The band had their first outing of the year at the North West Area competition in Blackpool, on Feb 26th.
Drawn the dreaded number 1, the band gave a good performance of the set work, Mountain Views by Bertrand Moren.
Despite many favourable comments, and the band press all rating us in the top 4, the result was 6th place.
Congratulations to all bands who figured in the prizes.
Onwards and upwards though, the Grand Shield is next on May 12th, where the band will fight back as always!
Christmas is a very busy time for any band, but especially so for us at Freckleton.
Boxing Day – Village Carolling, 9am. Coach and Horses, 1pm.
Please come along and support your band!
“New Term” starts for band.
After a short Summer break, and a few “holiday” rehearsals, the band is back in the swing of things for the upcoming busy season.
We had a successful, if a little damp, Proms concert at the Coach and Horses, and are now preparing for Fleetwood Contest on October 2nd.
The band is delighted to welcome some new players to the fold.
Rob Thomson returns to the band on BBb Bass. Rob has previously played EEb with the band, as well as playing previously with many North West band’s.
Mark Fairclough recently rejoined the band after a period of semi retirement playing with the “Has Bins” band. Mark joins on front row cornet.
Our most recent signing is Matt Balson on Soprano Cornet. Matt joins us after successful spells at the Wingates and Leyland bands and brings with him a wealth of experience.
We welcome all our new players, and hope they enjoy their time with us!
The band retained it’s place in the Grand Shield, the top tier of the Spring Festival contest in May, and is now preparing for the summer concerts we have planned. See our concerts page for details.
We also welcome back Mike Pritt on Principal Cornet. This is great news for the band, as Richard Carradus is unable to fulfil his role at the moment due to dental work.
This is Mike’s 3rd stint as top man with Freckleton. We also welcome Robert Richardson on 4th man. Robert has joined from Lostock Hall Band, and has huge potential.
Unfortunately, we said goodbye to Stuart Bateson, who has had to leave the band due to increasing work commitments, and Russ Queenan who has plans to move across the Atlantic.
We thank them both for their time and commitment to the band.
The band will be performing on Saturday 19th March at St Cuthbert’s Church, Lytham,7.30pm, despite the Brass Festival during the day being cancelled.
Come along, Tickets are a bargain at £7 each for an entertaining evening, with music to suit all tastes.
The Band had a less than successful day at this year’s North West Area competition on Sunday 27th February.
We gave a nervy performance of ‘Le Carnaval Romain’ that ended up with us being placed mid table in the 1st Section. With last year’s win, this means we go into next year’s competition in a very strong position, but still in the 1st Section.
Work now begins on the mammoth task of preparing for the Grand Shield in May, where the band has to perform ‘Titan’s Progress’ by Hermann Pallhuber.
The band welcomes some new (and returning) faces.
We are delighted to announce important new player signings in the New Year, to strengthen the band ready for the busy contest season ahead.
We welcome 2 ex members back to the fold, brother and sister Richard and Sian Carradus. Both have previously played Flugel and Cornet with the band.
Richard joins on Principal Cornet after spells at Hepworth and Grimethorpe, whilst Sian returns to the front row after playing with Besses, Rothwell, Yorkchire Imps and Carlton in the last few years.
We also welcome Max Stannard on 2nd Trombone. Max hails from Bolton and is currently in his 3rd year at Lancaster University. He has previously played with Eagley, Flixton, Pilling and Blackpool Brass.
The end of another busy year!
The band would like to thank all our Patrons and supporters for all their help, donations and support during 2010. We have finished another Christmas season unscathed, even overcoming the challenging weather conditions on our busiest week!
The Bandsman of the Year award this year went to Ian Walsh, one of our Solo Cornet players. Ian has held the section together during a lean period for our Cornet section, and has worked tirelessly to enable rehearsals and concerts to take place. The band thank Ian for all his work, even though we forgot to take the trophy to present!
The band competed at the National Finals yesterday, and came home with an excellent 2nd place out of 18 bands. Unfortunately, we were drawn number 2, which makes it very hard to win or get overlooked, so the achievement is very commendable.
This result means we stay in the 1st section next year, but hopefully it will soon be a return to Championship level.
Thanks for all the good wishes and congratulations!
The band is packed and ready to make it’s way to Harrogate today, to represent the North West, and of course Freckleton, in the National Brass Band Championship Finals, 1st Section.
Weeks of hard work have gone into the preparation and organisation of the trip, and we hope we can report a good result later.
