It’s back and this time for good. ‘Xpressions’ the news letter for the Friends of Flowers is to make a return in the next couple of months and we need your help. If you were on the mailing list for Expressions when it was known as ‘Pals of Polysteel’, we want to hear from you. Even if you weren’t, we still want to hear from you!

If you want to catch up on the latest news, concert reviews, player profiles, features and offers from the Flowers Band, please send an email to the bands sales & marketing manager at weenstix30@hotmail.co.uk together with your name and an address to send it to. For the more technically minded of you, we will also be issuing Xpressions as a pdf download from the bands website for people to read.

Don’t be left out, contact us today!

Well it’s that time of year once again when a lot of the banding fraternity take a break for the summer to recharge the batteries in readiness for the busy end of year contests and concerts…………Flowers are no different!
With a month off throughout August, it will be back to the grindstone in September when the band enter the Wychavon Festival of Brass (19th September) they then take part in the National Brass Band Championship Finals at London’s Royal Albert Hall (9th October). Flowers then travel to Essex for a joint concert with the Thundersley Band (30th October) followed by a concert at the Pittville Pump Rooms on the 7th November. A fortnight later (21st November) they return to Gateshead to participate in the Brass In Concert Championships at the Sage Centre.

This year’s Christmas Concert will be held at the Stroud Subscription Rooms on Saturday 11th December, (details to be announced). We would like to thank everybody who has come along to any of our concerts or contests this year or who have supported us in any way shape or form.

Have a great summer!!

Both the Flowers senior and Flowers youth bands took part in the return of the Pershore Midsummer Brass festival which took place in the beautiful town of Pershore, Worcestershire on Saturday 10th July which was bathed in warm summer sunshine throughout the entire day.

The Flowers Youth Band performed in Chapman Court which was one of the four concert venues used for the festival in the town. Under musical director Tom Davoren they played to an appreciative crown and included foot tappers such as ‘The Floral Dance’ and ’Lord Of The Dance’, both arranged by former Flowers professional conductor Derek Broadbent. Principal cornet Will Norman delighted the assembled crowd with his jazzy interpretation of ‘Buster Strikes Back’ before they rounded off their slot with the finale from Paul Lovatt-Cooper’s ‘Horizons’.

The main band kicked off their programme in the early evening with a performance at the Angel Inn. This is a venue where the bubblegum and popcorn type music is performed in a casual environment, but still appreciated by the large audience which had amassed there throughout the day. The band kicked off with the quick march ‘Midwest’ and proceeded to entertain the audience with foot tappers such as ‘Manhattan Skyline’, ‘Sabre Dance’ (with a twist) ‘Lightwalk’ and ‘The Best Of Bond’. Andy Hicks and Paul Eddy were Freddie Mercury and Montserrat Caballe for the afternoon as they performed the classic ‘Barcelona’. Flowers rounded off their stint at the Angel with Jimmy Webb’s magnum opus ‘MacArthur Park’ arr. Alan Catherall.

The band then moved onto the more salubrious surroundings of Pershore Abbey to perform works of a more serious nature. Opening with ‘Festive Overture’ by Shostakovich, the band’s quality of sound quickly became apparent within the confines of the abbey. They followed this with music from Massenet’s opera ‘Le Cid’ arranged by Howard Snell. Andy Smith was the featured soloist in ‘Share My Yoke’, whilst in contrast this was followed by the Rolling Stones classic ‘Ruby Tuesday’. The music of John Barry was next in the theme to ‘Out Of Africa’ and for the bands finale, they chose to play five movements from Elgar’s ‘Enigma Variations’.

It was certainly great to see this event back on the brass band calendar after six years away and we thank the committee of Pershore Midsummer Brass for inviting us to take part in the festival along with twenty other brass bands from the Midlands and Gloucestershire.

Saturday 19th June proved to be a sweltering day for all as the 25th Chipping Sodbury Festival got into full swing with the annual ‘Last Night Of The Proms’ taking place at Chipping Sodbury town hall featuring The Flowers Band and the beautiful vocal talents of Daniella Beck.

In what is the highlight of the festival, Flowers provided the packed audience with an entertaining programme under the direction of guest musical director for the evening Dr. Chris Davis OBE. The band opened up the evenings proceedings with Paul Lovatt-Cooper’s stirring composition ‘Walking With Heroes’, before delighting the audience with a swaggering rendition of the march ‘The Australasian.

Next it was the turn of guest soprano cornet Paul Richards (who kindly stepped in for the holidaying Paul Eddy). Paul chose to play Leoncavallo’s gorgeous melody ’On With The Motley’, which was played with great musicality and passion by the soloist. The jazz classic ‘Poinciana’ by Nat Simon and Buddy Bernier was next up before things calmed down with a relatively new piece for brass band entitled ‘O Magnum Mysterium’. This haunting but beautiful composition was premiered by the Leyland Band at the Brass In Concert championships in 2009 (it has to be heard to be believed).

The second half of the concert started with a Latino feel as the band brisked through ‘Valero’ followed by an arrangement of ‘old blue eyes’ classics entitled ‘Salute To Sinatra’ by the bands’ former musical director Philip Harper which had everyone singing in the aisles! Trombone soloist Robert Marsh was next up to the plate with a cracking performance of the swing number ‘Blue John’ by Peter Kneale before the band rounded off the serious stuff with the Shostakovich classic ‘Festive Overture. It was now time for the audience to let their hair down with the start of the ‘Proms’ section of the concert and the introduction of the evenings guest vocalist Miss Daniella Beck. The thunderous march ‘Arnhem’ kicked off proceedings followed by a medley of ‘British Sea Songs’, ‘Jerusalem’ and ‘Pomp & Circumstance No. 1′.

