Listen to the Band!
It’s hard to imagine a better way to lift the spirits on a cool, cloudy Sunday afternoon than by going to the Summer Concert of the Kibworth Band. It was held at the Kibworth Hub and all seat tickets had been sold. There are in effect three bands: the Seniors, the Youth Band (some of whom have already progressed to the Seniors so play in both) and the Training Band. These young children are just learning their instruments but gave us an excellent effort with their short programme, including ‘Ode to Joy’ and ‘When the Saints go Marching In.’
The Senior Band seems to improve year by year. They recently achieved third place in the Midlands Regional Championships. They have consequently been invited to represent the Midlands region at the National Championships in Cheltenham in September. Their programme was widely varied, opening with the stirring ‘Colonel Bogey’ and closing with the James Bond theme. In between were some slower and melodious pieces including Carol Smith’s beautiful solo in ‘You Are Always Here.’ She achieved notes of such liquid purity from that instrument that the audience was spellbound.
There was a delightful comedy piece, ‘The Cuckoo’ in which Sam from the Youth Band seemed to be endlessly outpaced by the various instruments until finally realising his music was upside down. Mark Smith and Isaac were soloists with the euphonium and tenor horn respectively. They both played beautifully and the band is just as good supporting soloists as it is in full flourish.
The conductors Brendan Caddy and Sam Haigh kept us well informed about the programme. Sam organised the youngsters so well that despite there being what looked like hundreds of musicians on the extended stage, everyone moved about changing places and music stands very smoothly. All in all a wonderful afternoon. We’re looking forward to the Proms in September!
Brendan reminded us that the Band is completely self funding. Entry fees for the championships are around £400 so hopefully the raffle and the ‘Guess how many sweets’ competition helped.
Any donations are very gratefully accepted.
Carol Townend
Gems Charity golf day
