Players from Kirkby Stephen Silver Band have emerged triumphant after their 24-hour 'playathon' that helped raise funds to provide wheelchair friendly access to their rehearsal headquarters.
After a great deal of logistical and musical planning, the marathon session got underway on what was also the hottest day of the year.
Enjoyed
Spokesperson Raven Taylor told 4BR: "Any anxieties we had soon disappeared as we enjoyed ourselves from the off. Everyone played their part — from part swapping to shift swapping to get through."
The band started in 'full strength' mode before breaking into smaller ensembles to vary the workload and play the wide variety of repertoire that was chosen.
Beer and brass sound baths
There was also a pop up café to entice listeners (as well as a bar thanks to MD Ian Simkins owning a brewery!), with plenty of holiday makers stopping by to find out more about the band and the ambition it has to turn their rehearsal HQ into a community music hub.
There were also special guests to help out too, with Hari Trivedi from Leicester leading a fantastic 'brass sound baths' where the players combined some of the lower brass instruments with his crystal singing bowls.
At 4.00am in the morning, baritone player and wildlife expert Andrew Ramsay scored a 'Dawn Chorus piece based on different bird calls — getting players to mimic the sounds4BR
Dawn Chorus
At 4.00am in the morning, baritone player and wildlife expert Andrew Ramsay scored a 'Dawn Chorus' piece based on different bird calls — getting players to mimic the sounds.
Raven added: "These were wonderful additions to a fantastic communal effort — one which was also great fun from start to finish, even if we were all a bit exhausted! The support from the local community, visitors, holiday makers and on-line friends pushed us on to the end.
We finished with a grand finale with all the band back together — tired, emotional and triumphant."
So far the initiative has raised over £2,000, with plans to try something 'very different' in the future to help meet the band's ambition.
