Lyme Regis Town Band

23^rd July: It’s Lifeboat Week in Lyme Regis and Charmouth this week. The weather is disappointing at the moment but the town is full of happy holidaymakers…This afternoon the band will be entertaining them on Marine Parade with a concert from 2.30 pm, which will include playing hymns for the RNLI Songs of Praise Service from 3.00 pm until 3.30 pm.….This afternoon the rain came down in buckets but in between the showers the RNLI held their Songs of Praise service and we were very pleased to support this very good cause by playing the hymns. The band also played both before and after the service.

28^th July: Its not all hard work in Lyme Regis Town Band. Last night some of us went out for a meal to celebrate the birthday of Kathy, our solo cornet, and a good time was had by all…Back to the grindstone on Tuesday evening for our next concert on the seafront which kicks off at 8.00 pm.

30^th July: Hooray! We’ve just heard that an ex-band member will be visiting Lyme shortly and will be able to join us for our afternoon concert on the seafront on Sunday, 13th August, which commences at 2.30 pm…Peter used to be our solo cornet player but had to leave us a while ago when he moved to France for work purposes. Peter is a talented musician and is greatly missed. His rendition of the Post Horn Gallop, complete with dog barking noises, is a happy memory for us!…It will be great to have Peter back with us, even if its just for one concert, and we are looking forward to seeing him and his wife, Margaret…On Sunday, 13th August we will also be joined by a young cornet player called Jak who is on holiday in Weymouth with his family. Jak has played with us before and he will be a welcome addition to our cornet line

7^th August: Looking forward to tomorrow evening’s concert on Marine Parade which starts at 8.00 pm. Its Carnival Week in Lyme Regis so there are lots of people around. Weather looking a bit grim but with luck the rain will stay away. Its lovely at this time of year when the light begins to fade and the moon comes up over the bay as the band plays. Its worth coming along just for the view but we will do our best to entertain our audience!

9^th Aug: And the band played on! The weather looked distinctly iffy beforehand but we held our nerve and made our way down to the seafront. It was grey and overcast but thankfully there was no rain or wind. The band and most of our audience was tucked under the shelter although a few hardy souls stood outside by the railings…We had a lovely audience who were very appreciative of our efforts. Lots of families with young children who bopped along to what we were playing and joined us on percussion for “Jambalaya” led by Paul, our Chairman. Henry, our flugel player, gave an excellent performance of “Misty” which went down very well with the crowd and he was joined by horns, Debbie, Bridget, Gilly and Viv for “Close to you”. At the end of the concert we even got an encore!…As ever we were very lucky to have guest players to boost our numbers. Phil joined us on percussion, ex-player Peter, who is visiting from France and was expected for our concert on Sunday, was a welcome addition on front row cornet and we also have regular guests Andy on trombone, Jo on Euphonium, John on bass and Bridget on horn. We really appreciate their help…Unfortunately the moon did not appear for long! It slipped out from behind a cloud when we were packing up and was bright orange. However, it was not there long enough to get a photo which was disappointing as it would have been spectacular….Our next concert is this Sunday afternoon, 13th August at 2.30 pm then we have just three more Tuesday evening concerts until the end of our summer season.

13^th Aug: Just come back from a lovely afternoon playing on Lyme seafront. As the sun was out, the beach was packed which reduced our audience somewhat but those who stopped to listen seemed to enjoyed the music we played. In fact when we were packing up a very nice gentleman came up to us and on behalf of everyone there he thanked us for our performance…We were very short of collectors today but Robert coped manfully. We had lots of buckets out and the kids going by seemed to enjoyed putting coins in the slot. One little chap was particularly interested in our instruments and tried to wrestle the euphonium off John’s lap! I think another was fascinated with Kathy’s cornet. All future musicians in the making we hope!…We were delighted to have no fewer than three guest players with us today. Ex-player Peter joined us on cornet as did Jak who was on holiday with his family in Weymouth. Jak played with us last year and we were very pleased to see him again. What a dedicated player he is – he not only takes his cornet on holiday with him but he seeks out bands to play with – yesterday he played with Weymouth Concert Brass. Our third visitor was David on bass trombone. David also plays with us regularly when he is in the area and we were very pleased to see him especially with Adrian, one of our trombone players away on holiday. Special thanks to Barbara, Adrian’s Mum, who is not only carting all our cash home, but is counting it for us ready for Adrian to bank when he returns from holiday. What a star…This photo is of Peter, Brian (MD), Jak and David.

