Senior Brass Band & Senior Big Band CDs Played On Bolton FM Radio

At 9pm on Tuesday evening January 24th, Assistant Headteacher Mr Wormald was the special guest on the 'live' Bolton FM community programme through to 10pm. The programme was not just an extended interview with Mr Wormald about his 22 years of teaching music at Smithills, the many award-winning bands the school boasts, the forthcoming Victoria Hall concert on Saturday February 4th and the Summer concert tour to America, but also an opportunity to broadcast tracks on the radio from the new Smithills band CDs recorded with Doyen Recordings on the SP&S/World of Sound label.

 

The tracks broadcast on Tuesday evening's radio programme were 'Adagio from Concerto di Aranjuez' (Senior Brass Band, Soloist Elizabeth Tonge), 'Highlights From Chicago' (Senior Big Band) and 'Mr Blue Sky' (Senior Brass Band).

 

posted: 26.01.12

 

 

Senior Brass Band Completes Ten Hour Annual Marathon Rehearsal Day

On Sunday January 22nd, our Senior Brass Band and Mr Wormald successfully completed their latest, annual ten-hour non-stop sponsored rehearsal day in school, from 9am right through to 7pm in the evening. As every year, the day went particularly quickly and was both musically successful in every respect and a great day for band members to get to know each other even better, before flying out to America for the 2012 tour on July 18th.
 
The main focus of the day was to rehearse a brand new, extended arrangement of the music from “Les Miserables” made especially for the band by Mr Wormald in preparation for the forthcoming Victoria Hall concert on Saturday February 4th. Other repertoire rehearsed during the day ranged from the marches of Kenneth Alford to Birdland, James Bond, Guys And Dolls and Phantom of The Opera, again in preparation for the Victoria Hall evening which is entitled “Les Miserables, Broadway And Fifty Years Of James Bond.”
 
Having played at the Reebok Stadium only the day before, prior to the Bolton v Liverpool Barclay’s Premiership match on Saturday January 21st (which Bolton won 3-1!), the band arrived in school at 8.30am on Sunday morning to set up all of the equipment and then played solidly through to 7.10pm, as the final piece of the day over ran. The tuning and stamina of the players was superb all day and the very high standard of playing as equally impressive at the end of the day as it had been throughout the whole day.

 

Mr Pavey and Mrs Hurst (Vice Chairman of the school governors) were on hand in school the whole day, as were a number of parents and governors who prepared and served hot and cold food and drinks to everyone throughout the marathon rehearsal.

 

posted: 23.01.12

 

Another Big Weekend For Our Senior Brass Band

This weekend (Saturday January 21st & Sunday January 22nd) sees our Senior Brass Band once again performing at the Reebok Stadium for the Bolton Wanderers v Liverpool FC Barclay’s Premier League fixture (Saturday afternoon) and then on Sunday, it is the band’s annual, ten hour, non-stop, sponsored rehearsal day, from a prompt 9am start right through to 7pm in the evening.
 
Every year, the sponsored rehearsal day raises around £4,000 for band funds and, with the Bolton Wanderers performance the day before, for which every band member receives a free ticket to the match, the band hopes to be banking well over £5,000 from the weekend.

 

posted: 16.01.12

 

 

Senior Brass Band Completes Another Marathon December & Great Year
 

Once again our National Champion Senior Brass Band and Mr Wormald have emerged from a hectic and very successful December which included very many concerts and carol services throughout the borough and further afield, most notably the Bolton Wanderers FC Carol Service at the Reebok Stadium, concerts in Adlington Community Centre and Christ Church Walmsley and five Saturday and Sunday outdoor sessions of fundraising as every year at Marks & Spencer’s in Bolton town centre. The planned and scheduled sixth Marks & Spencer session had to be changed as the Senior Brass Band accepted an additional invitation from Bolton Wanderers to play at the Reebok Stadium before the Barclays Premier League home fixture against Aston Villa on Saturday 10 December. Band members have also undertaken Sunday afternoon car washing and bag packing at both Asda and Morrison’s!
 
The year 2011 has been, once again, a hugely successful one for all of our Smithills senior bands. A major highlight of this year was recording 3 CDs with Doyen Recordings on the SP&S/World of Sound label. The Senior Brass Band recorded “Twenty Years On” over a weekend back in late January, the Senior Big Band recorded a huge 29 tracks for its debut CD “Moonlight Serenade” over a weekend in early March and both bands recorded “A Smithills Christmas” over another weekend in late May.
 
Both the Senior Brass Band and Senior Concert Band achieved superbly at the National Festival of Music For Youth in Symphony Hall, Birmingham again in July, the Senior Brass Band emerging victoriously for the fourth year in a row, 2008/2009/2010/2011. Having already won 5 successive Outstanding Performance Awards once before, during the years 2001/2002/2003/2004/2005, this means that not only is our Smithills School Senior Brass Band attempting to win again for the fifth time in a row in 2012, overall during the last 11 years of the National Festival, our Senior Brass Band has emerged victorious a truly remarkable 9 times, taking its total of wins to 12 and overall awards to 16 in 18 years. In addition, Mr Wormald and our Senior Concert Band have also won 3 Outstanding Performance Awards at the NFMY and finished with a top award a further 8 times in 15 years to further establish Smithills School as the most successful and leading wind and brass school in the country. The year 2011 also saw our Senior Brass Band emerge with 3 more Whit Friday Youth Band wins at the Saddleworth march contests.
 
The year 2011 also saw our Senior Brass Band open its first ever shop in St Andrew’s Court (opposite HMV) and, in addition, once again raise many thousands of pounds for its two nominated charities, these being Bolton Hospice and the RNLI (Bolton, Farnworth & Kearsley Branch).
 
Everyone involved in making music at Smithills School would like to thank all those who have contributed to our many outstanding musical highlights and successes throughout 2011, both on and off stage, from our generous sponsors Wallace Printers, G N Systems, Mr & Mrs Geoff Hamer and Mr & Mrs Geoff Gliddon to the general public, who donated so kindly during the town centre December sessions.

 

posted: 21.12.11

 

Community Bands Christmas Concert Sells Out

Just one night after our Senior Brass Band and singers performed at the Bolton Wanderers Christmas Carol Service at the Reebok Stadium, our Community Bands Christmas Concert took place on Tuesday 20 December in the school hall commencing at 7.30pm, once again conducted by Mr Wormald.

 

With the hall packed as always, and with raffle prizes including a single £100 bar of Toblerone milk chocolate, the 70-strong Community Wind Band performed superbly for the first 55 minutes, then a delivery of hot Carr's pasties arrived at 8.30pm for the first of two intervals and the 35-strong Community Big Band then performed a 35 minute set from 8.55pm through to 9.30pm. The Community Wind Band then returned to lead the audience carol singing, in the middle of which the presentation of 2011 awards took place, along with the major raffle and Christmas quiz results.

 

Award winners this year were Harold Bowers, Stuart Bowman, John Byrne, Robert Gliddon, Kaye Masters, Russell Ramsden, Clara Rees, Fred Shawcross, Connor Stanford, Pat Tomlinson, Ann Wadeson, Janet Walsh, Phil Wareing, Jake Webster and the Flute section, led by Jane King. A presentation was then made to Mr Wormald by band members for all his work throughout 2011.

 

The evening finished at exactly 10.15pm.

 

More Photographs

 

posted: 21.12.11

 

 

Senior Brass Band Performs For Bolton Wanderers FC Carol Service

 

On Monday evening 19 December, our Senior Brass Band and its conductor Mr Wormald, together with our choir and both Mrs Black and Mr Pavey, led the singing and accompanied all of the carols at the 2011 Bolton Wanderers FC Christmas Carol Service recorded by Tower FM for broadcast on Christmas Day.

 

Commencing at 7pm, both our Senior Brass Band and choir were in their very best form, as will be heard on the radio broadcast, and Mr Wormald was delighted with the exceptional standard, appearance and behaviour of the Smithills performers, who proved hugely popular with everyone at the Reebok Stadium.

 

Mr Wormald said "I don't think we have sold so many band CDs at one event for a long time, which is excellent news for our America tour fund."

 

More Photographs

 

posted: 20.12.11

 

 

 

Senior Brass Band Entertains In Adlington

 

With many of the Senior Brass Band members having been in school with Mr Wormald from 8.45am on Saturday morning, rehearsing with the Community Bands, and with the full band having already played a full concert in freezing conditions outside Marks & Spencer's in Bolton throughout the afternoon, the band then took to the stage on Saturday 17 December in the Adlington Community Centre at 7.30pm for another full concert that evening! With the coach departing from school at 5pm and returning at 10.30pm, our Senior Brass Band and Mr Wormald are certainly once again doing everything they can to entertain, raise as much money as possible for their USA 2012 tour and increase the profile of the school and the Music Department in the process.

 

Featured soloists in the evening concert were Pippa Diggle (Flugel Horn), Adam John (EEb Bass), Jacob Smith (Euphonium), Elizabeth Tonge (Cornet), Ross Tremayne (Trombone) and, for the very first time, Declan Cullen (Bass Trombone) who performed 'Frosty The Snowman' to receive a great ovation from fellow band members as well as from the audience.

 

posted: 19.12.11

 

 

Senior Brass Band Sells Out Fantastic Walmsley Church Concert

Only a day after playing at the Reebok Stadium for Bolton Wanderers, our Senior Brass Band and Mr Wormald performed two more concerts on the same day, Sunday 11 December, to take their total for the weekend to three full length engagements. On Sunday lunchtime the band played for over two hours outside Marks & Spencer's in Bolton town centre and then later in the evening, the band gave its best performance in six months according to Mr Wormald, a fantastic sell-out evening at Christ Church, Walmsley, in Bolton.

