EASINGTON COLLIERY BAND

Musical Director Stuart Gray has decided to part company with Easington Colliery Brass Band.

Increasing work commitments has been the key factor in his decision.

Over the past six years Stuart has guided the band and as a result the band has went from strength to strength.

The band have enjoyed working with Stuart and wish him all the best for the future

New contact details for the secretary Scott Meikle

E-mail.....  ecb13@btinternet.com

Mob No.....07961605982

NEW DRUM SCHOOL FOR EASINGTON

Have you ever thought of playing the drums, well now's the time to start.

The band secured a grant from Durham County Council to start up a drum school.

We have a qualified teacher in place to teach the lesson, so if you fancy learning

on how to play the drums please contact me on 019... to book your place.

If you are under sixteen you must be accompanied by your parent(s).

The first meeting is Sunday 1st February 09

Well where to begin…The band had a busy end to 2008 or should that be hectic!

Starting with the Scottish Open on November 29^th in Perth. The band traveled up on the Friday night arriving at the hotel at 10pm. No time to unpack our bags as we had a rehearsal, then a swift drink before bed (although for Stuart and John beds were a luxury!) On Saturday we had a quick rehearsal before hearing the draw done by Mark. We made our way to the concert hall, listened to a couple of bands and then it was our turn. The band played really well and all of us came off stage pleased with our performance. When results time came we had come 13^th, although disappointing at first the band knew they had played well and look forward to St Magnus again in the New Year. Many thanks to Jonny, Bobby, Graham for helping us out, outstanding deps on a difficult percussion part.

While most bands are doing a few caroling jobs here and there, the band then went in to December having no fewer than 12 commitments, starting with a concert in Bedlington. The band was well received by a very appreciative audience. Following this the band caroled at Dalton Park, Asda, Ryhope, Tesco, The Bridges to name a few and thank you to anyone who made a donation.

We also had our now annual concert at St Michael’s and All Angels Parish Church in Houghton – le – Spring. On this occasion our guest soloist was Jimmy Hayes who wowed the audience with ‘Georgia on my Mind’ and ‘Feelin’ Good’.

We then made our annual trip to Northallerton to play as guests of the Northallerton Male Voice Choir. A wonderful day of music, with both concerts being played in front of a packed forum. And some excellent fish and chips, yummy!

And to our final concert of 2008. After a late night from Northallerton the band then were lucky enough to be part of the massed bands at the Sage, Gateshead so an early start for the rehearsal. The concert was excellent and again the Sage was pretty much a sell out. A wonderful way to end 2008.

And with the 2009 diary filling up already it looks like another busy year for the Hares. 

Scottish Open........

The band are busy preparing for the Scottish Open on Saturday 29th November. Under the direction of John Roberts the band will play St Magnus.

Why not check out the runners and riders at the contest........

Runners and Riders

Shop for less and support Easington Colliery Brass Band

*Great range, with gift ideas!

*Online bargain prices

*Free delivery from many retailers !

*The shops pay us money at no extra cost to you....

So by at http://www.buy.at/easingtoncollieryband

      A Concert of Music of the World

                     Featuring

               Easington Colliery

            Brass Band

                           Est 1913

               As Seen on The Secret Millionaire

                           With Special Guests

     The Northallerton Male Voice Choir

                On saturday November 8th 2008

       7.30pm @ Old Elvet Methodist Church, Durham

                          Tickets: £6

              To Pre-book Tel. 0191 419 3519

                      Or pay at the door.

It is with great sadness that the Easington Colliery Band announces the death of Bill Cummings, for many years Bill was the Repiano Cornet player with the band.

Details of the funeral will be placed on the Band website as soon as they become available.

It is with great regret that Easington Colliery Band has withdrawn from the Pontins Contest 2008.

There has been a bereavement within the band set-up, that has rocked the band and player(s) involved.

At this moment in time we cannot comment any further due to the sensitivity of the circumstances of the loss.

At this sad time can I ask for respect for the family and band members involved.