15^th August: We’ve just received a video of one of the numbers we played at our concert on the seafront on Sunday afternoon, put together by John Hulse, Jak’s Dad. We are thrilled with it and feel that it sums up what our summer concerts are all about. John has uploaded the video to Youtube at https://www.facebook.com/LymeRegisTownBand/….The march we are playing is High Society….Thanks very much to John….

23^rd Aug: Last night’s Concert went really well. There are still lots of holiday makers around and many stopped by to listen to us. Adrian (trombone) is back from holiday and led an enthusiastic group of children on percussion, with some parents, to accompany our rendition of Jambalaya…It was a lovely balmy evening and the view across the bay was lovely as the light faded. As usual our friend, Nigel Ball, wouldn’t let us go without an encore…Sadly last night we said goodbye to guest player David, who has joined us on bass trombone for the last three weeks. David has played with us every summer for the past twenty one years which is some record. Needless to say we are always very pleased to see him…We are now coming to the end of our summer season and our concert next Tuesday will be our final one on the seafront for this year. Brian, our MD, always lets the band choose our top ten favourites to play and we have been busy casting our votes. It should be an interesting programme! Nothing too taxing probably…. There’s always a smashing atmosphere on our last night so party pants on everyone!

28^th Aug: As summer draws to a close, tomorrow evening is our last open air concert on Marine Parade in Lyme Regis. As usual we will start playing at 8.00 pm and we should complete our programme at about 9.00 pm…Our MD has put together a lively selection of our favourite pieces and we look forward to a fantastic evening with family and friends… We will then return to the practice room to hibernate and to begin work on some new music. We will venture out for the Remembrance Service at St Michael’s Church on Sunday, 12th November but will be concentrating our efforts on preparing for the busy period in the run up to Christmas, which culminates in our Christmas Concert at the Woodmead Halls on Sunday, 17th December at 2.30 pm.

Tonight we managed to squeeze our seafront concert in before the weather broke. During the concert there was the rumble of thunder and quite spectacular fork lightening out in the bay but the band played on and our audience stuck with us. Heavy rain finally caught up with us just as we started to play our last number.

This evening we were pleased to welcome Ralph MacCraken who sat in with us on front row cornet. Ralph, from Ayrshire, was visiting the area on holiday and was most welcome.

Don’t forget if you are coming to Lyme Regis this summer, bring your instrument with you and let us know. We would be pleased to see you

Didn’t we have a wonderful time the day we went to Hawkchurch! The MacKenzie family gave us a very warm welcome considering they had been partying into the early hours the night before! We played for two hours with a break for some splendid refreshments. A thoroughly enjoyable afternoon for all concerned.

Many thanks to Dr MacKenzie for inviting us to play.

Our first concert on Marine Parade this summer went with a flourish. We had a surprisingly large audience in view of the early date: a warm evening and good balance in the ranks. The performance was preceded by a photocall – a cheque presented by Band President and Town Councillor Owen Lovell to the band representing the recent grant by the town council enabling us to purchase new waistcoats.

This month the band contributed to this important annual event in the town’s calendar. The service was held as usual in the parish church. We played a hymn as an opening voluntary, accompanied the congregational hymns alongside organ and choir and offered a Mozart arrangement at the end. We hope we looked smart in our new waistcoats!

