Welcome to the home of Ceramic Brass
The UK's newest and friendliest band
NEWS:
Sunday the 15th of March 2009 was an important day in the
history of Ceramic Brass Band as it marked our first appearance
at a regional contest. The band travelled to the Nicholas
Chamberlaine Technology College in Bedworth Warwickshire
to compete against 20 other bands from all around the midlands
region. The players rose to the challenge of the contest
stage putting in a solid and confident performance which
saw them take 9th place overall. This is an outstanding
achievement for a band which has been which was formed less
than two years ago and is an obvious highlight in the short
but rich history of Ceramic Brass Band.
A fantastic day was had by players and supporters alike
and all at Ceramic Brass Band would like to pass on their
thanks and congratulations to all of the players and our
musical director Steve Churchill for this fantastic achievement.
Moving out of the contest season the band will now begin
its preparations for its summer engagements which start
on the 5th of April at Buxton Pavilion Gardens. Please visit
our engagements page to see when the band is playing near
you and we will look forward to seeing during the summer
months.
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As we enter the bands 3rd year we would like to wish all
of our supporters a happy and prosperous 2009.
2008 was an extremely exiting year for the band and we
really ended the year on a high. The band rose over £1000
during December and all of the concerts we played were met
with rousing compliments.
And so we enter 2009 with a great sense of anticipation.
This year is set to be an important year in the history
of the band. Steve is currently putting the players through
their paces in preparation for our first regional contest
in March and engagements are already starting to book up
for the rest of the year. The band has already booked some
repeat engagements form last year and Alan is currently
putting the finishing touches on the organisation of some
prestigious concerts in new and unexplored areas in the
local community.
Everyone at Ceramic Brass Band would like to thank all
of players and supporters as we look forward to an exciting
2009.
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What an exciting few months for Ceramic Brass Band, we are
very proud to have started the Ceramic Training Brass Band
which started rehearsing in October 2008.This initiative
is to give those who want to build on the skills that they
have as brass players the opportunity to play alongside
experienced tutors and players in an open and friendly environment.
Everyone is welcome including complete beginners and due
to the recent hard work of the committee instruments can
now be provided to members who don't have their own.
In amongst all this excitement we have also had to move
our band room to accommodate the huge growth in numbers
and equipment we have had during the past year. After an
extensive search Ceramic Brass Band is now happily based
at Longton Central Hall and the band is already settling
in to its new home.
Longton Central hall has a variety of fantastic spaces
including a designated band room and storage area which
will serve the band well for many years to come. The Central
Hall is also a perfect concert venue so expect to see us
play there very soon.
Ceramic Brass Band would like to extend our thanks to all
at Longton Central Hall for all their help so far and to
Staffordshire University for accommodating the band for
the last 18 months and for their continued support!
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What an exciting time of growth the last few months have
been. The bands future is brighter than ever.
The band has been extremely pleased with our polished
performances during the early summer season and we have
received some extremely positive and encouraging comments
from satisfied audience members throughout the community.
The band has also welcomed another handful of new players
into its ranks; these new players have quickly become well
integrated in to the band during rehearsals, concerts and
socials, and have added to the band’s friendly and
sociable atmosphere.
The band has also purchased and been donated a variety
of new instruments and music which are being put to good
use in preparation for the late summer and early autumn
concerts. This equipment means that the band can offer instruments
to players who don’t have their own, and we would
like to thank everyone whose hard work has made the acquisition
of this equipment possible.
The band is looking forward to the final concerts of the
summer season and the beginnings of our preparations for
our autumn and winter engagements.
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On April the 13th 2008 Ceramic Brass Band celebrated its
1st birthday. Over the last 12 months the band has been
an unprecedented success and has grown from a group of five
players into a group nearly 25 strong. The band has also
performed at a number of prestigious and well received events
and raised over £2000 for local and national charities.
Congratulations to our young members Aimee Duggan and Elspeth
Malcolm who have recently taken music examinations on their
cornets. Aimee passed grade 1 ABRSM exam with a high merit
and Elspeth has achieved a distinction at grade 4 Trinity
exam.
Sadly our musical director Stewart Thompson can no longer
conduct the band full time and has chosen to step down from
this role. However he will continue to be an active member
and supporter of the band in his new role as associate conductor.
The band has recently appointed a new full time musical
director in Steve Churchill: Steve is a long term supporter
of the band and we are all extremely excited about him taking
up the musical director position. The band is currently
preparing for the Whit Friday Marches and the busy summer
concert schedule ahead.
On an exciting note the band has recently been donated a
large quantity of music which has allowed us to further
increase our repertoire for performances.
All of the members of Ceramic brass band would like to once
again thank everybody who has supported us over the last
year and we hope to see you all again during the exciting
months to come