 

The Senior Brass Band played items ranging from The Red Army and The Mission to Kissing A Fool, Bring On Tomorrow and Eric Osterling's Bandology whilst also including a whole range of Christmas and seasonal music from traditional carols and well known popular hits to concluding with their audience participation Twelve Days of Christmas and We Wish You A Merry Christmas.

 

The concert was once again a huge success and the Walmsley C.E. Primary School Choir, directed as always by Mrs Dawn Hitchen, was also in excellent form as every year, singing nine items in two and three parts, all from memory.

 

The sell-out audience left the church uplifted at the standard of playing, singing, presentation and audience involvement throughout.

 

posted: 12.12.11

 

 

Senior Brass Band Plays At Bolton Wanderers v Aston Villa

On Saturday 10 December our Senior Brass Band and Mr Wormald provided the pre-match entertainment at Bolton Wanderers prior to their Barclays Premiership fixture with Aston Villa. It is the first of three engagements with Bolton Wanderers over the next five weeks, the next of which is the BWFC Christmas Carol Service, to be held in the Premier Suite on Monday 19 December from 7pm to 8.30pm, and the third is the pre-match entertainment before the Barclays Premiership home fixture against Liverpool on Saturday 21 January (kick off 5.30pm, 'live' on Sky TV).

 

As can be seen from the photograph, Mr Wormald was not the only conductor to lead the band at the Reebok Stadium! Here, Junior Lofty has a quick lesson outside the stadium in how to conduct. Bolton fan Mr Chris White, of the Associated Board of The Royal Schools of Music Exams organisation, also conducted various light hearted seasonal items.

 

posted: 12.12.11

 

 

Bolton's Victoria Hall Sold Out By Our Musicians On Saturday Evening

 

On Saturday 26 November, our Senior Brass Band and the Music Department, led by Mr Wormald, Mr Pavey and Mrs Black, completely sold out the 1,270 seat Victoria Hall in Bolton and gave a "best ever" concert in aid of Bolton Hospice and Smithills band funds from 7.30pm through to 10.20pm.

 

Described as "superb, brilliant, fantastic, the best night ever" by Bolton Hospice Vice Chairman Mr Gerry Russell, Managing Director of concert sponsors GN Systems Limited, the theme of the evening was "Sinatra, Bublé & Movies" and attracted a capacity audience, the third time in the last three years that Smithills has accomplished this superb achievement, especially in such difficult financial times. Within the capacity audience it was a pleasure to welcome Mr Graham Yardley, Chairman of Bolton Hospice, the former Mayor and Mayoress of Bolton, Councillor Norman Critchley and his wife Delyse, Mr Andrew Wallace, Managing Director of Wallace Printers and his wife, Mr Geoff Hamer and his wife (all major sponsors of our Senior Brass Band) and our Headteacher Mr Cottrill and his wife, who kindly gave up their evening to experience their first ever "Smithills Night of Music" event since Mr Cottrill was appointed to the school. Much to the delight of everyone who had taken part, Mr Cottrill said he was "blown away" by the whole evening.

 

The concert began with over half an hour performed superbly by the Senior Brass Band and its conductor Mr Wormald, which included the full 16 minute "Sinatra" and the 12 minute "John Williams For Brass" within its programme. The evening featured excellent solos by Vanessa Kovacs, Elizabeth Tonge, Nikitta Minihane, Janet Walsh, Harold Bowers and equally outstanding performances by our Senior Big Band, Senior Concert Band, Community Wind Band, Year 11 GCSE class and the Tuba Ensemble.

 

Our bands and musicians will once again take to the Victoria Hall stage on the evening of Saturday February 4th, led as always by Assistant Headteacher Mr Wormald, when the theme of the concert will be "Les Misérables, Hollywood & Fifty Years of James Bond!"

 

Photographs of the evening

 

posted: 28.11.11

 

 

Bolton Hospice Concert

This Saturday (Nov 26th) Victoria Hall, Bolton

 

This Saturday, November 26th, our award-winning musicians will once again be performing a concert in the Victoria Hall, Knowsley Street, on behalf of Bolton Hospice. Already the concert, entitled Sinatra, Buble & Hollywood!, has sold a huge 980 tickets and only 200 seats

remain unsold.

 

These remaining seats can be bought from the Town Hall Booking Office (Tel. 01204 334400) or from our Smithills School Senior Brass Band Shop in St Andrew's Court, opposite HMV, priced at £6 each, with concessions at £5.

 

The photograph features Alice Atkinson (Hospice Fundraising Manager), Gerry Russell (Hospice Vice Chairman) and Graham Yardley (Hospice Chairman) together with musicians Megan John (14), Adam Musaji (15) and Mr Wormald.

 

Posted: 22.11.11

 

 

Senior Brass Band To Play For Bolton Wanderers

Our Senior Brass Band and its conductor Mr Wormald have today accepted potentially lucrative and prestigious invitations from Bolton Wanderers FC to play at two forthcoming home Premiership matches; the visits of Aston Villa FC (Saturday 10th December, 3pm) and Liverpool FC (Saturday 21st January, 5.30pm, Sky TV).

 

Our Smithills musicians will entertain for ninety minutes before each game, receive 45 free tickets to both fixtures and hold fundraising collections at the ground on both days.

Our Senior Brass Band is also to perform the Bolton Wanderers FC Christmas Carol Service in the Reebok Stadium on Monday 19th December when seasonal readings are due to be delivered by Chairman Phil Garside, Manager Owen Coyle, first team players and local Bolton celebrities. The service is recorded by Tower FM commercial radio and broadcast on Christmas Day (107.4 FM).

 

posted: 15.11.11

 

Mr Gerry Russell Officially Opens Smithills Band Shop

At 2pm on Saturday 12th November, Mr Gerry Russell (Managing Director of GN Systems Limited, main sponsors of our Senior Brass Band for well over a decade now) officially opened our brand new Smithills School Senior Brass Band Fundraising Shop in St Andrew’s Court, opposite HMV in Bolton town centre.

 

Mr Russell and his partner Janet were on hand to cut the symbolic red ribbon as shoppers, band members, parents, friends and conductor Mr Wormald were on hand to celebrate the official opening after exactly one week of trading.

 

Everyone present was treated to free drinks and cup cakes, courtesy of generous band parents, and takings for the day were the highest of all the first week. The photographs show players Dominic Patel, Lilly Taylor and William Devereux together with Mr Russell and Mr Wormald at the official opening of the shop on Saturday afternoon.

 

Pictures

 

posted: 14.11.11

 

 

Senior Brass Band To Play For Bolton Olympic Torch Event

Although approached by Bolton Council last month, only now can our Senior Brass Band and its conductor Mr Wormald reveal publicly that they have accepted a highly prestigious invitation to feature at the Bolton Olympic Torch Event in Queen's Park on the evening of Thursday May 31st next year.

 

Organised by Bolton Town Hall and Bolton Council a number of weeks ago, now that the official route of the Olympic torch has been made public nationally, our Senior Brass Band is able to confirm that it will play a number of items at the huge Bolton event in the town's largest open park next Spring.

 

posted: 09.11.11

 

 

Mr Wormald Interviewed On Bolton FM

On Tuesday morning, 8th November, at the invitation of Bolton FM, Assistant Headteacher Mr Wormald was interviewed ‘live' on the radio about the Senior Brass Band’s forthcoming tour to America in July. Mr Wormald also spoke about the recent opening of the new Smithills School Senior Brass Band shop in St Andrew’s Court, Bolton.
 
As a result of the interview, Bolton FM have invited Mr Wormald to record a Christmas programme to be broadcast on Christmas Day. The broadcast programme (96.5 FM) will feature tracks from the brand new Senior Brass Band CD A Smithills Christmas together with Mr Wormald linking each of the items being played.

 

posted: 08.11.11

 

Senior Brass Band Town Centre Shop Opens!

On Saturday November 5th, our Senior Brass Band Fundraising Shop in Bolton town centre, the idea of parent governors Mrs Tremayne, Mrs Diggle and Mrs Hurst, opened for the very first time!

 

Situated in the heart of St Andrew's Court, opposite HMV, the shop received many customers and visits by many curious shoppers who had seen the six photograph, double page colour feature in The Bolton News earlier in the week and wanted to see the shop for themselves.

 

On sale are the band's three CD recordings of 2011, all made with Doyen Recordings/SP&S/World of Sound, the 2011-2012 colour band brochures, the band's 2012 calendar, Christmas puddings, artwork and paintings, books, celebration cups, pens, mugs, key rings, items of knitting and concert tickets for the band's next performance at the Victoria Hall in Bolton on Saturday November 26th at 7.30pm. The shop is open throughout November, December and into January.

 

Pictures

 

More pictures

 

posted: 08.11.11

 

 

 

Senior Brass Band New CD Arrives

The brand new 2011 Christmas CD recorded by our Senior Brass Band and Mr Wormald entitled A Smithills Christmas has just arrived in school from the manufacturers. This latest CD recorded by the band many weeks ago now was produced for Doyen Recordings by Mr Richard Scott, who is part of the World of Sound organisation.
 
The tracks featured are very varied and include a wide range of songs from Slade’s Merry Christmas and Bob Chilcott’s Midwinter through to I’ll Be Home For Christmas and Silver Bells.
The CD is on sale at main reception in school or from the new Smithills School Senior Brass Band shop now open in St Andrew’s Court, Bolton (opposite HMV) priced at £10.

