The Yorkshire Imperial Metals Veterans Band recently enjoyed a wonderful inaugural concert appearance.

Success

The band, made up of a plethora of former payers who enjoyed so much success under the ‘Imps’ name in the 1970 and 1980s, thoroughly enjoyed themselves under the batons of Stan Lippeatt and James Scott.

Went well

Ian Craddock told 4BR: "It went extremely well considering we had just one rehearsal and a get together before the concert.

We played for around 45 minutes as we are slowly but surely getting our old lips back into shape, but it was a wonderful experience.”

He added: "Our thanks go to Stan Lippeatt and of course to James Scott, who rolled back the years when he conducted the ‘Elegy’ for ‘A Downland Suite’ and, ‘The Knightsbridge March’.2

We played for around 45 minutes as we are slowly but surely getting our old lips back into shape, but it was a wonderful experienceIan Craddock

Musical highlights

Other musical highlights of the evening were performances of the ‘Introduction to Act III’ of ‘Lohengrin’ and the march,‘Mephistopheles’, which the band used to play on their many successful appearances at the Whit Friday contests.

Solo performances were given by former principal cornet Graham Walker on ‘Rusalka’s Song to the Moon’ and trombonist Phil Rose who played ‘Stardust’.

Fantastic

Ian added: "To be able to involve many or the old ‘Imps’ again has been quite fantastic. We will continue to rehearse once a month before having a summer break then a we plan a concert for the Autumn."