You can follow the action and results at www.4barsrest.com .
Last Night of the Proms in the village!
Thursday evening (26th August) is our popular ‘Last Night of the Proms’ concert at the Coach and Horses. We’re praying for dry weather, and all are welcome to this FREE event!
8pm Start, bring a chair and a flag!
The band’s AGM is going to be at 9pm on Thursday September 2nd. This is a little later than usual, due to the pressure of reherasals and concerts around the time we would usually have it.
Any member of the public is welcome to attend, but must email acattanach@gmail.com in advance.
The Band in the village!
Thursday evening managed to stay dry for our first ‘Ponkys’ Concert of the year at the Coach and Horses.
An appreciative crowd were delighted by the very first public performance by the Freckleton Youth Band, ably doirected by Jonathan Ford. The band played extremely well for such a young outfit, showing plenty of prospect for the future!
The ‘Senior’ Band then took to the stage (or marquee in this case!) and played a concert of mainly lighter numbers that were well recieved by our local supporters.
Thanks to our deputy players, and to the band’s stalwart helpers for all their assistance on the night.
After the competitions of late, the band now turns it’s focus to our forthcoming concert appearances. For a full list of events, and further details on tickets and times, please see the calendar.
On Saturday 15th May, the Band was successful in retaining its place in the Grand Shield Contest, the highest tier of the British Open Spring Festival.
The band was almost the lowest ranked in the competition, and also one of only two 1st Section bands, but achieved a creditable 14th out of 20 to avoid relegation to the next tier down.
Thanks to those players that helped us out to achieve this, and we look forward to improving our position in 2011!
The 2nd Lytham Brass Festival was held yesterday, the 17th April, and was a great success again. A full list of prizewinners will be published soon, but the band performed very well at the Gala Concert, alongside the superb Nicola Howard, our guest vocal soloist.
Patrick Howard, our Solo Euphonium, won both the Slow Melody and Open sections of the festival. The Freckleton Quartet were 2nd, with the Tuba Quartet 3rd.
Thanks to the few people that helped the band out, hope you enjoyed it.
The Band is pleased to announce several new signings in preparation for our appearance at the Grand Shield Contest on May 15th.
Stuart Bateson, formerly of Wingates, has signed on Front Row cornet, Becky Stead, formerly Longridge, on 2nd Trombone, and Chris Ratchford, formerly Coppull and Standish, has signed on Flugelhorn, releasing Russ Queenan back to our cornet section.
We welcome them all, and hope they enjoy this exciting time at Freckleton, with a trip to the National Finals looming in September.
Good day for the Band !
The Freckleton Band Crowned North West Area 1st Section Champions.
The band competed at Blackpool’s Winter Gardens today, and off the dreaded number 1 draw gave a performance that was to be unsurpassed.
We now have the 1st Section National Finals to look forward to in September!
Satisfactory result at the Guild.
The band came away with a creditable 4th place at today’s Brass at the Guild contest, the highest placed 1st section band, and we take comfort from the solid performance we gave after a pretty tough build up.
Thanks to former members and deputies that helped out, and congratulations to Blackburn and Darwen, Pemberton and Wire Brass who took the prizes!
Onwards and Upwards to the Area competition on March 14th!
The Youth Band needs you!
The Freckleton Band is starting a new Youth Band!
The first rehearsal is on Monday, 22nd February, from 7pm until 7.50pm, before the normal band rehearsal.
The band will be directed by Jonathan Ford, who will be assisted by main band players. All adults involved are subject to CRB checks.
We have some instruments available to borrow, but we need advance warning if you need this facility.
The band currently has vacancies for Cornet players, a Soprano and percussionists.
We welcome all ages, and improving players with potential are encouraged to get in touch along with more established players.
Classes for Junior, Primary, Open, Junior Quartet and Senior Quartet.
Gala Concert by Freckleton Band in the Evening.
At our Lowther Christmas concert, the Bandsman of the year award was presented by Paul Dalton, our Musical Director.
This year, in an unprecedented move, he awarded it to 2 people jointly, Rachael Shore and Gareth Maybury.
Rachael is one of the most committed and reliable members of the band, and is as close to a 100% attendee I’ve ever known.
Gareth is a versatile multi instrumentalist, who has played Percussion, BBb and EEb Bass, Solo Euph, 2nd Euph, Baritone, 1st and 2nd Trombone during the year to help us out depending what we needed when he arrived.
Well done, and thank you, to both worthy recipients!