Grange Moor and Skelmanthorpe Bands

St Pauls Hall, Huddersfield
11th July 2003

On Friday the 11th July at St Pauls Hall Huddersfield, a joint concert was performed by Grange Moor Brass Band (4th Section) and Skelmanthorpe Band (Championship Section) to raise funds for Grange Moor to travel to Dundee for the Lower Sections National Finals.

The first half of the programme was opened by Grange Moor playing the well known march Punchinello (Rimmer), and this was a good solid start and gave the band a good feel of the accoustics in the converted former church. Next was the Alan Catherall arangement of Born Free which was due to be followed by the horn solo Feelings (Arr D.Ashmore) - but unfortunately Solo Horn player Karen Rhodes was struck down with tonsilitus on the night and was resigned to serving refreshments at the interval.

The Shoop Shoop Song followed and was received with rapturous applause - not least for the efforts of the young percussionist Matt who I'm told is only 14. Bolton & Banks arrangement of C.H.Barrys Dear Lord And Father Of Mankind produced some very well balanced dynamics and featured all sections of the band. Lennon and McCartney came next in the guise of Alan Fernie's arrangement of Ticket To Ride which has the unusual start with most of the band just blowing air through their instruments whilst waggling their valves - not as easy as it sounds. A quiet penultimate performance of Light As Air by Goff Richards was followed by a very passionate final performance of Men Of Harlech(Gordon Langford).

After the Interval came the Skelmanthorpe Band who started with a rousing rendition of Blenhiem Flourihes by James Curnow, followed by a beautiful performance of My Love Is Like A Red Red Rose performed, without music, by the principle cornet player Ralf Little, not the royal one, but a very majestic performance non the less.

An absolutely fantastic rendition of Theme From Batman Movie followed giving all four percussionists plenty to do and not holding back.Two lively Jazz/bigband pieces, That's A Plenty and Opus One came next getting the audiences feet tapping and hands clapping. Opus One was a replacement for the Xylophone solo Czardas (Monte) which was to feature the playing of Neil Keer, but once again illness forced a change to the programme. The Day Thou Gavest by Philip Wilby brought a calming influence to the evening before being thrown in to battle for the finale Ayres Of Agincourt. An all round superb performance by Skelmanthorpe.

After the obligatery draw for the raffle a massed band performance of Grand March From Aida conducted by Kevin Wadsworth was followed by an encore of Death Or Glory in which the bands played without conductor and recieved a standing ovation. Special thanks to Skelmanthorpe Band and Kevin Wadsworth, who also acted as compare for the evening, for giving their time free of charge and also to Matt Roebuck who stepped in at the last minute to take charge of Grange Moor and brought the best out of the band on the night.

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