The band participated in our first ever contest in October and are delighted to announce that we WON in the Fourth Section!
We travelled down on Saturday from Putney to Evesham to take part in Wychavon Festival of Brass.
On top of our win and best soloist prize, our baritones also won best section. We’re looking forward to more success in the future!
The band have had a busy few months and we’re now looking forward to one of the highlights of our calendar year – the Whit Friday contest! This year, it’s an even more exciting weekend than usual because we’re undertaking a Tour de Yorkshire staying up in Huddersfield!
To prepare for Whit Friday and our Tour, we commissioned a march from the legendary Derek Broadbent. To celebrate our first birthday, we called it PWBB after the band – to see a clip of the band playing it conducted by Derek himself, see here. We love the march and can’t wait to play it on Whit Friday!
While up in Huddersfield, we’ll be performing at a variety of local events during the Holmfirth Arts Festival, including at the Holmfirth Civic Hall and the Bandstand in Greenhead park. We’re looking forward to teaming up with the brilliant Hade Edge Band whilst there as well! Our events calendar for the weekend is:
Keep an eye on our social media for all the updates on what the band’s up to. You can find us on Facebook, Twitter and Instagram @pwbrassband.
Just one year into the life of Putney & Wimbledon Brass Band it seemed the right time to throw a party at Community Church, Putney with The Mayor of Wandsworth in attendance
We opened with stirring classical brass band standards Barnard Castle and Trailblaze.
Then the most beautiful and moving of all pieces of the evening – a classic hymn Crimond known to all as “The Lord is my Shepherd”
Travelling through the different genres, we marched through Sturminster High, and soothed ourselves with the classic hymn I Vow To Thee My Country. We then sprung into movie theme Born Free and onto Anthem from the musical Chess. We rocked to Queen’s Bohemian Rhapsody
then eased gently into the beautiful Calling Cornwall sunrise; music that took us on a journey through the Cornwall landscape. That was one of our four Goff Richards compositions of evening and we managed to squeeze in Still Time.
Our youngest piece of music composed by Justin Bieber and Ed Sheeran was Love Yourself, and we literally struck gold with an arrangement of classic ABBA hits from Alan Fernie to round off the party with ABBA Gold.
A wonderful evening for everyone involved, thanks to: the Mayor of Wandsworth for celebrating with us; Community Church Putney for providing the venue
A great celebration for our first birthday … we are looking forward to a bright brass banding future in Putney and Wimbledon!
Putney & Wimbledon Brass Band are celebrating because – can you believe it – we’ve been in existence for a year already. And what a year it has been!
We’ve gone from a few like-minded brass players, to a thriving local band who have performed in vast array of venues including local schools, Brighton Bandstand and the villages around Saddleworth for The Whit Friday Brass Band Contest,
We started literally with a bang as our first official gig was the Wimbledon Park Fireworks extravaganza; just a few of weeks after our first rehearsal and we played to a crowd of several thousand. Not a bad start!
Through the 2017 Christmas period, we put our Santa hats on and headed out playing for commuters, Christmas light switch-ons, Community Choruses, public house revelers and church congregations. On top of that we even managed to play on live TV – Good Morning Britain and Lorraine. Christmas cheer had never been so brass-centric.
Of course, a brass band is not just for Christmas. What has really amazed us is how the people of Putney and Wimbledon have really got behind us and
embraced brass music into their celebrations and events throughout the entire year. Not only have we more than doubled the number of musicians in the band to well over 30; we have played at cycle races, rowing races, marathon runs, birthday parties and community church events; we’ve played for schools, pubs, choirs, Guide Dogs, Members of Parliament, NCT Groups and Mayors; we have played on stages, streets, Commons, Moors, gardens, next to the river and by the sea.
If the people of Wandsworth and Merton are in any doubt, we hope that the quintessential sound of a brass band playing carols will soon remind them!
That’s right, Putney & Wimbledon Brass Band is delighted to announce its 2017 Christmas schedule.
Of the fifteen or so bookings we have in December; here are the ones that are open to the public, so feel free to come along and soak up the festive spirit!
Throughout the month, we’ll also be popping up at stations and town centres across the area, to cheer up weary commuters and stressed shoppers. Keep an eye on Twitter and Facebook to see where we’ll be and when!
A mere four weeks after our launch we’re overwhelmed by the response of the local community and the enthusiasm for a brass band in this part of South West London. We’re very excited to be supporting so many local events, and look forward to sharing a Christmas carol and a mulled wine with as many people as possible!
Merry Christmas!
We are very excited to announce that our first official engagement as Putney & Wimbledon Brass Band will be Wimbledon Park Fireworks night on Saturday 4 November. The first bonfire will be lit at 6.30pm, so wrap up warm and come see us play.
You can read more about our launch – and debut performance – at emptychairs.co.uk
We look forward to seeing you all there!