The training band leaders, Louise Perryman, Richard Kitley and Julie Biggs, were surprised earlier this week with a Making a Difference Award from the people of Radstock.

At the end of last year, Radstock’s mayor, Chris Dando, invited nominations from the community for unsung heroes who volunteered their time and skills to support the town.

The band’s talented training band leaders were the proud recipients of one of the awards, which came as a total surprise but were very much appreciated.

Richard Kitley said, “we all do things just for the love of it, to pass on a skill, to maybe give others the joy of music. But when, out of the blue, the community – the one I was born into – gives an award it feels really special and an honour”.

The band thinks you are all total legends too!

Tuesday 26th September 7.30 – 9.30pm, the old Methodist Church, The Street, Radstock BA3 3PL

Play a brass instrument, drums or percussion and looking for a band to play with?  Maybe you’ve been away from playing for a while and need to blow away those cobwebs or get back into the driving seat!    Whatever your instrument don’t play alone! Midsomer Norton & Radstock Silver Band are holding an open evening where brass musicians drummers and percussionists are invited to come along to our rehearsal for an evening of fun music making. We play a wide variety of music from pop to rock, jazz and blues, music from the movies, beautiful ballads and of course the occasional march!

Don’t have your own instrument? Don’t worry, we’ll lend you one!

If you are planning to come please let us know in advance that you will be attending and also what instrument you play and whether you need to borrow one of our band’s instruments.

Contact hello@msnrsb.org.uk

A new generation of young musicians are being inspired to take up brass instruments thanks to the hard work of tutors Louise Perryman and Richard Kitley.

On Tuesday 13th June the Training Band held a small summer concert to entertain their families and friends. The players were really excited to show everyone what they could do and there were even some solos! The audience thoroughly enjoyed the concert and were impressed with the progress that they had all made over the year. It was great to see how they had all grown in confidence and that all of their hard work and practice had paid off.

Midsomer Norton and Radstock Silver Band have a proud history of nurturing the development of young musicians; some players who started in the 1980’s are still playing with the main band now!

The Training Band is fully inclusive and is registered Band Safe with Brass Bands England and the tutors are fully DBS checked and registered. So, if you harbour a desire to play a brass instrument, make that dream a reality and get in touch with us.

Contact: hello@msnrsb.org.uk

Principal cornet, Kit, did us proud by facilitating the unveiling of the Miner’s Silhouette’s by Michael Eavis with a fanfare flourish. Then he ran like the wind to join the rest of the band at St Nicholas Church field to open the Radstock Festival 2023.

The Natural Theatre Company put on a spectacular show of surreal sights and wonders so it was only fitting that we should open the festival with a light hearted programme kicked off with Those Magnificent Men (in their flying machines), followed by our very own Musical Director, Gareth Key’s arrangement of Mr Blue Sky and then moving on to such pieces as Floral Dance and Ground Force (especially for the Flower Pot Head ladies) and as a finale the classic singalong favourite Sweet Caroline.

But the fun didn’t end there, oh no. Kit and Trevor (solo horn) made a reappearance later as part of the Natural Theatre Company’s performance entitled “The Visionary”. We’re still waiting for that call from Steven Spielberg…..

naturaltheatre.co.uk/radstock-fayre/

It was an honour to be able to open up the Coronation Celebrations at the West Hill Recreation Ground on Sunday 7th May. The crowd really appreciated our mixture of Pomp and Circumstance and popular singalong favourites!

The Band were very sad to announce the sudden death of one of their players, Pat Stevens, who passed away on Saturday 16th September 2017. Pat joined the Band shortly after it was formed and was our longest serving member. She started on euphonium, but the majority of her time was spent playing solo horn. Pat was a Committee member and the Band’s Librarian for many years and her dedication and commitment to the Band was to be admired and she will be sadly missed by all members and supporters.

Midsomer Norton and Radstock Silver Band thrilled listeners at their Autumn Concert in Wells.

The Midsomer Norton & Radstock Silver Band held their Autumn concert at St Thomas’s Church in Wells on Saturday 6th October. After a very busy summer season St Thomas’ is an exciting new venue for the band in 2018. Musical Director, Joanne Sykes conducted a varied programme centred around the theme of ‘Reflect and Celebrate’ to commemorate not only the centenary year of the end of the Great War but also of the formation of the Royal Air Force. Blockbusters included 633 Squadron, Dambusters March and a thrilling performance of Peter Graham’s epic work ‘Cry of the Celts’ each movement featuring the bands talented soloists.