 

posted: 04.11.11

 

Senior Brass Band Fundraises At Morrisons

Fresh from a late night concert raising money for the RNLI in Farnworth just the night before, members of our Senior Brass Band spent five hours of their Sunday on October 16th bag-packing at Morrison's supermarket on Chorley Old Road, from 11am through to 4pm, as they continue to raise the huge target of £60,000 needed to pay for their forthcoming tour to America in July.

 

Organised by school governors Mrs Sue Diggle and Mrs Patricia Tremayne, as always, our young musicians were an absolute credit to the band, to the school, to their families and to themselves as they happily bag-packed shopping, talked with shoppers and attended throughout in full band uniform.

 

more pictures

 

posted: 17.10.11

 

Senior Brass Band Impresses Again For RNLI

On Saturday evening October 15th, our Senior Brass Band and its conductor Mr Wormald once again entertained a packed audience on behalf of the RNLI at Trinity Church in Farnworth, this for the fifteenth year in a row, organiser Brian Thompson MBE announced on the night.

 

With four new members playing in their first ever concert and six brand new soloists from within the seven players selected to play a solo, all of whom were absolutely note perfect on the night, the concert was particularly well received as always by everybody present. The four new band members making their debuts with the Senior Brass Band on Saturday evening were Phoebe Matthews (12, Cornet), Demi-Lee Davies (12, Cornet), Bhavani Doshi (12, Cornet) and Max Ainsworth (13, Percussion).

 

Led superbly as always by 15 year old Principal Cornet player, soloist, member of the National Youth Brass Band of Great Britain and Wingates Band, Elizabeth Tonge, the Senior Brass Band's programme featured almost all new music throughout, mostly composed or arranged especially for the band by Mr Wormald, from the opening march The Red Army through to Another Day, Bring On Tomorrow, To Make You Feel My Love, The Mission, Benedictus, Thine Be The Glory, It Don't Mean A Thing and the percussion feature The Journey To Genesis Begins. The band also featured two extended works, the 15 minute Sinatra and the 12 minute long John Williams For Brass with which the band won this year's Sponsor's Award in Symphony Hall, Birmingham, at the 2011 National Festival of Music For Youth finals in July. Soloists for the evening were Elizabeth Tonge (15, Cornet), Pippa Diggle (15, Flugel Horn), Ross Tremayne (13, Trombone), Jacob Smith (15, Euphonium), Adam John (17, Tuba), Robert Gliddon (15, Drum Kit) and Adam Musaji (15, Drum Kit).

 

posted: 17.10.11

 

Senior Brass Band Fundraising For America - First Car Wash Sunday!

Having rehearsed its all-new programme of material every Sunday morning in September, our Senior Brass Band and its conductor Mr Wormald were once again practising in school on Sunday 9th October, only this time their three hour morning rehearsal was immediately followed by an afternoon of fundraising for the band's 2012 America tour – washing cars!

In spite of lashing rain and generally horrendous weather (just days after temperatures of 29C!), which resulted in band members being soaked just as much as the cars themselves, approximately 90 vehicles were washed and almost £300 was raised for the tour fund. Some motorists bought the new 2011 Senior Brass Band CD recordings too!

 

Next weekend sees the band give its annual, sell-out, RNLI Charity concert on Saturday evening (October 15th) at Trinity Church in Farnworth and on Sunday, band members are bag packing at Morrisons on Chorley Old Road, Bolton, from 11am through to 5pm. At least any bad weather outside should not be a problem!

 

More Photos

 

posted: 10.10.11

 

Senior Brass Quintet Performs For Derian House Children's Hospice

On Saturday evening, September 24th, at the Last Drop Village in Bromley Cross, our Senior Brass Quintet under the direction of Mr Wormald performed superbly at the Derian House Children's Hospice fundraising event.

 

It was the first time that the new quintet personnel had performed together in public, having only begun to rehearse since the start of this term, and the ensemble played a perfect set from 7.15pm through to 8.15pm for the many invited guests.

 

Led for the first time by Elizabeth Tonge (Cornet), the Smithills Brass Quintet included three brand new players in its line-up; Pippa Diggle (Cornet), Jacob Smith (Euphonium) and Adam John (Tuba), with Mr Wormald playing French Horn. Repertoire for Saturday evening's performance was as eclectic as always with a varied range including Tchaikovsky, Handel, Beethoven, the spiritual Swing Low, songs by Barry Manilow and music from Les Miserables.

 

Posted: 27.09.11

 

Summer Concert Sell-Out Declared ‘Best Ever’

Not only did our Smithills School Summer Concert, which took place in a packed main hall on Wednesday evening July 13th, completely sell out in the days before the concert, but it has been declared the ‘best ever’ by almost everyone who has attended, or participated in, our very many musical evenings of the past twenty years. The evening was staged in honour of retiring Headteacher Mr Roberts, who personally selected much of the music that was played during the concert, and certainly Mr Gerry Russell, Managing Director of GN Systems Ltd, who has sponsored our senior bands and CD recordings at Smithills since the last century, is in no doubt about the evening’s success;

 

“Over the past dozen or more years I have been privileged to attend almost every Smithills School concert and at Christmas I thought I could never see a better, more perfect musical evening. The standard was, as always, breath-taking and exceptional from start to finish and way beyond what young musicians should ever be able to achieve. I wrote then that how could anything ever beat that evening, such talent and commitment was unbelievable and that the dedication, diversity and sheer determination to achieve perfection was incredible. However, now that the Summer Concert has taken place, I am truly lost for words. It would be very difficult to find enough superlatives to describe our experience. Once again, I just don’t know how you can possibly beat this latest concert.’

 

The Summer concert began at 7.30pm with our Senior Concert Band and its conductor Mr Wormald performing a brand new arrangement of music from ‘Guys And Dolls’ followed by ‘Hymn To The Fallen’ by John Williams and ‘The Firebird’ by Stravinsky. The evening ended with our newly crowned 2011 National Festival of Music For Youth Winners, the Senior Brass Band with Mr Wormald, performing ‘The Mission’ by Enio Morricone, ‘Cry Me A River’ featuring Thomas Hurst, ‘Concerto d’ Aranjuez’ featuring Elizabeth Tonge, a brand new arrangement of film music by John Williams and, to conclude, a stunning performance of ‘Riverdance’ which included considerable choreography.

 

The standard of the concert was, as always, exceptional from start to finish and featured excellent performances by the choir directed by Mrs Black, who performed music from Glee and by Take That, the Euphonium And Tuba Ensemble directed by Mr Pavey which performed ‘Mad World’ arranged by Year 10 pupil Jacob Smith, the Guitar Ensemble arranged and directed by Mr Jones and the Senior Big Band, Senior Orchestra and Community Wind Band, all conducted by Mr Wormald.

 

The Senior Big Band performed ‘Stardust’ and ‘I’ve Got You Under My Skin’ followed by ‘Just The Two Of Us’ and music from ‘Chicago’ as well as other items. The Senior Orchestra performed Mozart’s ‘Eine Kleine Nacht Musik’ and Handel’s ‘Hornpipe’ from ‘The Water Music’ as well as ‘I Don’t Want To Miss A Thing’ and the Community Band included ‘The Voice Of The Guns’ and ‘The Great Escape’ in its programme together with ‘As If We Never Said Goodbye’ and ‘Bewitched’ sung by Harold Bowers. Featured soloists throughout the concert included Thomas Hurst, Elizabeth Tonge, Robert Gliddon, Akil Thompson, Luke Gregory and Janet Walsh and the audience rose to its feet instantly at the conclusion of ‘Riverdance’ with a spontaneous and rousing standing ovation. Having said farewells to leavers Gemma Blackburn, Matthew Hardman and Thomas Hurst, all of whom have given seven years of superb, unbroken service to Smithills School concerts, the evening ended much later than usual but, with the hall so full, the atmosphere was also one of the very best ever.

 

More Pictures

 

posted: 19.07.11

 

 

Senior Brass Band & Senior Concert Band Succeed Once Again At The National Festival Of Music For Youth

 

For the fourth consecutive year and the twelfth time in recent years, our Senior Brass Band and its conductor Mr Wormald have won the top award at the National Festival of Music For Youth, held at Symphony Hall in Birmingham on Thursday 7 July. With the second award going to Wardle High School from Rochdale and other school bands such as Egglescliffe and Fred Longworth giving strong performances in the national final as well, Smithills once again had to be absolutely outstanding from start to finish in its performance to take away the top award – and the adjudicators stated that this was very much the case once again this year.

 

Playing a brand new arrangement of music composed by John Williams, our Senior Brass Band gave a stunning and faultless performance from the opening to the close. Music mentors Eric Tebbett and Keith Hewson described the Smithills performance as "a masterclass" and Mr Tebbett went on to say that his observation in recent years that Smithills continues to be "the pacesetters for all school brass bands in the country" was once again entirely true this year and very clear for everyone to see. He said that looking at the very young members of the current band as well as those more senior, experienced players (led superbly as always by our 15 year old Principal Cornet player Elizabeth Tonge, already a member of the National Youth Brass Band of Great Britain in 2011), the Smithills performance was, above all, a "masterclass in teamwork" which showed that "every single player, from Second Baritone and Second Horn to back row Third Cornet" was an equally important contributor to the overall performance throughout.

 

It was particularly pleasing this year that the vast majority of the major roles within the triumphant Smithills performance were undertaken by Year 10 pupils, those aged just 14 or 15 years of age. In addition to the outstanding Principal Cornet playing by Elizabeth Tonge (15), equally superb throughout were solo Flugel Horn Pippa Diggle (14), and the notably featured percussion soloists Robert Gliddon (15, on Drum Kit), Adam Musaji (15, Timpani/Snare Drum) and Katie Crook (15, Glockenspiel/Xylophone) and whilst many other players were either much younger still, or perhaps a little older, the band is clearly in superb shape with many years of development still ahead to come from the existing players. What a prospect! A number of the other bands taking part were already considerably older than Smithills but it was the quality of playing, musicianship, preparation and teamwork which led Mr Tebbett to announce that the first Sponsor's Award would go to Smithills and the second Sponsor's Award would go to Wardle High School.

