Hitchin Band

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Hitchin Band
Address: Hitchin Rugby Club, Old Hale Way, Hitchin, SG5 1XL
Website: Official Site
Musical Director: Craig Patterson
Secretary: Tina Berwick
Contact Details: 07905 772249
Rehearsal Times: Mondays and Thursdays from 7:45pm to 9:45pm
Region: London and Southern Counties
Section: 3rd Section

Contents

News

NEW!!!!!! HITCHIN BAND CD "BRASS MONKEYS" - Out NOW! Email info@hitchinband.co.uk for details.

Track List:

1. Westward Ho! - Edwin Firth

2. ‘L’Italiana in Algeri’ Overture – Gioachino Rossini - Arranged by J A Greenwood

3. Rusalka’s Song to the Moon - Antonín Dvořák – arr. Gordon Langford

4. Festival Arrangement – Light Walk – Barry Gott

5. Calon Lan – John Hughes – arr. Eric Ball

6. Let’s Face the Music and Dance – Irving Berlin – arr.Goff Richards

7. Blue Rondo à la Turk – Dave Brubeck – arr. Kevin Edwards

8. Time for Peace – Peter Graham

9. Lambeth Walk – Arranged by Phillip Sparke

10. Amazing Grace – arr. William Himes

11. Birdland – Joseph Zawinul – arr. Philip Sparke

12. Haydock Variations - Stuart Pullin


Congratulations to Hitchin Band on coming 5th in the 3rd section in the Regional Finals in Stevenage this year!

History

The history of Hitchin Band starts some time in the 1860’s which ranks it among the oldest “Brass” Bands in the world still performing. It has formed a cornerstone of musical culture in and around Hitchin ever since. A relatively recent example of this is the link with the Sponsheim KKH band based in a village on the outskirts of Bingen, Hitchin’s twin town in Germany. This link has been on-going for over 21 years with visits by both bands roughly every four years.

The band has performed in many venues ranging from river barges, open-air garden shows, football grounds, television and radio programmes and the Royal Albert Hall. Our activity is subsidised through a busy programme of summer and Christmas events. We have performed in a number of local “Proms” concerts and regularly play in the town square during the summer and for the town Christmas Carol service. Performances take us as far afield as Northampton, Kent and, of course, Germany.

Some of the concerts that we undertake are not solely for our own benefit. Several times a year we undertake concerts to help organisations ranging from schools to the RNLI and the Royal British Legion to raise funds for their own causes.

In addition, we participate in regional and national competitions having appeared as finalists on a number of occasions.Most recently, we achieved 4th place in the Butlins Mineworkers Contest 2009 in our section.

Despite our long history,it would appear that our profile within the town is not as high as we would like it to be with many people not knowing the town has a brass band. This is something we are very keen to put right.

The Band

Many of our members have long associations with the band, one of our current members who is also a Vice president, boasts over 40 years continuous service. Other members have only managed between twenty to thirty years! Equally, some members have only been with us a short time, as their work commitments cause them to move into and out of the region. We also have a number of younger players of whom we are very proud, as well as families of players and even marriages of band members to each other.

Musical Director - Craig Patterson

Principal Cornet - Dinah Birch

Solo Cornets - Ruth Lowe, Graeme Apthorpe, Raja Birring

Soprano Cornet - Simon Router

Repiano Cornet - Gary Carney

Back Row Cornets - Adrian McCann, Cathy Durbin, Bob Berwick, John Thorpe

Flugel Horn - Alice Bailey

Solo Horn - Sarah Gibbons

1st Horn - Sam Huckle

2nd Horn - Lisa Jeffs

1st Baritone - Allan Hooker

2nd Baritone - Nigel Brown

1st Euphonium - Keith Birch

2nd Euphonium - Ted Stacey

Solo Trombone - Kenny Durbin

2nd Trombone - VACANCY

Bass Trombone - Duncan Henderson

Eb Basses - Tim Mosedale, Chris Ankers

Bb Basses - VACANCY, Tony Huckle

Percussion - Dan Perrins (kit), Emily Prince, VACANCY (tuned)

Engagements 2009

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Saturday 12th December

British Legion Christmas Concert

Hitchin Town Hall

Joint concert with Stevenage Male Voice Choir. Features both Christmas and non Christmas music

Start Time : 7:30pm

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Sunday 13th December

Hitchin Winter Gala

Hitchin Market Square

Annual Town Winter Gala with events throughout the day

Band plays in the afternoon

Time : 2:00pm to 3:00pm

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Saturday 19th December

Hitchin Band Xmas Concert

Christchurch, Hitchin

Times to be confirmed

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Monday 21st December

"A Family Celebration of Christmas"

Haileybury Chapel, Haileybury College, Hertford Heath, Nr Hertford

Raising funds for Macmillan Cancer Relief, Hertfordshire.

A highly enjoyable evening of music, songs and special guest readings.

Tickets can be obtained by calling Macmillan Cancer Support on or emailing them direct

Start Time : 7:30pm

NEW!!! Hitchin Youth Band

We are starting up a youth band in the very near future. If you have a child who already plays a brass instrument (at any standard) or would like to start learning one, please contact Alice Bailey at youthband@hitchinband.co.uk.

Vacancies

Do you want to meet other brass musicians and enhance your musical skills?

If you are at least Grade 5 standard then Hitchin Band would like to meet you.

We are the Town Brass Band for Hitchin and are looking to recruit new members to swell our ranks.

We're a friendly bunch of people of all ages who enjoy our music enormously.


We currently have vacancies for:

TROMBONE, Bb BASS AND TUNED PERCUSSION

We always welcome new members on any instrument so if you're interested, please get in touch.

Bandroom Location

This page was last modified on 3 November 2009, at 23:09. This page has been accessed 605 times.