Brass Band Aid

Brass Band Aid Celebrity Band
Stanhope Silver, Ferryhill, Broughtons, Barnard Castle
Conductors: Richard Evans, Steve Robson, Sue Norris, Barry Holden, Gary Hutchinson
Doyen Recordings: CD207
Total Playing Time: 65 mins approx

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There are very rare occasions in life when you don't have to try and flog something to death. However there are also times when if you don't, then the consequences could be as catastrophic as death itself.

Brass Band Aid is a magnificent undertaking and should be supported from every corner of the brass banding globe. It doesn't matter if you are tootling away in Treherbert, blowing in Brighouse or honking it out in Harrogate, this is a cause that deserves your undivided attention, support and action.

Forget the playing – this is about helping your fellow man.

Young Briony Thompson picked up on the idea of the banding community helping with the profile of ‘Make Poverty History' after seeing and hearing the response other groups and organizations gave to Bob Geldof's international campaign. The outcome has been nothing short of remarkable, and with the help of her infatigable Dad, Bob, Steve Robson, who for many years has been an active supporter and sponsor of ‘World Vision' and a whole host of committed helpers such as her sister Sophia, she has spearheaded a fund raising campaign that has simply taken the breath away.

Whatever she wants to do in later life, we are sure there will be a whole plethora of Charitable organizations who will give her a job as a fundraiser extraordinaire. To date, the campaign is closing in on its first target which when met will provide the Ethiopian village of Adet the chance to build a much needed school to provide education, and more importantly, a future for its children.

It is a strange world in which we live that too many people in the UK view education as a chore rather than a gift. Education is the great liberator, its effects last a whole lifetime and its purpose never ends.  What it gives us is opportunity, opportunity to make lasting changes to the way in which we live, and in the way in which we interact with our fellow man. Cheapen education and you cheapen your own and other people's lives. This campaign is a timely reminder of its importance, not only to the people in Ethiopia it will directly benefit, but to those who take the opportunity to think about what they can do to help.

Before you get your money out though, a word about the playing!

21 great tracks feature four of the North East's hard working bands, who have all made sure that they are on top form. All gave their valuable time to appear, but all of them made sure that they contribution was going to be as good as they could make it. All four of Stanhope, Ferryhill, Broughtons and Barnard Castle do themselves proud, and you sense there was more than a little bit of local rivalry upping the ante in the recording studio as well!

The undoubted stars though are the Celebrity Band under the wing of Richard Evans. To get these busy players to make the trip and come up to Greenfield Community School at Newton Aycliffe must have been a logistical nightmare, but Briony did it with such expertise that there are now rumours that she will be asked to organize the next Lower Section National Finals, Spennymoor and the North East Regionals in her spare time!

The result is some of the finest brass band players in the world put rivalry behind them for the cause, and so you get a cornet lineup that includes the likes of Ian Porthouse, Russell Gray, Richard Marshall, Mark Wilkinson and the great Jim Shepherd to name your top row, as well as Peter Roberts on sop! It takes some players to try and back that  lot up, but why worry when you have David Childs, Glyn Williams, Mark Frost, Martin Armstrong, Leslie Howie, John Doyle and Katrina Marzella helping out!

The bass end was enough to frighten small children into hiding (and not just with their looks either!) with Joe Cook and Steve Sykes, Matt Routley and Danny Sinclair pumping it out like leviathans. Add to this our intrepid organizer, her Dad, sister and Steve Robson and you had a band that would take some beating if it ever decided to compete.

The result is a CD of music that is highly enjoyable and includes Alan Fernie's super arrangement of ‘Do they know it's Christmas' to round it all off in style.

As Briony herself says in the sleeve notes: "No single person can claim the success of this initiative but we have all have the opportunity in our lives to make a difference."

Now is your chance to do the same by buying this CD. It is that important.

Iwan Fox.

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