 

The following day, on Friday 8 July, our Senior Concert Band gave an equally faultless and stunning performance of three pieces which conductor Mr Wormald described as "an absolute thrill to conduct, from the first note to the amazing final chord" and which drew particularly stunning compliments from the two adjudicators. Again, Smithills was singled out for its superb tuning and faultless intonation throughout and the final chord to 'Hymn To The Fallen' was described by senior mentor Gwyn Parry-Jones as "beautifully balanced, perfectly played and worth turning up today just to hear that one chord" which was the highest praise indeed. Elizabeth Tonge performed a stunning and stylish Flute solo to open 'Bolero' by Ravel and equally impressive was the opening Euphonium solo to 'Firebird' by Stravinsky played by fellow Year 10 pupil Jacob Smith (15) which again drew a special mention from Mr Parry-Jones. Whilst Smithills Senior Concert Band narrowly missed out on receiving a top sponsor's award this year, the performance was once again a complete success in every respect and proved once again that our young musicians under the directorship of Mr Wormald are regarded as amongst the very finest in the UK.

 

More Pictures (New Pictures Added: 19.07.11)

 

posted: 11.07.11

 

Great Night For Our Senior Big Band

On Friday evening, July 2nd, our Senior Big Band and its conductor Mr Wormald gave one of its best ever performances at the 70th birthday celebration in Horwich of Mrs Joan Seddon, long-time supporter of our senior bands at Smithills over the past twenty years.

 

Chris Seddon, grandson of Joan and now a professional Trumpet player who toured America with Smithills School Senior Brass Band in 2005 and, earlier this year, played in the Trumpet Section of the London Symphony Orchestra alongside Principal Philip Cobb, also played a short solo during the evening at the St Mary’s Catholic & Social Club.

 

Our Senior Big Band, led superbly throughout Friday evening by Principal Trumpet Thomas Hurst and Lead Alto Saxophone Elizabeth Tonge, began the evening with Stardust, What Might Have Been, Just The Two Of Us and Satin Doll and included superb renditions of I’ve Got You Under My Skin, New York New York and All The Way, all sung by Harold Bowers, whose 15 year old grandson, Robert Gliddon, has been our Senior Big Band drummer for the past two seasons.

 

The evening began at 7.30pm and concluded shortly before 11pm. Our Senior Big Band played three sets of nearly an hour each and was in excellent form throughout, every player making a fantastic contribution to what was a great evening in tribute to Mrs Seddon. The audience featured a number of the very best former Smithills players of the past twenty years who had travelled from near and far to be part of the celebration. These included former Principal players Vanisha Gangiyani, Josie Davies, Clara Rees, Mala Patel, Krishna Patel, Sandeep Patel and Fozia Ahmed.

 

posted: 04.07.11

 

Senior Brass Band Plays At City Of Manchester Stadium

At the invitation of Greater Manchester Police on behalf of the St Anne's Hospice Appeal, on Wednesday June 29th our Senior Brass Band and its conductor Mr Wormald performed for three hours in the afternoon at the home of Manchester City FC, the City of Manchester Stadium.

 

A dozen or so Greater Manchester Police officers were attempting to sit on each and every one of the 48,500 blue seats inside the stadium in order to raise much needed funds on behalf of the St Anne's Hospice. The task was duly completed very successfully in time for our Senior Brass Band to be able to play for the Lord Mayor of Manchester, who arrived to conclude the afternoon's proceedings at precisely 4pm.

 

During the band's performance, the hymn tune Dear Lord And Father of Mankind was performed in honour of former Manchester City player Mike Doyle who sadly died a few days before, aged 64.

 

More Pictures

 

posted: 30.06.11

 

More Wins For Our Senior Brass Band At Whit Friday Contests

Once again our Senior Brass Band and its conductor Mr Wormald emerged with a number of victories at the Whit Friday march contests held in Saddleworth on Friday evening,17 June. Departing from school at 3.20pm and returning to school on the very stroke of midnight, Smithills managed to compete in no less than nine march contests spread over the seven competition hours (beating out previous record of seven contests in one evening). They were the winners at Delph, Diggle and Greenfield contests - although the victory at Greenfield was reported on the internet as having been awarded to Dobcross Youth Band which actually finished 4th (behind Smithills, Rochdale Youth and Rossendale Scout Band), Smithills being announced as Runners-Up in an adult section!

 

In addition to finishing Runners-Up at other villages, such as Grotton, and being awarded a number of individual and soloist prizes (for Thomas Hurst and Elizabeth Tonge as Soprano Cornet and Principal Cornet respectively), Smithills finished in the top two youth bands overall this year and will either be crowned as 2011 Overall Youth Champions later this week or Runners Up behind Dobcross Youth; the organisers have stated that these two youth bands finished way ahead of all the others this year.

 

More Pictures added 19.07.11

 

posted: 20.06.11

 

 

Senior Brass Band Completes Latest 2011 Doyen CD Recording

Throughout Saturday May 7th and Sunday 8th May, our Senior Brass Band and its Musical Director Mr Wormald spent another whole weekend recording a CD with the World’s leading brass band label, Doyen Recordings Ltd, part of the SP&S World of Sound organisation. Once again the senior engineer was Mr Richard Scott.

 

The same Senior Brass Band and Mr Wormald have already recorded a CD of new arrangements with Doyen Recordings earlier this year, over the weekend of Saturday January 29th and Sunday January 30th, and our Senior Big Band and Mr Wormald recorded a new CD with Doyen Recordings over the weekend of Saturday March 19th and Sunday 20th. Now Smithills have recorded a third Doyen CD in the first five months of this year - a disc of all new Christmas and seasonal arrangements for release in November 2011.

 

This latest Smithills/Doyen project features twenty tracks of Christmas and Winter music, a mixture of traditional carols and famous seasonal songs known throughout the World as sung by Bing Crosby, Frank Sinatra, Dean Martin, Slade, Steeleye Span, David Essex and many others. Mr Wormald has been planning such a Smithills Christmas CD for over a decade now and the band has recorded everything before the exam season and the Summer holidays, after which the most experienced senior players always leave to attend college or university every year and the Autumn Term is too late to rehearse and record a top quality CD.

 

Led as always by 15 year old Principal Cornet Elizabeth Tonge, now a member of the National Youth Brass Band of Great Britain and who has just returned from her first, week-long residential course with the NYBBGB in Harrogate, the Senior Brass Band began recording at 8.45am on Saturday morning and completed all of the tracks in a superb and exciting atmosphere just after 2pm on the Sunday afternoon.

 

more photos

 

posted: 09.05.11

 

New National Festival of Music Success For Smithills

It has just been officially confirmed that our Senior Brass Band and Senior Concert Band, both of which have always been conducted by Assistant Headteacher Mr Wormald since their formation twenty years ago, have qualified for the 2011 Music For Youth National Festival to be held in Symphony Hall, Birmingham on Thursday July 7th and Friday July 8th respectively.

For the eighteenth consecutive year, our Senior Brass Band has qualified for these most prestigious of National Finals. Having won the festival no less than eleven times and finished runners up on four occasions, Smithills already possesses the best record in National Festival of Music For Youth history. In 2008, our Senior Brass Band won the last ever Outstanding Performance Award to be presented in the School Brass Band category thanks to a performance of the eleven minute “Sinatra” which the adjudicators described as “stunning from first note to last, taking youth banding to an unprecedented level of excellence never before seen or heard at the National Festival.” In 2009, our Senior Brass Band was awarded the first ever Peters Edition Sponsor Award for a faultless performance of the near twelve minute “Lake Of The Moon” by Kevin Houben which the judges described as the “best performance they had ever heard in the category at the National Festival” and one that even eclipsed “Sinatra” – something which they thought impossible to accomplish. Last year, in 2010, the Senior Brass Band won the first ever Allianz Sponsor Award playing music by Gustav Mahler and Michael Buble which led to another Royal Albert Hall Schools Prom performance in November 2010, the eighth by a Smithills band conducted by Mr Wormald. This July the band will go for a fourth consecutive win at the National Festival Finals. From 2001 to 2005 the band won five times in a row, something which has never been achieved before or since at the National Festival.

 

Our Senior Concert Band did not enter Music For Youth for the first time until 1997, three years after the Senior Brass Band first participated, but in its very first year, not only qualified for the National Festival Finals (then held at the Royal Festival Hall down in London) but won the final itself, taking the Outstanding Performance Award and receiving an invitation to play at the Royal Albert Hall Schools Proms that November. The day before its first ever performance down at the Royal Albert Hall in London (our Senior Brass Band gave the first of its many Royal Albert Hall performances in 1995), our Senior Concert Band made its first appearance on “Blue Peter” for BBC1 television at a time when the programme attracted many millions of viewers. Two years later, our Senior Concert Band won again in 1999 and, as recently as 2008, it was awarded the last ever Outstanding Performance Award to be presented at the National Festival - and again went on to be invited to perform at the Royal Albert Hall Schools Proms that November.

 

posted: 03.05.11

 

Senior Brass Band Concert For St George - The Palace Hotel Manchester

 

On the first Wednesday of the Easter holidays, April 20th, members of our Senior Brass Band and conductor Mr Wormald spent the whole day at the Palace Hotel in Manchester, entertaining more than 800 guests for over three hours at the annual dinner of the Society For St George. Amongst those in present were former Bolton Wanderers FC player and manager Sam Allardyce, former Wigan rugby league scrum half Andy Greogory and Canon Alan Wolstencroft from Bolton.

