Lyme Regis Town Band

It’s only three more rehearsals until our first open air concert on Marine Parade on Tuesday, 5th July. We are working on three programmes of music so that there will be a bit of variety for our regulars who turn up every week – bless them!

Last night we were working on Into the Future, the piece of music selected for Brassfest. Brassfest is a national event to promote brass bands and bands all over the country will be performing this piece over the weekend of 7th and 8th July. We will play it during our Sunday afternoon concert on Marine Parade on 8th July.

We also had a look at a new special arrangement of the hymn tune Manchester which is “dedicated to the victims of the Manchester Arena attack on 22nd May 2017 and to the people of Manchester for their spirit and courage”. We will be adding this lovely piece to our summer programme.

We’ve also had a real boost as Ellis, who joined us last week on cornet, brought a friend, Steve, with him last night and both will be joining us for our concerts this summer. We can’t believe our luck – two new cornet players – they are like gold dust in these parts!

This morning we played at St Michael’s Church in Lyme Regis for the Mayor’s Civic Service. Councillor Michaela Ellis, who has just started her second term of office as Mayor, chose the hymns which were I Vow to Thee, my Country, Lord of all Hopefulness, Praise my Soul, the King of Heaven and Cwm Rhondda. As the Mayoral party and the congregation left the church we played The Young Verdi.

We always enjoy playing at the church and we look forward to doing so again in November when we will be taking part in the annual Service of Remembrance.

Our next outing, however, is only weeks away – when we begin our season of Open Air Concerts on the Marine Parade in Lyme Regis which commence on Tuesday, 3rd July at 8.00 pm. Throughout July and August we perform on Marine Parade no fewer than thirteen times – who said “…Unlucky for some”?!

Secretary required by Lyme Regis Town Band

Hours of work are flexible and on an ad hoc basis. Remuneration is available for services rendered.

For full details please contact: Gilly Warr on 01297 442719 or email gkwarr46@gmail.com

Lyme Regis is packed for the Fossil Festival but it was also the Blessing the Boats Ceremony at the Lifeboat Station this afternoon. We were pleased to take part in this annual event which was attended by representatives of many local organisations such as the Coastguard, Royal British Legion, Gig Club, Sailing Club and other harbour users.

The band played “March of the Cobblers” prior to the service and also accompanying the hymns and the National Anthem. As the floral wreaths left the harbour mouth on board the lifeboat we played “Amazing Grace”. After the service, as the large crowd started to disperse, we chose “Sussex by the Sea” to bring the afternoon to a close.

It’s good to have completed our first engagement at the start of a busy year and we now look forward to our next appearance when we will play the hymns at the Civic Service for the Mayor, Councillor Michaela Ellis, at St Michael’s Parish Church in Lyme Regis on Sunday, 3rd June.

Would you like to join Lyme Regis Town Band but can’t play an instrument?  How about coming on board as our Secretary?  We have a busy annual schedule and are looking for a willing volunteer to carry out a variety of admin tasks, thus ensuring the smooth running of the band. If you are interested please contact Gilly Warr on 01297 442719, or email gkwarr46@gmail.com.  Or you could pop into our weekly practice at the Woodmead Halls any Tuesday evening from 7.30 pm for a chat.

Last night it was the birthday of James, one of our trainees. The band gave him a birthday card and we played Happy Birthday but James turned the tables and presented the band with two dozen – yes, two dozen – chocolate doughnuts – with sprinkles! Bless him and his Mum! We managed to resist the temptation till we took a five minute break and by the time we finished they’d all gone. Very many thanks to James and his Mum

This week we held our Thursday rehearsal in the meeting room at the local Fire Station. Previously we’ve been rehearsing at the Community Hall in Charmouth but it’s nice to be back in our home base of Lyme Regis.

Many thanks to Fire Chief, Virgil Turner, for arranging access for us and also to Councillor Cheryl Reynolds and Lyme Regis Town Council for assisting with parking permissions.

The first piece we practised was – you guessed it – Blaze Away!

Good news. Not only did our new trainee trombone player come to practice this week for the first time but we’ve also gained another young player. So we’ve now got a group of six youngsters, all boys, with two sets of brothers. They are being tutored by David Tozer, assisted by fellow cornet players Kathy Smith and Catherine Lancaster. The boys are all blowing well and two of them stayed on after their lesson to join the main band for a hymn.

How lucky are we to find six youngsters keen to learn to play a brass instrument! Most importantly all the boys have supportive parents and we are hoping that together we can give them the support and encouragement they need to progress into the main band before too long.

At this time of year, like all bands, we are keeping busy trying out new pieces of music for our summer season…We’ve now more or less finalised our engagement list for the forthcoming year and it looks like we’ve got a busy time ahead…In addition to our usual engagements we are thinking about taking part in Brassfest in July but we’re waiting to see the piece of music selected…There is also a chance that we may be involved in Lyme’s spectacular Candles on the Cobb which this year is being organised by Lyme Regis Rotary Club. This is a major event, taking place on Sunday, 26th August, and which attracts huge crowds. It’s still in the planning stage but hopefully we will be taking part in some way…Finally, we were thrilled this week when another potential learner visited us at our Tuesday rehearsal. The young man plays the trombone and is thinking about joining our little group of trainees which would be great as we would then have five youngsters under tuition…All we need now are a few more adult players…

Great news! At our first practice last week we welcomed two new young trainees who have now joined James and Josh. David Tozer, our trainees’ tutor, assisted by our solo cornet, Kathy, will do all he can to encourage the trainees and support them in their learning. We have high hopes for them all and look forward to seeing them progress to the main band in due course.

Congratulations, incidentally, to David himself, who became engaged to his partner Rachel just before Christmas. David is a popular member of the band and a talented cornet player.

On a sadder note we recently said goodbye to one of our cornet players, Harry, who has now left us due to pressure of school work and exams. Harry and his older sister, Nicola, joined us several years ago as youngsters. Nicola is now at university and it won’t be long before Harry is on his way too. They were both valued members of the band and we wish them well with their studies.