We were pleased to play at the Millwey Community Event held this afternoon.  The rain held off but the windy weather might have kept some people away.  Thanks to the organisers for inviting us to attend.

If you are coming to Lyme Regis on holiday this summer and you play in a brass band, please bring your instrument with you. Lyme Regis Town Band holds an open air concert on the Marine Parade every Tuesday evening from 8.00 pm until 9.00 pm throughout July and August, commencing on Tuesday, 4th July with the last one on 29th August, and we’d love you to join us.  Additionally we play on four Sunday afternoons from 2.30 pm until 4.00 pm and the dates for these concerts are 9th July, 23rd July, 30th July and 13th August.

All instruments are most welcome.  You can phone our Secretary, Gilly Warr, for more information (01297 442719), email gkwarr46@gmail.com or, if you prefer, just turn up.  The more the merrier!

The next engagement for the band will be an appearance at a community event to be held at Millwey Rise in Axminster during the afternoon of Saturday, 10th June.  

The band will also take part in the Mayor’s Civic Service to be held at St Michael’s Parish Church in Lyme Regis on Sunday, 18th June at 10.00 am.  Lyme Regis Town Council recently provided a grant which has enabled the band to purchase red waistcoats for band members.  The band is most grateful to the local Council for their support and fittingly these new items of uniform will be worn for the first time at the Civic Service.

Lyme Regis Town Band began its busy summer season by taking part in the Blessing the Boats Ceremony organised by the RNLI, which took place at the Lifeboat Station on Sunday, 21st May.  The service was led by local clergy and organisations connected with the sea took part.  The band provided the accompaniment for the hymns and played Amazing Grace as the lifeboat left the harbour to lay the wreaths at sea, escorted by gigs from the Lyme Regis Gig Club.  As the crowds dispersed after the service the band played the stirring march “Westward Ho!”

This week the band held its AGM at the Woodmead Halls, which was chaired by the band President, Councillor Owen Lovell.

The Bandmaster’s Award for the most improved player was presented to Viv Wright, who plays solo horn, and the Musical Director’s Award for the band member who goes that extra mile went to Adrian Pearson, trombone player, who has recently taken over responsibility for the band website, in addition to his duties as Treasurer.

The Chairman’s report included these remarks: “Another successful year for the band. We have played well, with another successful season on the seafront, where I thought the band played particularly well.  As usual, December was a very busy time for us but we sailed through all the engagements with flying colours.  Once again the Christmas Concert was a resounding success making a very good profit for the band, which is always welcome with the barren months up to July….I received a phone call from Rachel Mackenzie who was the lady who hurled herself out of a plane and for whom some of us played at Hawkchurch last weekend. She said that it was a wonderful performance which made her quite emotional and she could not thank the band enough….I have a list of thank yous to go through. First, many thanks for the Mayor for chairing the meeting tonight;  we are very grateful for the support he shows the band as our President and its always a delight to see him.  I also want to thank Viv for the hard work she does ferrying a full drumkit and John around to rehearsals and performances. To Jane for her work with our learners which may well reap benefits in terms of future additions to our cornet line; to Ralph for his contribution to the collecting and his photography; to Adrian for his work on the website and also to Kathy and Luke for their contribution to the committee as the newest members.  Also a special mention to the young dancers, coached by Kathy, for their performance at the Christmas Concert.  Many people said how much they enjoyed their dancing.  Thanks also to Brian for his work with the band.  We have progressed under his direction and it’s also so nice to have fun in rehearsal. And finally, thanks to you, the band.”

Lyme resident and band supporter Nigel Ball brought the meeting to a close by thanking the band for their hard work throughout the year, particularly the concerts on the sea front throughout July and August. He felt these had been particularly good this year given the fact that the band was short on numbers at the present time.  He pointed out that the comments from visitors were always very positive.  Nigel expressed his view that the band was a credit to the town and he wished members every success in the future.