‘Salute To Heroes’ rounded off the evenings performance, which undoubtedly brought many a tear to former RAF veterans who were present in the audience. There was still time for an encore in the shape of ‘Toccata in D Minor’ by Bach but based on the version performed by the group ‘Sky’ which made for a rousing and fitting finale to the evenings programme.

The band look forward to returning to Chipping Sodbury next year!

The Flowers Band recently had the pleasure of sharing the stage with the world renowned Enfield Citadel Band of the Salvation Army (Jonathan Corry). The concert took place at the Bristol Easton Salvation Army Hall, Bristol on a balmy Saturday evening. Paul Holland lead Flowers through a programme which included Paul Lovatt-Cooper’s ‘Walking With Heros’, Shostakovich’s ‘Festive Overture’ and the beautiful ‘O Magnum Mysterium’ by Morten Lauridsen. The audience were also treated to joint items performed by the two bands which included ‘Lightwalk’ by Barry Gott and the beautiful ‘I’ll Walk With God’, which was made famous by Mario Lanza in the 1954 movie ‘The Student Prince’.

It is hoped that a return concert in London will be arranged sometime in the very near future……….watch this space.

The 2010 qualifying contest for the British Open Championships ‘The Grand Shield’ took place at the Winter Gardens, Blackpool on Saturday 15th May. The test piece for this years contest was Edward Gregson’s wonderful ‘Rococo Variations’, which was the set test piece at the 2008 British Open in Birmingham, where Flowers achieved 12th place. Conducted by Garry Cutt, Flowers gave a very strong and robust performance, which drew praise from 4barsrest.com who predicted a win for the Gloucester based band. Unfortunately, the adjudicators thought otherwise and Flowers were placed 6th.

The band would like to congratulate their friends from across the Severn bridge, Tredegar Town (Ian Porthouse), in taking the Grand Shield back to the valley’s and also Tongwynlais Temperence (under Flowers former MD Philip Harper) who gained second prize. Both bands qualify for this years British Open Championships to be held at Symphony Hall, Birmingham in September. We wish them the best of luck!

The current West of England Regional champion, Flowers, has announced the resignation of long serving principal cornet player Chris Howley.

In a statement from Band Manager Lee Downie, he states: “It is with great regret that Flowers Band announce the resignation of their long serving stalwart on principal cornet Chris Howley.”

‘Chris had recently been asked to fill the vacant flugel seat, but unfortunately felt that he was unable to accept this or any alternative position within the band and resigned with immediate effect’

The statement continued: “Chris had recently been asked to fill the vacant flugel seat, but unfortunately felt that he was unable to accept this or any alternative position within the band and resigned with immediate effect. The band would like to publicly thank Chris for all his hard work and efforts over the past ten years and wish him every success for the future.”

Band Manager Lee Downie added: “Since the news broke there has been a great deal of interest in the top seat. The band will also be advertising the vacant position and hope to make an appointment shortly.”

Andrew Smith is currently acting Principal Cornet until a new Principal is appointed.

The Flowers Band are once again West of England champions after beating off their nearest rivals to take the top spot at the regional finals in Torquay at the weekend. This means another trip to London’s Royal Albert Hall in October to compete in the national finals. Under the baton of Paul Holland, the band gave an outstanding performance of George Lloyd’s ‘English Heritage’ to claim their first regional crown since 2007 and their sixth title over all.

Adjudicator Stan Lippeatt spoke from the stage before the announcement of the results and told the packed auditorium at the Riviera Centre that there were four very good performances on the day, with the top two ‘clearly ahead’ of the pack. Flowers though he said were ‘clear’ winners. This is also the first major win with Flowers for conductor Paul Holland, who said he was ‘absolutely delighted’ with the performance and the result.

Congratulations also go to our friends at Camborne Town Band who finished in second place and also qualify for the London finals.

1. Flowers (Paul Holland), 7*

2. Camborne Town (Ian Porthouse), 4*

3. Woodfalls (Professor Nicholas Childs), 1

4. Mount Charles (Phillip McCann), 10

5. St Dennis (Philip Harper), 2

6. Lydbrook (Tom Brevic), 6

7. Sherborne Town (Paul Cosh), 9

8. Helston Town (John Hitchins), 3

9. Poole Borough (Phil Randell), 8

10. Yeovil Town (Kevin Robbins), 5

*Top 2 bands qualify for the Finals

The Flowers Band start 2010 with a trip to Skegness on the weekend of 23rd & 24th January when they return to compete at the Butlins Mineworkers Championships. The contest is held over two days with bands performing the set test piece on the Saturday before performing a twenty minute entertainment programme of their own choice on the Sunday. The winners are decided by the highest aggregate over the two days of performances and will receive the biggest cash prize in banding, a cheque for £7000!

The band last made the trip to the Lincolnshire resort in 2007 where they came 4th and 2006 saw them being crowned Butlins Mineworkers Champions with an aggregate of a first place on the set test piece for that year (St Magnus) and a second place in the Sunday entertainment contest. This year’s set test is a new commission from the pen of the highly talented Black Dyke percussionist Paul Lovatt-Cooper, entitled Sleepless Cities. At the time of going to press, we don’t as yet have confirmation on the bands competing at the championships, but we will bring you this information in due course.

Christmas 2009 gets underway when the Flowers Band return to the Cheltenham Town Hall on Saturday 19th December at 7.30pm for ‘Christmas With Flowers’. They will be joined on stage by the Cotswold Male Voice Choir for a feast of festive musical entertainment that will get you in the mood for Christmas. The evenings proceedings will be compered under the safe hands of BBC Radio Gloucestershire’s Vernon Harwood. Tickets are priced £12 (£10 concessions) and are available from the Cheltenham Town Hall box office on 0844 576 2210 or via the Town Hall website at www.cheltenhamtownhall.org.uk