Lyme Regis Town Band

At their recent Annual General Meeting, chaired by Band President, Councillor Owen Lovell, band members appointed David Tozer as their Musical Director.  David is taking over from Brian Scott who has decided to step down from this role after several years’ loyal service.  David is a talented and popular member of the band who was recently presented with the Gordon Broom Award, which acknowledges his outstanding contribution to the band.

At the meeting it was also reported that Gilly Warr is relinquishing the post of Secretary after many years in this role.  She was thanked for her hard work, which had contributed greatly to the smooth running of the band.  Gilly’s replacement is local resident, Mrs Sandra Evans, who has volunteered her considerable admin skills to the band, and she was warmly welcomed.

Other officers and committee members were appointed for the ensuing year with Paul Snowball continuing as Chairman, Adrian Pearson as Treasurer and John Warr as Librarian.  Debbie Woehrle was appointed as Vice Chairman, Adrian agreed to take on the role as Conductor, with Ellis Holt taking over as Musical Director for the Training Band. Committee members were confirmed as Robert Crabbe, Lynne Greenfield, John Hallett, Catherine Lancaster, Geoff Poulton, Steve Topp  and Kathy Smith. As a registered charity the band is required to appoint two Trustees and John Evans and Derek Hallett agreed to continue in this role and the Chairman expressed the band’s gratitude to them for their support.

In his report to the meeting the Chairman, Paul Snowball, congratulated band members on the success of their weekly concerts held on Marine Parade throughout the summer months and he also referred to the recent Christmas Concert, which had been well attended and greatly enjoyed by all concerned.

Finally Brian announced the winners of his two awards.  Solo cornet player Catherine Lancaster received the Bandmaster’s Award for the most improved player and the Musical Director’s Award, for the band member who “goes the extra mile”, went to Gilly Warr.

Councillor Lovell brought the meeting to a close by thanking the band for their hard work throughout the year wishing them every success in the future.

We played carols in Broad Street this morning. The very kind lady and gentleman in the Fudge Kitchen provided us with coffee and teas and we are very grateful to them for their hospitality which is much appreciated.

To finish off the morning we moved up the street and played a few more carols outside Tesco. We only had a small band but there were enough of us to make a good sound and everyone was very appreciative of our efforts.

We’ve now packed up our instruments and will not meet again until our first practice of the new year, which will take place at Woodmead Halls on Tuesday, 8th January 2019 from 8.00 pm. It would be lovely to see some new faces so if you would be interested in joining us please feel free to pop in for a chat.

We are a friendly, non-contesting band and we welcome players of all ages and abilities from youngsters just starting to learn, to “rusty” players who would like to start playing again. A gentleman approached one of our players when we were playing in the Square on Remembrance Sunday to say he lived locally and played the euphonium. Unfortunately we didn’t get his name but if you are out there please get in touch – we would love to see you.

We have a thriving training band featuring four youngsters from local primary schools and we would love to attract more. We can provide an instrument and free tuition plus loads of support and encouragement

Finally we would like to thank all our families and friends for supporting the band throughout 2018. We wish everyone a very Happy Christmas and we look forward to another busy year in 2019.

The photo above is courtesy of Anna Crabbe.

Thank you to Francesca Evans, the Editor of Lyme-online, for sharing this photo with us. This is Stuart Broom, presenting David Tozer with the Gordon Broom Award at our Christmas Concert last Sunday afternoon.

Gordon Broom was Stuart’s father and was a founder member of the band. His family donated the shield in his memory and each year band members award it to the person who they feel has contributed the most to the band.

Our annual Christmas Concert at the Woodmead Halls this afternoon went really well. The hall was packed and we were very pleased to welcome the Mayor, Councillor Michaela Ellis accompanied by Councillor Cheryl Reynolds, our President, Councillor Owen Lovell and his wife, residents from Shire House and Tree Tops Care Home, and friends, family and supporters of the band.

Our guest artists proved to be very popular. Local writer and poet, David Ruffle, resplendent in his first ever Christmas jumper, read two poems he had penned especially for the occasion and the audience was also entertained by The Four Tuner Tellers, a Barber Shop Quartet from the parish of All Saints, near Axminster. The catch was that in fact they were a trio instead of a quartet due to illness. However, their voices blended together beautifully and they finished their performance by cajoling the audience into joining in a lively rendition of The Twelve Days of Christmas complete with actions. The audience also took part in some carol singing.

Our training band played several short pieces and are gaining in confidence each time they perform. Following their performance Jonathan, who played trombone, was presented with the Chairman’s Award as the most improved young player.

There was another award winner – our conductor, David Tozer. David did a fantastic job leading the band this afternoon, as well as compering the concert, and he was presented with the Gordon Broom Award.

All in all it was a very enjoyable afternoon and we are very grateful to everyone who attended and supported the band.The photo above was taken by Josie and Klara Smith, daughters of our solo cornet, Kathy Smith.

What a lovely evening we had tonight at All Saints. The village hall was packed. There was a very varied programme of entertainment, including some lovely singing by the children from the local primary school, hand bell ringers, a saxophone group, singers, a poetry reading and the local WI sang a farewell number as they are about to disband and reform.

The band was conducted on this occasion by David Tozer, and we played several pieces – but one of the highlights of the evening for us was the appearance of three members of our Training Band, two of whom were performing in public for the first time. They played three numbers led by their tutor, Ellis Holt, and supported by solo cornet, Kathy Smith, and their performance was warmly received by the audience. Also warmly applauded was a solo rendition of My Old Kentucky Home played beautifully by Ellis.

The concert concluded with everyone singing The Twelve Days of Christmas. It was a super evening and the best bit is that we’ve been booked to play again next year.

I managed to get a photo of the cornets this time…….