Lyme Regis Town Band

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.

Last night’s concert was a lot of fun.

First of all we were pleased to welcome a guest player, Mike Pawson, who joined us on Soprano. Mike, who was on holiday in the area, plays with Avonbank (Evesham) Band. We are always more than pleased when visitors ask to sit in so if you’re coming to Lyme on holiday just pop along and see us on the Marine Parade any Tuesday evening throughout July and August – we start to gather from 7.00 pm onwards ready to play from 8.00 pm until 9.00 pm.

It was the turn of our solo cornet, Kathy Smith, to take centre stage last night and she gave a lovely rendition of The Way we Were.

During the evening we were somewhat puzzled when local horticulturalist, Nigel Ball, stepped up to the microphone between numbers with a strange package under his arm. Nigel is a keen supporter of the band and comperes our annual Christmas Concert. He and his family attend most of our summer concerts on Marine Parade and Nigel is well known for demanding an encore at the end of our performances, bless him! It transpired that Nigel has been growing a crop of what we learnt were Tromboncino squashes and he had two prime specimens with him which he “lent” to our two trombone players, Adrian and Geoff. Whatever next? – you never know with Nigel….

Last night the view across the bay was breathtaking, with the sea calm and every shade of blue, a beautiful pinky mauve sky and to top it all the moon appearing as we packed up. It was a lovely evening all round: great setting, great audience and, we hope, great music.

Lifeboat Week starts on Saturday and we will be accompanying the hymns for the RNLI Songs of Praise, which commences at 3.00 pm on Sunday afternoon.

What a lovely evening we had on the seafront last night. The weather was a bit overcast but we had a great audience, who really enjoyed our varied programme of music. Our soloist this week was Paul, our Chairman, who played Danny Boy. Our percussion item was Rock Around the Clock and Ellis did a marvellous job persuading the children in the audience to join in. He’s now nicknamed the Child Catcher – but he’s not that scary! At the end of the piece, when he’s collecting in the instruments, parents are allowed their children back if they put money in the bucket! So far we’ve had no unclaimed children…During Rock Around the Clock a couple in the audience did an energetic jive which really took audience participation to another level.

Just to round off a very successful evening we were thrilled when ex-band member Peter unexpectedly arrived with his wife, Margaret. Peter sat in with us and was a most welcome addition to the cornet line. It’s always lovely to see old friends – another ex-player, Andy, was also in the audience.

Finally we have a new collector, local school boy Josh, who last night joined Robert, Peter and Ralph. We are very grateful to all our collectors and it’s great to have Josh, accompanied by his Mum, Annette, on our team.

We’re now looking forward to our next Tuesday evening concert on Marine Parade. Most of the schools will have broken up by then, and the summer season will be in full swing, so we expect to see more old friends. Why not come and join us?

Here it is – our lovely new baritone, seen here with its lovely new owner, Debbie. The new instrument is being put to very good use during our open air concerts on Marine Parade which are now coming thick and fast. Next one is due next Tuesday evening, 17th July at 8.00 pm.

Any players who are in Lyme Regis on holiday are most welcome to come along and sit in with us. We would be very pleased to see you.

We played a brand new piece, “Into the Future”, at our open air concert on Marine Parade in Lyme Regis on Sunday afternoon, 8th July.  The piece went well and was positively received by our audience. “Into the Future”, composed by Max Stannard,  was selected as the anthem for the 2018 Brassfest initiative, after being chosen by a panel comprising Philip Harper, Gavin Somerset and Christopher Bond.

Brassfest last year saw over 100 bands take part in successful BrassFestUK events. This year numbers were expected to be even better for events that took take place over the weekend of Friday 6th — Sunday 8th July. Up to 135 bands and events were held and most of these bands performed “Into the Future” as part of their programme.

Lyme Regis Town Band was pleased to make our contribution to this celebration.

This is what the Marine Parade in Lyme Regis looks like when your first open air band concert of the summer season clashes with an England World Cup match!

However, we did manage to attract a very appreciative audience and we thought the evening went very well indeed. It was most encouraging for the weeks ahead…

The most popular item was the piece we play when the audience are asked to join in on percussion. We have a suitcase full of suitable instruments and Ellis went above and beyond, “encouraging” people to join in. He entertained the audience and the band, who had a job concentrating on the music we were playing, as he dashed back and forth persuading people to take part.

Little Jennifer in the photo was also press ganged into helping out – as she is the granddaughter of our baritone player, Jane, she had natural rhythm! LRTB is always keen to encourage young players.

As ever we remain grateful to our collectors who this week were Ralph, Robert and Peter.