Kind regards

Executive Committee

Congratulations to our Solo trombone player Wizz (Elizabeth) Bateman she enterd the Durham Brass Band Association Solo contest on Sunday 5th of October and came away as Durham Junior and Open Champion. This is a fantastic achievement for Wizz as she has only been playing trombone for 2 years, so from all of the band well done!!!

More Secret Millionaire to follow......Plus more good fortune around the corner

Easington Colliery Band are celebrating a huge windfall as 'The Secret Millionaire' joined the bands ranks over 10 days in March.
 
Unknown to anyone, Carl Hopkins turned up to the bandroom to listen to the band but he was soon persuaded to take part as a percussion player beside Scott Meikle the band secretary. At that point we had no idea Carl was going to change the band's fortunes.
 
On the last day of his stay Carl produced a cheque for £10,000 to Scott as he recognised the importance the band has with the history of the colliery and the future of the Easington public and the band has to carry on. The band were in total shock when Scott organised a meeting to tell everyone the wonderfull news and a few glasses of champagne were drank that evening.
 
The band are producing a CD in recognition to Carl's wonderful gesture and have designed new ties and badges for the uniform. He recieved a plaque as the bands life president.
 
The programme went to air on Tuesday 26th August where the band all met at their local,The Half Moon to watch the programme together and sit around the television still in shock that a man can be so generous to give so much to keep Easington Colliery Band functioning.
 
From everyone asscotiated with Easington Colliery Band we would like to thank Carl for his special gift.

On the 22nd August the Easington Colliery Band tavelled to the West coast of Scotland to take part in the Troon Entertainment Contest at the Walker Hall. The band were staying at the Carlton Hotel in Prestwick, just outside of Troon.
The band's MD Stuart Gray chose a varied 20 minute programme starting with Blenheim Flourishes followed by Autumn Leaves, The Kings Hunting Jigg, In the Hall of the Mountain King, played with superb style and ssshwing by our bass trombone player Tim Cauldwell and the final piece The Pines of Rome.
Playing a great draw of 7th from 15 bands the band came off stage in a confident mood knowing they had played a very good performance. Just a matter of waiting for the final result from adjudicator, Alan Morrison.

On Saturday June 28^th the band was delighted to play the music for the wedding of Eb bass player Ben Cauldwell and his wife to be Grace Newton at Filey Methodist Church. With a mixture of music choices by both the bride and groom the band played the ‘Grand March from Aida’ as Grace walked down the aisle. We also played ‘Wedding Day at Troldhaugen’ and ‘The Cossack Wedding Dance’ as the couple signed the register. As the newly weds left the church the band played Widor’s ‘Toccata’.

Congratulations to Ben and Grace. The band wishes you a lifetime of happiness together. 

After the ceremony we made our way back on to the bus and began the cross-country trip to Easingwold to take part in the annual march contest organised by the Yorkshire and Humberside Brass Band Association. The band played ‘Death or Glory’ on the road march and our chosen contest march of ‘The President’ went down well with the crowd. After the early number 3 draw we headed for some liquid refreshment and awaited our fate.

At around 10pm the announcement came, the band had claimed 4^th place and our bass section were awarded ‘best basses’. A fantastic achievement for the band and obviously to our basses.

A fantastic day was had by all and as Paul Dering made his way home by car with his feet hanging out of the side and trophy on lap, Jo Brown managed to nurse the 4^th place shield ALL the way back from Easingwold.

Many thanks to Ian Jackson, Gav Vardy, Jayne Bateman and Steve Boyd for helping us out on the stand. It was also good to see Kim Edwards joining our Trombone section on the road march. Also huge thanks again to Andy Thompson for depping on sop and Jonathan Collins for banging the drum.

This result puts the band confidence at a new high for marches as we head to Brighouse on July 6^th. Good luck!

Report by Jo Brown

New page added to our web site, so why don't you check out to see what the band are up to!!!!

Go to www.freewebs.com/ecb13/apps/calendar/

more dates to be added, the engagements page will stay on until the calendar is up to date............

The band have made three new signings over the last few weeks, Clive Parker on Euphonium, Clare Hewson on Cornet and Ian Wind on Percussion.