 

Our Senior Brass Band members arrived by coach at the hotel just after 10.45am and were immediately treated to a lavish feast of hot and cold food both before playing from 12.15pm through to 3.45pm when, once again, band members were presented with a second, superb hot and cold buffet before returning to school before 5pm.

The organisers were thrilled with the outstanding standard, presentation and behaviour of the band and immediately asked if it was possible to book the band for the same engagement again next year, in 2012.

 

more pictures

 

posted: 03.05.11

 

Smithills Principal Cornet Joins National Youth Brass Band of Great Britain

 

The current Principal Cornet of our Senior Brass Band is 15 year old Elizabeth Tonge, now in Year 10. Although Elizabeth has only recently celebrated her birthday, she has been leading all of our award-winning senior bands for nearly two years already and has just spent a week as a member of the World’s leading youth band – the National Youth Brass Band of Great Britain.

 

Elizabeth auditioned for the national band back in November at the age of just 14 and having stunned the judges with her performance of the Cornet solo “Zelda” was offered a place in NYBBGB for 2011.

 

The national band holds two, very intensive, week-long courses each year, one at Easter and one in August, during which the band rehearses for over eight hours every day and then gives two high profile concerts at the end of the week. Elizabeth is the first player from Smithills since Bass players Ben Ellin and Nicholas Hurst to join the National Youth Brass Band.

 

Assistant Headteacher Mr Wormald, the Musical Director of all the senior bands at Smithills for the past twenty one years, was himself a member of the National Youth Brass Band of Great Britain as a teenager over thirty years ago, from 1977 to 1979. He commented;

“Auditioning for the NYBB is a daunting prospect at any age and being accepted into the band is a huge honour. What is most remarkable about Elizabeth is that she is such a superb Flautist and Saxophone player too and the Cornet is only one of three completely different instruments she plays to an exceptional national standard. Her natural abilities and dedication to practising stand out and show the way for others to emulate.”

 

The NYBB played sell-out concerts at the Royal Northern College of Music in Manchester on Friday April 22nd and at the Harrogate International Conference Centre on Saturday April 23rd. Both Mr Pavey (Head of Music) and Mr Wormald attended the Royal Northern College concert to support Elizabeth.

 

posted: 03.05.11

 

Key Stage 4 Music Night

Music Room N3

Thursday 14th April, 6pm-8pm

 

On Thursday evening, April 14th, the Music Department led by Mr Pavey, Mrs Black and Mr Wormald staged an evening of solo, duet and ensemble performances given by the Year 10 and 11 pupils in the presence of sixty parents and friends of the performers, all squeezed in to the most versatile, large music room.

 

The evening was a huge success and, as a result, will become a regular feature in the calendar from now on. Mr Pavey and Mrs Black worked tirelessly for days to prepare the performances, the programme, the layout of the room and the refreshments and Mr Wormald rehearsed with the soloists for two weeks in providing piano accompaniments for all those pupils who needed this support. Mr Gallimore provided all the video cameras and sound equipment on the night to capture the evening for exam and Ofsted evidence and, on the night of the concert itself, it was superb to see every member of Dance and Drama departmental staff staying through until 8pm to help with the evening and ensure a smooth running to all aspects behind the scenes.

 

Co-hosted by Mr Pavey and Mrs Black, the concert was very well received by everyone present and everyone who participated and the atmosphere created was a perfect and supportive one in the intimate environment which had been created.

 

More Pictures

 

 

 

Senior Big Band Completes Doyen CD Recording

On Saturday and Sunday March 19th and 20th, our Senior Big Band and its Musical Director Mr Wormald recorded a full length CD of some thirty tracks with the World famous Doyen Recordings Limited.

Engineered and produced by Mr Richard Scott of Doyen Recordings and World of Sound, the Senior Big Band was in school with Mr Wormald and Mr Pavey from 9am to 5pm on both days of the weekend and completed the CD with great excitement on the Sunday afternoon. Mr Scott mixed and mastered one of the tracks from the Saturday sessions on the Saturday evening so that the band could hear it on the Sunday morning and everyone was thrilled at how the band sounded.

The tracks recorded on the Senior Big Band CD range from the music of Glenn Miller, Duke Ellington, Count Basie and Frank Sinatra to Nat King Cole, The Beatles and even the rock group Genesis.

It is hoped the CD will be ready by the start of the Summer Term when the school returns after Easter.  

 

More Photos

 

Posted: 21.03.11

 

 

Senior Brass Band Concert Success In Blackburn

On Friday evening, 4th March, our Senior Brass Band and its conductor Mr Wormald gave another of its superb concerts in the Thwaites Empire Theatre in Ewood, Blackburn, on behalf of the Royal Society of St. George.

Organised through Mr David Smith, the band opened the evening with Birdland but then included a number of brand new arrangements by Mr Wormald into the programme and featured superb soloists Elizabeth Tonge (Principal Cornet) and Akil Thompson (Principal Euphonium). The second half of the concert concluded with Afterglow (Genesis) and then Mr David Smith led the audience in singing a number of favourite English songs including Land of Hope And Glory, Jerusalem, Rule Britannia, We’ll Meet Again, The White Cliffs of Dover and, finally, the National Anthem. The incredible reaction of the audience was such that for an encore, the band then performed the Ord Hume march Lynwood.

 

More Photos

 

posted: 14.03.11

 

 

Smithills Community Band Gives Excellent Afternoon Concert

On Wednesday afternoon,16th February, our Smithills Community Wind Band, which rehearses every Saturday in school, and its conductor Mr Wormald gave an excellent concert to a very large audience in the Millennium Chapel of Canon Slade School from 2pm to 3pm.

 

It is the fourth time that our Community Band has played at Canon Slade in the eight years since the creation of the Specialist Schools Programme and once again our Smithills ensemble drew the largest audience of the Canon Slade concert season so far.

 

Opening with the march El Capitan, the programme featured vocalist Harold Bowers, who sang Always On My Mind and What A Wonderful World, and a faultless Flugel Horn solo played by Janet Walsh of Mariah Carey’s hit song Hero.

 

At the age of 77, Chairman of the Smithills Community Band and Principal Drummer Fred Shawcross played a superb, improvised Drum Kit solo which led into the dramatic arrangement Valero and the programme also included Billie Jean by Michael Jackson, Mr Blue Sky by the Electric Light Orchestra and Afterglow by Genesis amongst other items. As always, in the audience for the whole concert was Canon Slade Headteacher Mr Phil Williamson, who demonstrated his full support once again, which was sincerely appreciated by all who attended and performed.

 

more pictures

 

posted: 17.02.11

 

 

Senior Brass Band Completes New CD Recording

Over the weekend of January 29th and 30th, our Senior Brass Band and its conductor Mr Wormald successfully completed the first of three Smithills CD recordings booked with Doyen Recordings Limited between now and May 2011.

Many of the tracks recorded by the Senior Brass Band were new arrangements made especially for the recording by Mr Wormald and included Birdland, Cry Me A River, Mr. Blue Sky, Have I Told You Lately, ‘Til I Hear You Sing, Rule The World, Africa, The Way We Were, Billie Jean, Haven’t Met You Yet, Kissing A Fool, Desperado and Afterglow.

 

The recordings were completed with over 4 hours to spare from the sessions booked and Doyen Recording engineer and producer Richard Scott commented;

“The Smithills Senior Band played superbly all weekend and would easily have put a number of First Section bands to shame. They were outstanding. The whole band was very professional, superbly prepared and defied the ages of its players. The finished CD will be tremendous.”

 

more photos

 

posted: 31.01.11

 

 

Senior Brass Band Completes Its Latest 10 Hour Marathon

On Sunday 23rd January, our Senior Brass Band and its conductor Mr Wormald completed their eighteenth, annual, ten hour, non-stop sponsored rehearsal in school from 9am to 7pm!

 

As always, Mr Wormald conducted the full ten hours without a break, but during the afternoon, whilst the full band broke into smaller rehearsals for just two hours, the band welcomed specialist tutors Mr Pavey (Trombones), his sister Miss Pavey (Cornets) and Mr Dines (Euphoniums/Baritones) to work with different sections within the band. Mr Pavey was appointed Head of Music at Smithills from September to replace Mr Gibbs, who left to become Head of Performing Arts at a school in Lancashire.

 

The long, sponsored rehearsal Sunday hopes to raise many thousands of pounds for band funds and the players spent the day rehearsing new arrangements for its CD recording weekend with Doyen Recordings Limited on Saturday and Sunday, January 29th and 30th. Our senior bands are to record three CDs of new material with Doyen before May this year.

 

posted: 25.01.11

 

Senior Brass Band At The Royal Albert Hall

On Wednesday evening, 10th November, our Senior Brass Band and its conductor Mr Wormald once again performed in the magnificent Royal Albert Hall Schools Proms in London, this for the eighth time. Each year, the Schools Proms concerts feature winning ensembles and choirs from the National Festival of Music For Youth held at Symphony Hall in Birmingham earlier in the year, during the first two weeks of July.

Smithills opened the final night of this year’s three night Schools Prom event with a new, joint composition called 'Stepping Stones in Brass' written by Oliver Kirby of Bristol University and our own Mr Wormald. It was performed in collaboration with Kagemusha Taiko from Exeter to open the evening with huge audio and visual impact – both ensembles performing the entire composition from memory superbly.
 
