whitchurch brass band

<body link="#FFFFFF"> <p> </p> <p align="center"><font color="#009900" face="Lucida Handwriting" size="4"><b>Welcome to the official website of Whitchurch Band.<br> We are a brass band based in Whitchurch, Shropshire, West Midlands with players from the Shropshire, Cheshire and North-Wales borders.</b></font><font size="5"><br> <br> </font><font size="4">Our players come both from the town of Whitchurch and further afield such as <br> Crewe, Nantwich, St. Martins and Wem to</font><font size="3"> </font><font size="4">rehearse once <br> a week on Tuesday nights between 7:15 - 9:15.<br> <br> Whilst primarily a performance/concert based group, we do take part in the odd contest and have made it a habit to participate in the annual Whit Friday Marches within the Saddleworth district which is only just over an hour away.</font></p> <p align="center"><font size="3"><b>The band was first formed in the late 1800s and then re-formed in 1973. We found out recently that one of the junior band's instruments predated even that - being an Eb bass which was manufactured in 1895! For many years the band was under the baton of Mr. Ted Gray - a well known figure in the brass band world who was for many years the principal cornet player with the Fodens Motor Works Band and afterwards the full-time employed musical director of the Royal Doulton brass band in nearby Stoke. Unfortunately Ted and the band went their separate ways in 1997 and the band went through a short patch with no leader. This came to an end when the baton was taken by Rob Lewis - the band's then tutti cornet player. Since then we have gone from strength to strength competing in 5 contests to date and seeing marked improvements at each venture thanks to all the hard work and effort put in by Rob.  Sadly, Rob recently stepped down from the position of Musical Director as he felt he needed a break. This shocked the band and we wondered where we would go from here without our M.D.  Kelvin May and Kris Davies both temporarily filled in until at our Annual General Meeting it was decided that Mr. David Stokes should take over as full time Musical Director of Whitchurch Band. At our bandroom we regularly rehearse with 20 - 25 players and are always more than happy to see new faces. Our motto is 'the more the merrier' and so if you play brass and you would like to come along please feel free to do so. Our yearly subscription to become a member is only Ł10 for adults and Ł4 for under 16's and people in full time education which is used solely to enhance the band's music catalogue - of which the players have a say in choice of music. In 2001 we were lucky to receive an 'Awards for All' lottery grant of just under Ł5000 which was used to buy new instruments in order that we could supplement the instruments available to the junior band. We also took the plunge and bought a complete new set of uniforms, having played in plain blazers for many years. We think you'll agree from the photo gallery that the change was very worthwhile.</b></font></p> </body>