Clive started playing with the Consett Salvation Army Band (Worlds first Salvation Army Band) at the age of ten,soon after joined Consett Junior Brass. Played with them for four years then at the age of fourteen I was asked if I would like to go along and play with the Ever Ready Band on second euph.This saw me gain a lot of experience playing Belle View ,Granada band of the year and National Finals that year 
Second Euph was never my thing so after a year I joined Consett Steel Works band on principle euph in the first section and gained runners up to Leyland in the finals of that year under the baton of John Childs (Nicky and Roberts dad) who was a major influence on me. That year saw me enter a solo contest for the first time and this led me into the finals of the brass band club contest in Blackpool
After that I auditioned for City of Coventry at the age of sixteen and got the post but I was unable to find a job down there . This brought me come back home and join National Smokeless Fuels Band ( now Fishburn) and go and study at Newcastle college for two years which saw my playing go from strength to strength winning a lot of solo contests and solo prizes whilst there.
 For  the rest of my playing career saw me going between Fishburn and Ever Ready as principle euph.and  making lots of solo performances with other bands until I retired four year ago.

Also Congratulations to Clive and his Partner Sandra on the birth of their Daughter Milly. Well Done!!!

Clare Hewson rejoins the band from Billingham Silver and Ian Wind Joins from Chester Le Street Riverside Band.

More News to follow............

Ch Ch CHANGES

The band held their iA.G.M in May at the Easington Welfare Hall.The event was well attended by band members and non playing members.

The night started off with current band president, Alan Cummings, rounding up the year. Alan felt that the band has made significant progress in the achievements which were set at the last AGM.

Nominations were held for the committee, with one or two changes being made, Dave Craig stepped down as the band chairman as did band manager Peter Lawson, the President thanked both Dave and Peter for all their hard work over the past year.

The New Committee 

President          Alan Cummings

Secretary          Scott Meikle

Band Manager   Jo Brown

Chairman          Peter Lawson

Treasurer          Julie Collins

Members

Paul Brickle, Mark Harrison, Mike Gray, Jonathan Collins, Dave Craig, Lisa Gray, Tim Cauldwell

Wedding at Ellingham Hall, Northumberland.

Back in February the band’s 2^nd Horn player Julie Collins arranged for us to attend a Wedding Fayre at Lumley Castle. From this we received a booking for a wedding at Elligham Hall in Northumberland on Saturday 26^th April.

6 members of the band were lucky enough to play at the ceremony itself. We played background music as the guests arrived and as Kate walked down the aisle we played ‘Trumpet Voluntary’ for her. We also played at the signing of the register and as the Bride and Groom left the ceremony.

By this point some more band members had found the Hall and we played at the drinks reception before moving to a balcony above the reception to entertain the guests with a selection of music requested by the Bride.

Huge thanks must go to Julie who did not sleep much the week before the wedding!! The day was a huge success. 

Congratulations to Kate and Asif Shah on your marriage, from Easington Colliery Brass Band.

A wonderful afternoon was had by all and the band members thoroughly enjoyed their sandwiches and beer, but that was not all……..

On Saturday evening we also had a concert in Easington Lane as guests of the Hetton Male Voice Choir. A wonderful church setting was perfect acoustic for the band (conducted by guest conductor Jason Smith) as we entertained the audience. Some fine solo playing from Dennis Todd (I’d Rather Have Jesus), John Oates (Benedictus) and Jonathan Collins (A Time for Peace) as well as some more ‘upbeat’ pieces such as Blue Rondo a la Turk and ‘The Cossack Wedding Dance’ (complete with ‘interesting’ Euphonium cadenza from John Oates) rounded off a long day of playing. A member of the audience also requested ‘Gresford’ and fortunately we had this to hand and gladly added it to our programme.

Many thanks to our deps for the day. Steve Hardy (horn), Bob Stephenson (Kit), Jayne Bateman (cornet) and Nigel Brown (cornet).

Thanks also to Jason Smith for preparing the band at rehearsals and conducting at both the wedding and the concert.

Report by Jo Brown

Fife Brass Band Festival

by P Dering.

The band travelled north of the border on Saturday the 19th April for the F.B.B.F contest(Carnegie Contest).