Shortly afterwards, Mr Wormald and our Senior Brass Band returned to the stage to perform 'Birdland' and 'Cry Me A River' which were both arranged especially for our band by Mr Wormald himself. Thomas Hurst was the featured Trumpet soloist in the Michael Buble version of ‘Cry Me A River’ and again he performed from memory to perfection. Once again the Smithills performance at the Royal Albert Hall was superbly received by the many thousands of people in the audience - which included a coach of Smithills supporters which travelled down with the band on the morning of the concert itself.

 

more photos

 

posted: 22.11.09

 

Senior Brass Quintet Entertain In Bury Town Hall

On Saturday evening October 30th, our Senior Brass Quintet and former pupil John Kearns entertained a packed dinner at the Elizabethan Suite in Bury Town Hall. Organised by Mr and Mrs Hilton, who have donated a brand new trophy to Smithills bands which will be awarded for the very first time this December (at the 2010 Christmas Concert), the quintet played for over two hours before John Kearns sang songs including 'Bring Him Home' and 'Empty Chairs At Empty Tables' from the musical 'Les Miserables' which were accompanied at the piano by Mr Wormald.

 

The photograph shows Mr Hilton, Thomas Hurst (Trumpet), Elizabeth Tonge (Cornet), John Kearns, Matthew Hardman (Tuba), Kirti Patel (Tenor Horn), Mr Wormald (French Horn) and Mrs Hilton pictured on stage at the event.

 

posted: 02.11.10

 

Senior Brass Band Welcomes Kagemusha Taiko Drummers To Smithills

On Wednesday afternoon, 6th October, our Senior Brass Band and its conductor Mr Wormald welcomed members of Kagemusha Taiko from Exeter, together with their director Mr Jonathan Kirby, for a joint rehearsal from 3.30pm to 5pm. The two ensembles are to play a spectacular joint item to open the Royal Albert Hall Schools Prom in London on Wednesday 10th November and, later in the concert, both ensembles will then play items on their own as part of the final night of this year’s School Prom concerts.

 

The Kagemusha Taiko drummers will be performing in their fourth Royal Albert Hall Schools Prom this year and for Smithills it will be the eighth time that Mr Wormald has conducted our musicians in the World’s most famous concert hall. It was extremely kind of Mr Kirby and his drummers to drive up from Exeter to Bolton (a five hour journey) and then, having rehearsed at Smithills for two hours, drive back down straight away in order to be home by approximately 10pm.

 

Our Smithills musicians and the Kagemusha Taiko drummers are really looking forward to performing in the Royal Albert Hall next month. The joint item which will open the concert at 7pm has been especially composed jointly by Mr Wormald and Oliver Kirby. Oliver is now studying at Bristol University and is the son of Kagemusha Director Mr Jonathan Kirby.

 

posted: 11.10.10

 

Senior Brass Quintet Entertains 2010 T.U.C. National Conference

On the evening of Monday 13th September, at the close of the opening day of the 2010 T.U.C. National Conference being staged in Manchester, our Senior Brass Quintet led by Mr Wormald represented Music For Youth by entertaining at the main reception held in Manchester Town Hall, attended by delegates and the Worshipful Mayor of Manchester.
Featuring Thomas Hurst, Elizabeth Tonge and Matthew Hardman as always, the first quintet performance of the new academic year featured Kirti Patel (Horn), who was making her debut with the ensemble. With Mr Wormald completing the line-up, the Smithills musicians delighted the delegates with their playing and were complimented by everyone present, including leaders of the Musicians’ Union who were very impressed with the standard.

The quintet has its second performance of the new year as early as Wednesday evening of next week (September 22nd) and given that its members are already rehearsing every Saturday and Sunday with the Senior Brass Band in preparation for their Royal Albert Hall performance later this term, it is certainly a busy time already as the 2010-2011 season begins.

 

Posted: 14.09.10

 

Royal Albert Hall Schools Prom For Our Senior Brass Band

Winners of the 2008 Outstanding Performance Award, 2009 Peters Edition Award and 2010 Allianz Award at the National Festival of Music For Youth to complete another hat-trick of victories this July, our eleven-time winning Senior Brass Band and its conductor Mr Wormald are delighted to have been invited to perform once again at the Royal Albert Hall Schools Proms in London this November.

 

This will be the band’s sixth Royal Albert Hall Schools Prom performance to add to the two already given by Mr Wormald and our Senior Concert Band, the most recent of which was in November 2008. This latest London invitation caps another fantastic year of success for our Senior Brass Band and Mr Wormald. They have recorded with Sir Terry Wogan, performed the 2010 NABBC Conference Concert, won yet more titles and prizes at the Whit Friday march contests, given a stunning joint concert with the Black Dyke Band at the Royal Northern College of Music in June and have now received another Schools Prom invitation for London as a result of their latest Symphony Hall victory in July.

 

Our Senior Brass Band, conducted as always by Mr Wormald, will perform at the Royal Albert Hall in London on Wednesday 10th November from 7.00 p.m.

 

posted: 07.09.10

 

 

More Smithills Success At The National Festival of Music for Youth

Fresh from its recent joint concert success with the Black Dyke Band, our Senior Brass Band and its conductor Mr Wormald have once again emerged victorious from this year’s National Festival of Music For Youth to claim another had-trick of wins at the most famous youth music event in the World.

 

Speaking from the stage at Symphony Hall in Birmingham on Thursday July 8th, Music For Youth mentor Eric Tebbett stated “Smithills continue to be the pace setters for all school brass bands in this country, and many more bands, far older and more experienced besides. They continue to set the standards for everyone else to emulate. They are quite brilliant.”

Mr Tebbett also admitted that the Smithills performance of Mahler’s Resurrection, arranged by Mr Wormald, had moved him to tears and had been as much a “spiritual experience” as it had been an outstanding musical one.

 

The winning 2010 Senior Brass Band programme consisted of three arrangements made especially for our Senior Brass Band by Mr Wormald. The performance began with Birdland, for which the judges praised the "meticulous preparation, balance, control and sheer brilliance” of the band. This was followed by Cry Me A River, which featured a superb solo Trumpet performance by Thomas Hurst which the judges described as “rich, lyrical and full of style, with a mellifluous accompaniment by the band which was always controlled and supportive” and finally Mahler’s Resurrection,which the judges described as “beautiful, ethereal, faultless and exceptional; a stunning performance, a joy” and, as a result, led to Smithills being presented with the coveted Allianz Insurance Award.

This is the eleventh time our Senior Brass Band directed by Mr Wormald has won the National Festival of Music For Youth.

 

On Friday July 9th, our Senior Concert Band and Mr Wormald also performed in their respective final at the National Festival of Music For Youth. It was the fourteenth year that Smithills had both a brass band and a concert band successfully qualify for their respective National Festival of Music For Youth finals and, yet again this year, Smithills was the only school in the UK to achieve this. Once again this year, our Senior Concert Band gave an outstanding performance in the final, being drawn last to play out of the six bands selected from the whole of Great Britain. In spite of a “brilliant” and again faultless performance of the eleven minute Sinatra, our Senior Concert Band could not repeat its win of 2008 and its fourth win overall at the National Festival as it was pipped for the top prize by Northampton Grammar School For Boys.

 

Posted: 12.07.10

 

Senior Brass Band Gives Stunning Performance For Black Dyke Band & The RNCM

On Saturday June 19th, at the Royal Northern College of Music Brass 2010 Band Focus Day in Manchester, our Senior Brass Band and its conductor Mr Wormald gave a number of superb, faultless performances in front of the World’s most famous and successful adult brass band, the Black Dyke Band from Queensbury in West Yorkshire, conducted by their Principal Director of Music, Dr. Nicholas Childs.

 

Having been invited some weeks ago by Dr. Childs to share the RNCM concert with the Black Dyke Band, our Senior Brass Band took to the stage as always in its immaculate uniform and shared the platform throughout with Black Dyke. The current, adult National Champions of Great Britain opened the concert with Fest Musik Der Stadt Wien by Richard Strauss and immediately followed this with The Red Priest by Philip Wilby. Then it was the turn of our Senior Brass Band, as Dr. Childs invited Mr Wormald onto the stage to conduct.

Opening with Africa by Toto, the members of Black Dyke and the audience, consisting of RNCM tutors, students, delegates, Headteacher Mr Roberts, Smithills staff, parents, family members, the general public and interested observers such as cornet legend Roger Webster, were immediately taken aback by the absolute quality of Smithills – the sound, the tuning, the balance, the dynamics, the togetherness of ensemble, the precision, the discipline and the individual contributions of a number of players, ranging from Thomas Hurst (Soprano Cornet) and Elizabeth Tonge (Principal Cornet) through to percussionists Robert Gliddon (Drum Kit), Katie Crook (Xylophone) and Adam Musaji (Congas).

 

If the opening Smithills piece had stunned the audience, the next Smithills item which immediately followed took the level of respect and surprise to an even greater level, much to the delight and amazement of Dr. Childs and everyone in the hall. Within a few notes of Cry Me A River, again arranged by Mr Wormald as were all the Smithills items, the members of Black Dyke turned to see exactly which of the Smithills players was playing each part, and Trumpet soloist Thomas Hurst, who stood and played from memory throughout, ensured the entire performance was note perfect from start to finish. The whole band, from Cornets to Horns, Baritones to Euphoniums and Trombones to Basses, was in faultless form, all backed by the excellent percussion section which was superb all day. The band delivered a stunning performance of the Michael Buble hit, as with all of its pieces, without a hint of any nerves whatsoever, in spite of the presence of so many brass band legends and the most historic and successful brass band in the World. The audience and Black Dyke players offered rapturous and very genuine applause and Dr. Childs was clearly very surprised as he announced to the audience, not without a hint of truth, that his band was suddenly under some pressure! He said it was more than a little difficult to believe that Smithills was not just a youth band, but a single school band of such a young age. He really was taken by surprise, as he was to discover that Smithills have performed in the Royal Albert Hall in London on no less than seven occasions, which he thought was a fantastic accolade.

