Band News 2004 Click for 2004 Band Newsletters Winter (6) - Spring (7) - Whit Friday - Summer (8) - Parkie TV Clip - Autumn (9) - France - Winter(10) Click for 2004 Picture Galleries
2004 Christmas The festive season started with a bang with a fantastic Charity Concert on Saturday 4th December. Nearly £1,400 has been raised so far. All proceeds go to St Christopher's Hospice and we are still counting! Congratulations to all who made the concert such a success and many thanks to our audience for their generosity. The band and choir had worked so hard at many extra rehearsals and the music was quite outstanding on the night. Well played indeed! Here is a copy of the music programme we played. And read a transcript of Mike Gray's media interview, prior to the concert, courtesy of Dan Menhinnitt of the Croydon Guardian. We also were very fortunate to have a professional photographer in the audience, Mark Edwards. Click for our selection of his pictures. The full set can be viewed on the Choir site. Email Mark for any high quality print requests. After 'Rotary' High Stree Carols in Penge and a carol service at The Sydenham Wesley Chapel on Saturday 11th (where the B Band also performed), we then played at the annual Horniman Gardens Carol Concert in conjunction with the 'English Baroque Choir' under the leadership of Jeremy Jackman. The Christmas atmosphere was quite electric with a very large and enthusiastic audience. The weather was fine but cold. The band 'warmed up' later in the evening at a very lively annual Christmas dinner. News Flash- 11th from 18 at the SCABA Autumn Contest - Click for Results The Band Visits Normandy! The band had a very successful trip to Normandy over the August Bank Holiday weekend. We played two concerts in Trouville and had a lot of fun in spite of occasional rain. Click for Maggie's report and have a look at a few photos, Roger's, Basil's, Annie's and three pictures of the Trouville concert from the Deputy Mayor, Richard. August Update. So far this summer we’ve played at seven outside events, hosted one evening indoor concert and some of us have been up to Manchester to participate in the Whit Friday marches (see June Update below). And the B Band haven’t been too far behind, playing at two school summer fetes. The 150 Anniversary celebrations in June were a good opportunity to strengthen our links with the Crystal Palace Foundation, and we were also helped out on the Saturday by members from Brass Band Imperial Lenzburg who were still recovering from Whit Friday the night before. Then it was over to Myatts Field Park Fair, Camberwell where an enthusiastic organiser praised the ‘marvellous, fantastic Crystal Palace Band’ over the tannoy at every opportunity – perhaps we should get him on board to help with the publicity… We then played at Bognor Regis in glorious sunshine and the first of many Band Sandcastle Competitions of the summer was held, with Basil triumphing as winner (just you wait ‘til Deauville Basil – we’ll see whose turrets are perfect then!) and then it was back indoors for the Summer Pops concert in Orpington, which was enjoyed by those who attended. After an incredibly wet Old Coulsdon Fair (Singing in the Rain went down very well) we endured, sorry enjoyed, a three and half hour performance at Greenwich, one of the most picturesque parks in London. And now we’ve just played at the Kingswood Estate Annual Festival in Dulwich – and marvelled at the drummers who were also performing! June Update A few members of the band travelled up North to participate in the Whit Friday Marching Competition on 4th June, in conjunction with. 'Swinton and District Excelsior' and 'Brass Band Imperial' from Switzerland. (Unbelievably these Swiss guys were so keen to take part that they flew in just for the occasion! This was some event! These marches were made famous in the film 'Brassed off'. Click to read Maggie's report to see how we got on, or click and scroll half way down the Swinton news page for their impressions. Spring Contest Update - Fourth place at Stevenage and Fifth place at Hove The band entered the 2004 London and the Southern Counties Regional Championships at Stevenage. On Saturday 20 March, the band travelled up for a 9am draw (with the exception of Eb bass player Andrew Lipscombe, who travelled down from Cheshire having performed at a benefit concert with Coronation Street star Keith Duffy the night before!). The band was rewarded for an excellent performance of Phillip Sparke’s ‘Kaleidoscope’ by being placed fourth out of thirteen, and securing its second section place for at least another year. Review courtesy of 4BarsRest.com. After our regular annual Epiphany concert on 11th January at St Michael's Church, Sydenham, the band started the 2004 Contest Season by participating in the 111th SCABA Quartet/Ensemble contest on 8th February at Ringmer Community College, Ringmer, East Sussex. Four ensembles took part this year, in a
diverse combination of line ups
and music as
follows :
Click the SCABA results page for a full list of winners.
As ever, keep an eye on our performances page for THE up-to-date list of forthcoming engagements by the band (accept no substitutes !). The Band operates an open door policy at rehearsals and is specifically seeking Bb or Eb bass players. If you are interested in coming along to a rehearsal, please contact the band secretary, Rachel Bleach. |