The band played a varied programme, starting with Liberty Fanfare and what a rousing start, next up was Solo Horn Jonathan Collins playing A Time For Peace. The band then changed the mood with Blue Rondo a la Turk, next came a Flugel feature, 3 in fact, Jo Brown, Clare Hewson and Jon Carey playing Autumn Leaves and to finish was Boris Godouv from the Coronation Scene.

The Band finished in second place behind Kingdom Brass.

1st Kingdom Brass

2nd Easington Colliery

3rd Felling

CHARITY CONCERT

On Saturday the 8th of March the band played  at the Grand Opening of the newly refurbished Welfare Hall, Easington Colliery . The band played a selection of marches and light background music. All proceeds from the night went to charity.

The next band concert in the Welfare Hall will be Friday 11th July (Eve of Durham Gala Concert).

Tickets £2

7pm Start

Call 0191 520 8900 

 NEW FACES  !!!!!

The RMT Easington Colliery Band are pleased to announce the arrival of two new players to bolster the ranks for the upcoming Area Contest in March.
After having successful auditions and helping out as guest players at the Brass at the Guild Contest at Preston in January, we are pleased to announce Dennis Todd and Elizabeth (Wizz) Bateman have joined as principal cornet and principal trombone respectively.
Dennis, no stranger to the band, was our principal cornet from 2002 to December 2006.He found he missed being away from the band  and applied for the position when he saw the advertisement for the principal seat vacated by Anna Ferguson on 4barsrest. After his last successful spell as principal cornet, the Easington Colliery Band wish Dennis many more successful times in the future.
Wizz ( she doesn't like being called Elizabeth) has joined the band as principal trombone from Fishburn Band where she played 2nd trombone. Easington band, throughout it's history has always tried to encourage the young, talented people of the area and moved them into principal positions. Players of the calibre of Wilf Baddell, Thomas Maddison, Paul Vickers, Ian Harris, John Oates and more recently Neil Gallie all joined the band at a young age and played at the top level. The band feels Wizz is another outstanding young talent and the band had no hesitation in offering her our principal position. Starting her playing career on cornet at Langbargh Band with her parents Trevor and Jayne, she quickly moved to trombone and started taking lessons from Mal Gill at Fishburn. Finding the trombone a natural instrument for her,Wizz has progressed at a rapid rate to the high level she is now. The band wish Wizz a successful and fulfilling time and we look forward to seeing her progress further.
 
 
 
More good news for the band. Last weekend the band recently found out our cornet players, Andy Thompson and Becky Copping got engaged. We wish both of you the happiest times together.
This follows our horns Jonathan and Julie getting married last Summer and our Bass player ,Ben marrying Grace this Summer. Registration cards will be processed for their children to join the band!!! 

The band held their annual awards night at the Half Moon Restaurant, Easington Village. Compere for the evening was John Oates and as usual he didn't disappoint.

The results were:

Bandsperson of the Year - Jo Brown

Player of the Year           - Jo Brown

Female of the Year         - Jo Brown

Male of the Year            - John Oates

A clean sweep for Jo Brown, and well deserved it was.There was special mention for Paul Brickle, Peter Lawson and Scott Meikle for all their hard work throughout the year.  Once again the night was a great success. 

The band made their 11th annual pilgrimage to North Yorkshire on 22nd December to perform  afternoon and evening  concerts to a packed house with our friends, The Northallerton Male Voice Choir conducted by Anthea Shepherdson. Both band and choir performed a varied programme with a hint of Christmas music interspersed. John Oates gave an outstanding performance of Karl Jenkins, Benedictus for a first half solo and Tim Cauldwell was majestic at his performance of Frosty the Snowman in the second half. A special mention goes to Andy Thompson (aka Russell Sprout.) who  deputised as our principal cornet for the day. Playing the improvised trumpet solo in Birdland for the band's opening number. A concert the band looks forward to every year, where the Hambleton Forum gives a great atmosphere for band, choir and audience alike.
The highlight of the band's day is a walk to the White Horse Restaurant in between both concerts to sample the jumbo fish and chips they have to offer.
Here's looking forward to next year.

Article by P. Lawson