Almost four years and a global pandemic since we at Eagley Band and our Musical Director Chris Wormald last performed a full concert together in the Boarshurst Band Club Sunday evening concert series in 2019, we have just returned from another hugely successful concert there this weekend, on Sunday September 24th.

Staged as always inside the Boarshurst Bandroom in Greenfield, Saddleworth, where our MD is the adjudicator at the annual Whit Friday march contests every May/June, we took to the baking hot stage on Sunday night with our completely full compliment of brass players and full percussion and entertained the combined audience both present in the room and “live” on Facebook with a largely traditional programme of published arrangements. We opened with the march BB & CF, continued with the brilliant William Himes Nicaea, followed this with our conductor’s Obrasso published arrangement of Cry Me A River featuring a stunning performance by our Principal Cornet Lynsey Hayes and continued the first half with the superb James Curnow Jubilation, Leonard Ballantine ‘Mid All The Traffic and then our second soloist of the concert, Caitlin Stranks on Euphonium. Caitlin played superbly the iconic Peggy Lee classic hit The Folks Who Live On The Hill, again arranged by our conductor and published by Obrasso, before the first half concluded with the same combination of arranger and publisher in Queen’s Bohemian Rhapsody.

Following a much needed interval due to the extreme heat of the stage lighting, the second half of the concert featured Radetsky March, Flugel Horn soloist Janet Walsh playing a note perfect Have I Told You Lately? again arranged by our MD and published by Obrasso as per both first half soloists, and by the end of the concert we had performed excellently the hymn tune Abide With Me, Elgar’s Nimrod, Ravel’s Bolero, again featuring Lynsey throughout, and Stravinsky’s Firebird featuring Caitlin in the dramatic opening.

We all thoroughly enjoyed giving a full concert just by the band as although we always have a great time performing on stage with our Community Choir and Community Band in gala concerts four times every year, it is a completely different challenge and level of stamina required when we play a full concert as a band by ourselves.