 

Black Dyke Principal Tuba Joseph Cook then performed an outstanding, virtuosic and light-hearted solo Klezmorim arranged by the band’s legendary Solo Horn player Sandy Smith before it was the turn of Smithills once again, who played the Elton John hit I’m Still Standing and, for their last item, a highly energetic and superb Birdland by Joseph Zawinul. Once again the audience and everyone present was amazed at the Smithills playing, especially in Birdland, and Dr. Childs walked to the centre of the stage and gave special mentions to both Robert Gliddon (Drum Kit) and Gemma Blackburn (Trombone) for their contributions.

Black Dyke concluded the concert with another Sandy Smith arrangement, Luck Be A Lady from the musical Guys And Dolls which featured all of the back row cornets in the Black Dyke Band, led by John O’Brien.

 

At the end of the concert, many members of Black Dyke Band and the audience were lavish in their praise for Smithills and came on to the stage to talk to many of the young musicians as a result of their performance. Headteacher Mr Roberts was thrilled and delighted at the whole event and, naturally, especially the Smithills contribution to the concert, as were the many members of Smithills staff, parents and family members who had attended.

The joint concert with Black Dyke was, without doubt, a huge triumph and at the conclusion, Dr. Childs invited Smithills and Mr Wormald to a whole range of future events and concerts at which he wished to involve Smithills.

 

More Pictures - new pictures added 23.06.10

 

RNCM Brass Focus Day Photos by John Stirzaker

 

Posted: 21.06.10

 

Official Opening of Brownlow Fold Community Adult Learning Centre

On Thursday 10th June , the new Mayor of Bolton, Councillor John Byrne, together with our Senior Brass Quintet, officially opened the new Brownlow Fold Community Adult Learning Centre.

 

The ceremony was carried out by the Mayor in front of many invited guests and town representatives and our musicians, led by Mr Wormald, were on hand to provide a fanfare and ceremonial music for the occasion.

 

posted; 17.06.10

 

More Whit Friday Success For Our Senior Brass Band!

For the twelfth successive year, our Senior Brass Band and its conductor Mr Wormald have emerged with victories, trophies and other awards from the Whit Friday march contests held in the Saddleworth area of Oldham.

 

This year the Whit Friday march contests were held on Friday evening 28th May, starting at 4.00pm and finishing at 11.30pm. For the second year in a row, our Senior Brass Band won First Prize at Dobcross in the Youth Section and the award for Best Junior Soloist, which this year went to Smithills Principal Cornet player Elizabeth Tonge. Not only that, but Thomas Hurst was awarded Best Youth Soprano Cornet player at Dobcross and Best Soprano player of all the 66 bands which played at the village!

 

Smithills also took First Prize at the Greenfield Contest and finished Runners-Up at Lees and Springhead.

 

The weather this year was warm, hot, sunny and generally superb – a total contrast to last year, when the 2009 march contests were the worst on record for torrential rain, gale force winds and freezing temperatures and resulted in a lower than usual turn out of bands. Many villages this year enjoyed record entries in the number of bands which participated.

 

More Pictures

 

posted: 07.06.10

 

Senior Brass Band Stuns 2010 N.A.B.B.C. Annual Convention

On Sunday afternoon, May 16th, our Senior Brass Band and its conductor Mr Wormald travelled to Blackpool to perform at the 2010 annual convention of the National Association of Brass Band Conductors (N.A.B.B.C.), this year held at Bispham High School Specialist Arts College.

Every year, the annual N.A.B.B.C. convention features speeches, workshops, training sessions and a closing concert given by an invited band, almost always a major, championship section adult band. This year, it was a huge honour for our Senior Brass Band to be invited to give the final concert of the national convention, from 5.45pm through to 6.45pm.

Opening with the twelve minute Sinatra, which got the concert off to the best possible start, the band continued in its very best form with a wide range of popular and contemporary music including Cry Me A River (featuring soloist Thomas Hurst), Rule The World, Africa, I’m Still Standing, Where Is Love? (featuring soloist Akil Thompson), Beauty And The Beast (featuring Principal Cornet Elizabeth Tonge), Birdland and then, for its final item, the seven minute Resurrection which features the dramatic music of Gustav Mahler, again arranged especially for our Senior Brass Band by Mr Wormald, as was the complete programme for the N.A.B.B.C. concert.

 

Following the performance, the delegates gave an immediate, but very rare, standing ovation and a number of well-known band personalities were moved to tears by the standard of playing and music which our young musicians had performed. Conductor and adjudicator Colin Hardy was moved to tears and rendered speechless, Dr Roy Newsome gave a closing address and thanks in which he described what he had just seen and heard as “genius” and delegates from as far away as Northern Ireland were completely stunned at the standard of performance and presentation by our Senior Brass Band. Without question, our young musicians once again proved beyond doubt that they are the very best and sent delegates away from the convention with renewed enthusiasm.

posted: 18.05.10

 

New National Festival of Music Success For Smithills

It has just been officially confirmed that our Senior Brass Band and Senior Concert Band, both of which have always been conducted by Assistant Headteacher Mr Wormald since their formation nearly twenty years ago, have qualified for the 2010 Music For Youth National Festival to be held in Symphony Hall, Birmingham on Thursday July 8th and Friday July 9th respectively.

For the seventeenth consecutive year, our Senior Brass Band has qualified for these most prestigious of National Finals. Having won the festival no less than ten times and finished runners up on four occasions, Smithills already possesses the best record in National Festival of Music For Youth history. In 2008, our Senior Brass Band won the last ever Outstanding Performance Award to be presented in the School Brass Band category thanks to a performance of the eleven minute “Sinatra” which the adjudicators described as stunning from first note to last, taking youth banding to an unprecedented level of excellence never before seen or heard at the National Festival. Last year, in 2009, our Senior Brass Band was also awarded the first ever Peters Edition Sponsors Award for a faultless performance of the near twelve minute “Lake Of The Moon” by Kevin Houben which the judges described as the best performance they had ever heard in the category at the National Festival and one that even eclipsed “Sinatra” – something which they thought impossible to accomplish.

Our Senior Concert Band did not enter Music For Youth for the first time until 1997, three years after the Senior Brass Band first participated, but in its very first year, not only qualified for the National Festival finals (then held at the Royal Festival Hall in London) but won the final, taking the Outstanding Performance Award and received an invitation to play at the Royal Albert Hall School’s Proms that November. The day before its first ever performance down at the Royal Albert Hall in London (our Senior Brass Band gave the first of its seven Royal Albert Hall performances to date in 1995), our Senior Concert Band made the first of its appearances on “Blue Peter” for BBC1 television at a time when the programme attracted many millions of viewers every broadcast. Two years later, our Senior Concert Band won again in 1999 and moving forward to as recently as 2008, it was awarded the last ever Outstanding Performance Award to be presented at the National Festival - and again went on to be invited to perform at the Royal Albert Hall Schools Proms that November, just eighteen months ago.

posted: 04.05.10

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Senior Brass Band Concert For St George Sell Out

On Saturday evening, April 24th, our Senior Brass Band and its conductor Mr Wormald gave their ninth successive, annual sell-out concert in honour of St George’s Day at the Horwich RMI Club on behalf of Horwich Rotary Club.

 

Ever since Mr Wormald first accepted the St George’s Concert, our Senior Brass Band has never failed to sell-out the Horwich RMI venue to absolute capacity and, as a result, the atmosphere has always been as superb as it was again this year, with members of the audience sitting just inches from the players on all sides.

 

As has been the case throughout this year, the Senior Brass Band was in its very best form from start to finish and the audience was once again amazed at the standard of the playing and presentation. All three of the band’s featured soloists performed brand new solos arranged especially for them by Mr Wormald and each was given a rousing ovation for their perfect performances. First to play was Thomas Hurst, who played ‘Cry Me A River’ in the style of Michael Buble. Later in the first half of the concert, 14 year old Principal Cornet Elizabeth Tonge gave an amazing performance of ‘Carnival of Venice’ which completely stunned the audience as she played the first two variations on the Cornet, the second two variations on Flute and the final pair of variations on Alto Saxophone before picking up her Cornet once again to bring her solo to a dramatic finale and stun the audience with her versatility on three, very different instruments. In the second half of the concert, Principal Euphonium player Akil Thompson, who has just turned 16, also gave a superb, first public performance of his new solo ‘Didn’t We’ made famous by Frank Sinatra.

 

To conclude the evening’s concert at just after 10.30pm, former pupil John Kearns joined the band to sing a number of traditional, ‘Last Night of The Proms’ patriotic songs for St George, ranging from ‘Jerusalem’ and ‘Land of Hope And Glory’ to ‘Rule Britannia’ and the national anthem to finish.

 

posted: 28.04.10

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- POSTPONED TO SATURDAY 5 JUNE 2010-

A Smithills Night of Music - RNLI Charity Concert
The Victoria Hall - Saturday 20th March

The school has been informed that the concert scheduled to take place in the Victoria Hall this coming Saturday evening, 20 March at 7.30pm on behalf of the RNLI, has to be re-scheduled due to the planned marches which are due to take place in the town centre on Saturday.

