and Geoff and Brenda on cornet. We’ve also been pleased to see Julie on Flugel and Phil who joined us last night on trombone as did ex-player, Peter, who is always a welcome addition to the cornet section.

Paul also referred to our loyal band of collectors who have worked so hard for us this summer and he presented awards to Josh and Robert, two young men who have done sterling work for us this year.

Sadly we are saying goodbye to Jane on baritone and her husband, Ralph, who not only collects for us but takes great photos. Jane also plays for Stoke Band which is near to her home in Yeovil so she will continue playing.

We also said cheerio and bon voyage to Adrian who, as well as being one of our trombone players, is also our Treasurer as he and his wife Jennie are off to Australia for three months. We are going to miss him but hope to have him back with us in the new year.

Paul’s final thank you was to our MD for all his hard work leading the band and fronting the concerts.

The evening drew to a close with the audience invited to come forward, to link arms, and to sing Auld Lang Syne with us which they duly did. It’s always a sad moment when the season comes to an end but hearing their voices singing along with us was a fitting end to a lovely summer.

It’s back to the rehearsal room for us…now where did we put those carol books?

Just got back from playing on the seafront…what an experience but it was worth it. We all got soaked to the skin getting there but once in place we were snuggly seated in the performance area and even managed to attract a small group of hardy music fans, including a lady we often see in our audience who was sitting there as usual calmly knitting!

There were only a few of us but we made some noise and we were very pleased to be able to do our bit for Candles on the Cobb. Its rotten luck for the Rotary Club to have such awful weather, particularly after such a glorious summer.

It’s worth mentioning that Brian, our MD, and Jo on euphonium travelled over from Weymouth and our Chairman, Paul, who plays bass, drove across from Portland. Such is the dedication of Lyme Regis Town Band! Other players today were John on euphonium, Debbie on Baritone, Adrian on trombone, Viv, Lynne and myself on tenor horn, and Kathy, David, Ellis and Catherine on cornet.

Thanks must go to Alan Vian on the PA system who bigged us up at every opportunity! Alan kindly took a photo of us (above).

Spare a thought for Ellis’ mum who at one point carried the responsibility of being the only audience member (left).

We will be back on Tuesday evening at 8.00 pm for our final concert on the seafront, when we hope the weather will be kinder to us. Come along and join us for Auld Lang Syne.

The summer is now sadly drawing to a close and we have just two more concerts to go. On Sunday afternoon we will be playing on the seafront as part of a programme of musical entertainment organised by the Rotary Club, who are running Candles on the Cobb this year. We will be playing from 3.00 pm.

Our final concert will be on Tuesday, 28th August at 8.00 pm. Last Tuesday it was dark by the time we finished playing but the moon came out and lit up the bay as we packed up our gear. We are so lucky to have such a beautiful venue for our concerts.

We were very pleased last night to welcome another guest player to our ranks – Julie, who plays for Sherborne Brass Band, joined us on flugel. We’ve been really lucky this year, with so many guest players sitting in with us for the season including Bridget on horn, Jo on Euphonium, Geoff and Brenda on cornet and John on bass. We are very grateful to them.

We must also thank our “fab four” who have turned out every week to collect for us. As we rely on the money we collect in the summer to pay our overheads in the winter their efforts on our behalf are greatly appreciated. In the photo they are, left to right, Ralph, Robert, Josh and Peter.

Finally, last night’s concert went really well. The highlight of the evening was when we played Rock around the Croc. Yet again Ellis did sterling work encouraging children of all ages, from seven to seventy, to grab a percussion instrument to try and drown out the band. It was a close run thing – hard to tell – but we all made a fantastic noise between us!

On a sad note, Jane, one of our baritone players, has decided to leave the band having played with us for over eight years. Jane lives in Yeovil so has travelled a considerable distance to be with us, often undertaking difficult journeys to get to rehearsals in the dark winter evenings. Apart from being a valued player for many years Jane taught our trainees and has introduced many young people to playing a brass instrument. We will miss Jane but she intends to continue playing with a band closer to where she lives, which is good news.

Another good evening last night…  We’d all dried out after our soaking on Sunday and, as it’s Lifeboat Week, there were a lot of people around…We had several birthdays in the band, including Kathy on solo cornet and Adrian on trombone as well as Ralph, one of our collectors.  A lot of our band members happen to celebrate their birthdays in July and August so it’s always nice to play Happy Birthday followed by Congratulations for them and any members of our audience.

We were a bit dubious when Nigel, our horticultural friend, arrived with another package under his arm, but this week it was just his folding chair – no more novelty vegetables!

Finally, Alan, the Town Crier, told us he had been out in the bay on a boat during the evening and he said the music across the water sounded lovely.  I think it might be the case that the further away you are the better we sound!

We will be back next Tuesday for our next effort and this time it will be Lyme Regis Regatta and Carnival Week.

It’s Lifeboat Week in Lyme Regis and, as usual, to support the RNLI we accompanied the hymns for their Songs of Praise Service on Marine Parade yesterday afternoon. We played for half an hour beforehand and for half an hour after the service.

This year the weather was not kind to us and was quite challenging for the band, for the clergy taking the service and for the congregation.

However, we all soldiered on and hung in there. Particular mention must go to Brian our MD, Jane on baritone and Steve on cornet who all travelled significant distances for the pleasure of getting soaked. Hopefully we are now all safely home and, after hot baths all round, are busy ironing our music to get it dry and flat ready for our next concert on Marine Parade tomorrow evening.