Compere for this special evening concert was none other than BBC Radio Somerset’s Claire Carter, no stranger to the Brass concert circuit in Wells. Perhaps more surprising on the night was the appearance a of BBC television cameraman recording for the Monday’s Points West bulletin. No pressure for the band then!

Guest soloists featured highly in the cleverly crafted programme. Stephen Sykes masterfully performed his feature solo of the night ‘Stardust’ in front of a spellbound audience. Less than two years ago Stephen was critically ill with late stage Hodgkins Lymphoma and barely able to lift his trombone let alone play it. A rallying cry was put out to the world wide brass band community and vital funds were raised to pay for the special treatment needed to save his life. Saturday’s concert was a milestone occasion, his first public performance since his illness struck and it did not disappoint.

The musical variety did not stop there. Siona Stockel, Soprano together with Nicola Bracey, Piano both professional musicians resident in Wells brought a touch of nostalgia to the evening with a selection of songs made famous by Forces Sweetheart, the legendary Vera Lynn. The concert was rounded off in fine style with an encore that raised the roof. Finlay Bradley, the band’s talented percussionist literally blew a stunned audience to the evening’s close with his virtuosic drum solo in Louis Prima’s ‘Sing Sing Sing’. What a finish by this fine ensemble, The Midsomer Norton & Radstock Silver Band.

Special mention should be made of the evenings venue and the support given by our hosts at St Thomas Church. This is a magical place to hold a concert and with first class facilities to match the band hope to perform there on a regular basis in future. A ‘must’ date for your diary in the run up to Christmas is Saturday 8th December. The band will again perform in St Thomas Church, with their own take on popular seasonal favourites. One not to miss!

For more information about the bands forthcoming events check their website: msnrsb.org.uk

The band have had a busy start to 2018 attending a variety of events.

In April the band were invited to play at the Man Engine event in Radstock, we were thrilled to be part of such an usual local event and we were very lucky to have ring-side seats to watch the show once we had played. Later in April we marched through Wells with the Somerset County Federation of WIs to celebrate their Centenary, we processed from Wells Cathedral to St Cuthbert’s Church where we played Jerusalem whilst the WI members sang.

May opened with Priston May Day where we played our summer programme for the first time on a lovely sunny afternoon. We played at Hampset Cricket Club the following weekend for a fundraising event organised by Andrew Stammers. A highlight in May was being invited to play at the Radstock Co-op 150th Anniversary celebration evening at the Bath Pavilion. A couple of our members were able to stay and enjoy the celebrations after we had played together with many members of other local organisations.

At the beginning of June The Natural Theatre Company asked us to perform at an arts event in Radstock. A couple of band members had to join in the acting, I think we were all agreed that they should stick to playing! We played at the opening of Westfield Funday and we were lucky enough to get our photo taken with Michael Eavis. We finished June with a Sunday afternoon concert in Keynsham Bandstand which is always fun as it is very well supported by the local residents.

We played in Parade Gardens in Bath at the beginning of July on a scorching hot afternoon, which required the consumption of many ice creams in the interval. A couple of week ago we performed at M Fest in Midsomer Norton, it is always a pleasure to be able to play for our local community.

We will be spending August working on our concert programme for our autumn concert at St Thomas’ Church in Wells on 6th October. Our next engagement will be at Double Hills in Paulton at the beginning of September.

The Band recently played in the Wells Band Stand and after an enjoyable afternoon we were really pleased to receive the following comments from members of the audience:

Comments from Phil Wilby, Musical Associate,
Black Dyke Brass Band:

“I had the occasion to visit Wells Cathedral two weekends ago and walked with the organist Matthew Owens and his family down towards the bandstand.

We were delighted to hear some of the band’s concert (Matthew is an ex cornet player from Stockport!) and I wanted to write and thank you all for the great work that the band do to keep the flame alive in the South West…… in particular, we were delighted to hear a solo from Aidan aged 10 …… great sound and splendid self assurance. Mathew’s two boys were entranced to hear someone of their own age play so beautifully……. so let’s hope that Aidan has lit a flame for the future.

Every Good Wish to MN and Radstock and best wishes for Cheltenham”

Comments from Sue Bibby a professional musician and teacher

“Just wanted to say how much I thoroughly enjoyed your performance on Sunday July 16th in Wells Recreation ground.

I was visiting the area that weekend. I studied at Birmingham Conservatoire and in my schooldays played with Skelmersdale Brass Band who were 2nd section back then.

Congratulations and well done on such a fantastic listening experience. I loved it!

God bless you all and keep up the good work”.