A new date for the concert in the Victoria Hall has been agreed; Saturday 5 June at 7.30pm. Please would everyone who has purchased tickets for the concert dated 20 March retain them as they will be vaild for the re-scheduled date. Anyone who is unable to attend on Saturday 5 June will, of course, receive a full refund.

posted: 18.03.10

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Senior Brass Band To Play With World’s Most Famous And Prestigious Brass Band – The Black Dyke Band

Our Senior Brass Band and its conductor Mr Wormald have today accepted the most unexpected and prized invitation possible from the World’s most famous, iconic and successful brass band of all time, the Black Dyke Band from Queensbury in Yorkshire; to give a joint concert at the Royal Northern College of Music in Manchester on Saturday 19th June 2010.

 

The Black Dyke Band and its conductor, Dr. Nicholas Childs, have specifically requested that our Smithills School Senior Brass Band and Mr Wormald share their Royal Northern College of Music concert in June and discussions are already under way between the two conductors to finalise what the joint items will be to conclude the programme.

 

Saturday June 19th is this year’s Royal Northern College of Music ‘Brass Band Focus Day’ and the format of the event will be free workshops and masterclasses with principal players from Black Dyke Band all day, from 10.30am through to 5pm, the centre piece of the day being the joint Black Dyke and Smithills concert in the main concert hall from 12pm through to 1.30pm. The final part of the day will be a short concert given by the RNCM Brass Band.

Tickets will not go on sale for the event for some weeks yet but are expected to be priced at just £6 with £5 concessions. The gala lunchtime concert will, as always, sell out very quickly once tickets go on sale to the public. 

 

posted: 05.03.10

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Senior Brass Band Wow Stroud Festival Audience!

 

On Saturday 13 February, our Senior Brass Band and its conductor Mr Wormald travelled down to Stroud in Gloucestershire to give its latest sell-out concert in the World famous Stroud Brass Band Festival. The festival has been in existence 45 years but is scheduled to finish this Summer, in June 2010.

 

Commencing at 7.30pm with a rousing arrangement of the National Anthem and closing at 10.00pm with the most exciting of encores, the J.J. Richards composition Midwest March, the Senior Brass Band was in excellent form from start to finish and thrilled the large audience which had turned out to see our young Smithills musicians in Stroud for the fifth time in the last nine years.

 

Until Smithills was first invited in 2001, the Stroud Festival had always been a concert series reserved exclusively for the very best Championship Section, adult brass bands and since then, Smithills has remained the only non-adult band ever to be invited to play in the famous Subscription Rooms in Stroud, returning as early as the very next year to give the 2002 Christmas Concert – a major honour - and subsequently three more times since.

 

The featured soloists for Smithills in Stroud on this occasion were, in order of performance, Akil Thompson (Euphonium), Elizabeth Tonge (Cornet), Sam Hindley-Birchall (Trombone) and Matthew Hardman (E Flat Bass), all of whom were note perfect and delivered stylish and mature performances of their respective solo items, all of which were very well received indeed. The band also played traditional marches by Kenneth Alford, a brand new hymn tune arrangement of Lead Us, Heavenly Father, Lead Us which was written especially for Stroud by Mr Wormald, and many more contemporary items ranging from music by Take That and Toto to Elton John. The band also performed music from both Mary Poppins and The Sound of Music as well as its award-winning extended feature entitled Sinatra.  

 

The band arrived safely back to Bolton at just before 2.00am, in the early hours of Sunday morning, 14 February.

 

posted: 22.02.10

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Senior Brass Quintet Performs In Town Centre Lunchtime

Concert Series

 

On Thursday February 11th, and directed as always by Mr Wormald, our Senior Brass Quintet, featuring Thomas Hurst and Elizabeth Tonge (Trumpet/Cornet), Robin Upham (Horn), Sam Hindley-Birchall (Trombone) and Matthew Hardman (Tuba), gave a superb lunchtime concert to a packed St George’s Church from 12.45pm through to 1.30pm.

 

Opening with the Grand March from Aida and continuing with an eclectic selection of repertoire ranging from Les Miserables to the music of Tchaikovsky and Barry Manilow before closing with the classic John Iveson arrangement of Frere Jacques, the quintet gave its best ever concert to a very appreciative audience. Mr Wormald also invited each member of the quintet to stand up and demonstrate their own instrument by playing a short, unaccompanied solo passage in between the full ensemble items and this proved to be particularly informative and effective for the listeners.

 

posted: 22.02.10

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Senior Brass Band Completes A Marathon December And

Great Year

Our Senior Brass Band and its Musical Director Mr Wormald began their new 2009-2010 season of concerts with an outstanding performance to over 700 people in the New Wales Theatre in Llandudno, North Wales, on Friday night September 25th.

 

After a full day in school and its regular rehearsal at lunchtime, our Senior Brass Band travelled to Wales at 4.30pm to give an evening concert which had been booked for almost two years on behalf of Rotary International. Led for the very first time by new Principal Cornet player Elizabeth Tonge (Year 9, aged just 13), our Senior Brass Band stunned the large audience with its professional standard and high quality presentation. The band performed almost all new music too which, considering the new school term only started on Tuesday September 8th after the Summer holiday and the first band rehearsals were the following day, is a fantastic tribute to the hard work of everyone involved in the band.

 

Quite remarkably, four of the band’s new Principal players this year are just 13 years of age; Elizabeth Tonge (Cornet), Chloe Smith (Flugel Horn), Abigail Treweeks (Baritone) and Robert Gliddon (Percussion), who are all in Year 9. The band’s new Solo Horn player is Robin Upham (16) and all the other Principal players remain unchanged from last year.

 

There were three outstanding soloists featured in the Llandudno concert, all performing arrangements made especially for our Senior Brass Band by Mr Wormald; Principal Euphonium Akil Thompson began perfectly by performing Where Is Love? from the musical Oliver! and was followed by Sam Hindley-Birchall playing the Tom Jones hit It’s Not Unusual for the very first time with equal perfection. Principal Cornet Elizabeth Tonge then performed her first ever solo with the band, an excellent and faultless rendition of the Van Morrison song Have I Told You Lately? to complete three, superb performances by the band’s soloists and amongst a great deal of other new music arranged especially for the band this year was Africa (Toto) and Rule The World (Take That), both of which the audience really enjoyed.

 

Such was the standard and success of the Llandudno concert that our Senior Brass Band and Mr Wormald received a standing ovation at the end, a reaction which happens at every concert on its tours to America but which came as an unexpected and wonderful surprise at the New Wales Theatre.

 

The band travelled home straight after the concert and arrived back in school at some time after midnight, in the early hours of Saturday morning!

 

posted: 02.10.09

 

Senior Brass Band And Senior Concert Band Both Strike Gold

At 2009 World Music Contest In Kerkrade, Holland

Senior Big Band Appoints New Leading Saxophones

Our Senior Big Band has appointed two, new, outstanding Principal Saxophonists, both of whom have taken over from highly experienced, long serving players who left Smithills in the Summer to move on to the next stage of their education.

Senior Big Band conductor Mr Wormald, together with Head of Music Mr Gibbs and Miss Flemming, have appointed Julia Kirkwood to lead the Alto Saxophones and Chloe Smith to lead the Tenor Saxophones. Julia, who is just 14 years of age and has now moved into Year 10, is not only the youngest Lead Alto Saxophonist the Senior Big Band has ever appointed but, amazingly, she is the only Key Stage 4 player in the entire Saxophone section. Even younger than Julia is new Lead Tenor Saxophone player Chloe Smith who, incredibly, is just 12 years of age and has just moved into Year 8.

Julia Kirkwood has been the Principal Alto Saxophone of our 2008 National Festival Champion Senior Concert Band for the past year, since the beginning of Year 9, and played in the winning performance at Symphony Hall in Birmingham this July. She will lead the Saxophone section at the Royal Albert Hall Schools Prom in London this November.

Chloe Smith is another of the current, 12 year old, highly talented multi-instrumentalists at Smithills. Not only is she the new Lead Tenor Saxophone with the Senior Big Band but Chloe already plays Cornet with our World and National Champion Senior Brass Band, Clarinet with our National Champion Senior Concert Band and both Cornet and Alto Saxophone respectively in our two Saturday Community Bands. As a result, Chloe played in both winning performances at this year’s National Festival of Music For Youth in Symphony Hall, Birmingham, with the Senior Brass Band and Senior Concert Band respectively and will play Clarinet at the Royal Albert Hall Schools Prom this November.

Given that the Senior Big Band is already playing superbly with its new leading players in Principal positions and the average age of the players has never been so incredibly young, the future for all our bands over the next few years, and for the Senior Big Band in particular, looks particularly promising.

posted: 24.09.08

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Best Ever Strings At Smithills

Head of Music Mr Gibbs, who formed and conducts the String Orchestra, is delighted that the numbers and standard of String players at Smithills has never been as high as it is now.

Under the direction of Mr Gibbs, the String Orchestra is growing at an impressive rate and is built around a nucleus of young talent, all of whom are aged 15 years or younger. The leading Violinists are Natalie Barlow and Vanessa Kovacs, the long time Principal Viola player is Jonathan Unsworth, heading the Cello section is Gemma Blackburn, who also plays Trombone in the Senior Brass Band, Senior Concert Band, Senior Trombone Group and both Saturday community bands and on Double Bass is Akil Thompson, who also plays Principal Euphonium in the Senior Brass Band, Principal Clarinet in the Senior Concert Band and, as if such importance was not impressive enough, Bass Guitar in both the Senior Big Band and Senior Trombone Group as well.

Mr Gibbs says “We have never had so many String players at the school and, more importantly, there has never been a time when we have had so many good String players at Smithills. Every concert that the String Orchestra has given has got better and better whilst the music we are playing gets more challenging every time as we proved in July at the Summer concert.”

more pictures

posted: 22.09.08