KM Medway (Gillingham), and BrassBand Heist

Behalf of the Lions Hospice, Gravesend
St. Georges Church
Gravesend, Kent
Saturday, 14th October

With the cancellation of this year's SCABA Autumn Contest, what was Folkestone's loss became Gravesend's gain as is meant that BrassBand Heist could accept the invitation of KM Medway to join them in a joint concert on behalf of The Lions Hospice, Gravesend.

BrassBand Heist, from the Flanders region of Belgium, had been looking forward to competing in their first SCABA Autumn contest, and had already organised their travel and accommodation before the Contest was unfortunately cancelled. Not wishing to cancel their trip, an appeal was made to bands in the Kent area to see if anything could be salvaged from their disappointment. The result was concert engagements with two well-known Kent bands, the first of which was a joint concert with KM Medway band on behalf of their chosen charity.

BrassBand Heist are a band in their infancy, having only formed two years ago. This means that they currently compete in the lowest division in Belgium banding. However, this placing belies their undeniable talent, as they demonstrated on the night a maturity and cohesion of playing which would rival many of our own Championship section bands, even the more remarkable considering the average age of their principal players couldn't have been much over 20.

Their MD is Bert Van Thienen, star Soprano of BrassBand Willebroek and winner of the Best Instrumentalist prize at this year's National Championships at The Royal Albert Hall.

BrassBand Heist were responsible for the first half of the evening's music, and they performed a varied program which included two test-pieces for their upcoming National competition. The band opened with Alan Fernie's 'Ye Banks and Braes', which was followed with an introduction from Concert organiser David Blowers. Heist's first soloist of the night followed, which was none other than Bert Van Thienen playing Allison's arrangement of 'Silver Threads Among the Gold'. This was a chance to hear one of the best exponents of the Soprano Cornet, and Bert didn't let anyone down.

In November, BrassBand Heist are competing in the Belgium National Championships. In order to win promotion to a higher section, bands in Belgium must win their section in two consecutive years. Another interesting angle on competing in Belgium is that the adjudicators chose the test pieces for the following year's contest.

The first of these is Gregson's 'Laudate Dominum', which they performed after Bert's solo. They followed this with their second soloist of the night, Principal Euphonium Glenn Vanlooy playing Small's arrangement of Karl Jenkins' 'Benedictus'. Playing without music, 15-year old Glenn produced a performance of maturity and style belying his youth. Bert introduced him as one to watch in the future, and Glenn certainly lived up to Bert's glowing introduction.

Following on from Glenn's solo, the band performed the second of their test-pieces, Kenneth Downie's 'Princethorpe Variations'. This was followed by Heist's penultimate offering, Peter Graham's 'Hine e Hine'. The band concluded their part in the concert with Charleson's arrangement of Marcangelo's 'Clog Dance', made famous by the film 'Brassed Off'.

Following the second-half interval, it was the turn of The KM Medway Band to provide the music. Fresh from their appearance at this year's 1st Section National Finals in Harrogate, the band showed no ill-effects from eating too many of the cockles that were on sale during the half-time interval.

Their program included many favourites, covering such genres as classical music, film music and Salvation Army music, with a number of arrangements provided by their resident arranger. Under the baton of Ron Cooper, the band opened with Eric Bank's arrangement of Strauss' 'Festmusik der Stadt Wein'. This was followed by the Barry Manilow favourite 'I Write the Songs'.

Their first soloist was David Cooper, who played the soprano solo 'On With The Motley'. David, winner of the Best Cornet Instrumentalist prize at this year's London & Southern Counties Regional Finals, was on top form, and produced a very moving rendition of this favourite. This was followed by music from the film 'Pocahontas'. The venue for the concert is the final resting place for Princess Pocahontas, after she was taken ill whilst sailing down the Thames after visiting the Royal Palace. Upon landing at Gravesend, she died and was subsequently buried within the church, though the location of her final resting place within the church is still somewhat of a mystery.

The second soloist from KM Medway was Flugel horn player Sara Oberland, who played Caccini's 'Ave Maria'. Sara's playing contained all the tonal quality and fluency of playing that makes the Flugel one of the most warm-sounding instruments of the band. This was then followed by the film classic 'Singing in the Rain'.

KM Medway's penultimate piece was Sir Dean Goffin's 'Light of the World'. This was the ideal venue for such a piece, with its domed ceiling allowing the music to resonate throughout the hall. The band concluded with Shostakovich's 'Festive Overture'.

And thus a great concert, as with all good things, had to end. The performances of both bands were met with standing ovations. A lot of cockles were eaten, a lot of friends were made, with promises of further collaborations were cemented. The audience were given a great chance to hear a "2 for 1" concert, and were not short-changed.

However, the greatest beneficiary was The Lion's Hospice, Gravesend. The Hospice receives only 18% of its running costs from The Local Health Authority, and the rest it must raise itself. This is done by the tireless efforts of their fundraisers, a legion of friends of the Hospice who have had the privilege of coming into contact with the care provided by the Hospice in one way or another.

They provide care free of charge, but it comes with a price – each minute of care costs £4.09. Tonight's concert raised much-needed funds to help the Hospice meet the needs of people within the Gravesham area, and we look forward to the first of the two annual fundraising concerts in March next year.

T. Perry

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