Sadly it has been announced that all performances on Lyme Regis Marine Parade have been cancelled by the town council in view of social distancing obligations so our concert season this summer is over before it started. Our apologies to those of you who’ve come to Lyme expecting to find us playing as usual: be assured we are as disappointed as you are.
Meanwhile…Geoff’s been whiling away his lockdown investigating a few musical youtube gems to share – here is some of his selection:
Musicians up and down the country have missed their regular routines making music with fellow players and singers in recent months: we have been no exception. One way to do our best to keep our instruments oiled, our lips in trim and our feet tapping has been to create an online virtual performance – well done, David, for organising and collating this online rendering of Barnard Castle:
The band has been very busy over the last few weeks. Although we haven't been able to practice together as a group, we have put together a socially distanced performance just to keep our lip in! The band have worked incredibly hard practicing their parts and recording them, something that has proved to be something of a challenge for everyone but as I'm sure you'll agree, their efforts have been worthwhile.
Aren’t the internet and Facebook wonderful things – especially at the present time. In response to our Facebook post on the recording we are working on, we received a message from Ben who plays in a band in New South Wales! Ben’s band has recently completed a similar project and he has given us lots of great advice which has been very useful.
However, most of all we are all vastly encouraged that no matter how good a player you are, or how big your band is, we all struggle and feel really exposed playing and recording our part on our own. Many thanks to Ben and best wishes to his band over in New South Wales from everyone in Lyme Regis Town Band, all twenty of us, including our six young trainees!
Sadly we have to report that one of our bass players, Paul Snowball, who has been on a sabbatical for the past year, has now decided to leave the band due to other commitments. Paul had been with us for a considerable time and was a popular member of the band. In addition to being a valued player he served the band as Chairman for many years and he was excellent in this role.
Paul has shown tremendous commitment to the band over the years, particularly as he lives in Portland and always had a long journey home after practice. He will be greatly missed but the amount of chocolate biscuits consumed during our tea breaks will be vastly reduced …..so its not all bad!
So we are a man down! If there is anyone out there who would like to join the band please do not hesitate to get in touch. We welcome players of all ages and abilities, from experienced players to learners. Our players range in age from ten years old to eighty and we have spare instruments available, just waiting to be played. When things get back to normal we would love to see you – and we guarantee that there will now be plenty of chocolate biscuits available at tea break.
We’re still here and even though we are all self-isolating we’ve been very busy. Every Tuesday evening, when we would normally be practising, we are hooking up for a chat on Zoom, just to keep in touch with each other. There is even talk of a quiz at some point.
Also, like many bands we are working on putting together a recording of us all playing a particular March. We have been submitting our individual efforts to David, our MD, and he is going to knit them all together. Its been a steep learning curve for a lot of us with limited IT skills. What plugs in where for a start! However, we are making progress and hopefully we will be able to upload our efforts before too long, so watch this space…..
We hear that our very regular summer guest trombonist, David Thomas, has been busy along with the rest of his mates in the City of Lichfield Concert Band making the most of recent housebound weeks recording an online performance of Oklahoma.
David writes, “Hello!!! How are you all on this sunny (in the Midlands) Friday? Hoping you and yours are well .
“Our Super talented Maestro, Mark Vause has been busy: not only can he conduct awesomely, arrange music, and ski, but he has also been getting in touch with his Technical side and has organised us – his willing band members – into this treat of a lockdown piece.
“From the chatter on our band whatsapp, it is clear that we all had a whale of a time recording our parts at home.
Needless to say our rehearsals and performances are temporarily suspended, including all those listed elsewhere on the site. Watch this space for when normality returns!
Meanwhile, feel free to keep in touch via this site or Facebook.
Keep safe…stay at home…enjoy https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=aUx4oBrRJzI
Hats off to our Training Band who are working very hard under the direction of their tutor, Ellis Holt, writes Gilly, our roving reporter. They practise every Tuesday evening, with a lesson with Ellis before joining the main band for an hour. Some of them have been with us for over a couple of years now and they are all playing very well indeed. We are extremely lucky to have learners on trombone, euphonium, tenor horn and cornet. Our trainees now join us for public appearances including our summer concerts on the seafront and some of our Christmas engagements.
We are particularly grateful to their parents who regularly bring them to weekly rehearsals and engagements and ensure that they practise at home. One parent is so dedicated he is now learning to play an instrument himself!
We are always pleased to welcome learners and in fact a new youngster came on board in January and is now receiving tuition from both Ellis and some one-to-one support from Kathy Smith, our solo cornet player.
Anyone interested in joining the band is invited to come along to the Woodmead Halls in Lyme Regis on a Tuesday evening from 7.30 pm for a chat. All ages and abilities are welcome. Tuition is free, we have instruments available on loan free of charge and we also offer loads of encouragement and support. We’d love to see you.
At band practice on Tuesday we were issued with our programme of events for the forthcoming year and in addition to our usual engagements we have several exciting new bookings in our diary.
We will be one of several musical groups taking part in the Lyme Regis Beer Festival in April – a first for us and one we are very much looking forward to for obvious reasons!
Extracts from the minutes of the Annual General Meeting held at 7.30 pm on Tuesday, 28th January 2020 at the Woodmead Halls:
Reports: In his capacity of AGM chairman and band president, Owen Lovell wanted to mention that he believes the band had an amazing 2019 summer. Debbie as band chairman thanked the committee for their assistance during her work as acting chairperson this year. She also wanted to thank the collectors for their work. She thanked Ellis for all his hard work with the juniors. Debbie also wanted to thank the parents for ‘shuttling’ the trainees to and from training and concerts: without them we would not have a training band! In his treasurer’s report Adrian thanked Debbie for her hard work as acting chairman this year. He said that the collections at the seafront were very good this year. Expenses were higher this year as the band purchased new items, but the accounts are healthy. In his Musical Director’s Report, David stated that the standard of music is increasing every week. David thanked the band for their commitment. 2020 will be a busy year with “Brassed Off’, which will require a lot of work. He is confident that the band can tackle new challenges.
The Election of Officers followed, resulting in: Chairman – Brian Scott, Vice Chairman – Debbie Woehrle, Secretary – Sandra Evans, Treasurer – Adrian Pearson, Musical Director – David Tozer, Conductor – Brian Scott, MD for trainees – Ellis Holt, Librarian – John Warr. Elected onto the committee were Robert Crabbe, John Hallett and Kathy Smith. The independent examiner remains Paul Fuszard and the trustees are confirmed as John Evans and Derek Hallett.
The meeting finished with confirmation of Band Award recipients: The Gordon Broom Shield for 2019 was presented to Brian Scott who received the award at the Christmas Concert. Chairman’s Award – This award is traditionally presented to a young player who has improved the most. Last year the award was given to Enzo. The Musical Director’s Award was given to John Warr at the Christmas Concert whilst the Bandmaster Award went to Vivian Wright.
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