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As has become somewhat of a tradition in previous years, the first concert of the new year was held in the delightful St. Martin's Church, Womersley. This has become regular event for us over many years now, which is very much enjoyed by the Band. We are always made very welcome and they can't seem to do enough for us.
It was not as cold as it has been for this concert in previous years, but they still provided warm mulled wine and plenty of snacks once the entertainment had ended. It was delightful to see so many regular faces for this event and get a chance to catch up with many of them. We are already looking forward to our next concert at Womersley.
The 2007 Patrons' concert was entitled "A World of Music", with plenty of music from around the world and spanning many years. The programme was carefully chosen to ensure there was plenty for every musical taste and every age to enjoy. And enjoy they all seemed to do.
Even the incident when the fire alarm sounded immediately after our first piece didn't seem to upset anyone too much. We had to evacuate the hall for some time whilst the cause of the alarm was identified and dealt with, but everyone co-operated superbly and people just seemed to accept it as "one of those things". It didn't seem to spoil anyone's enjoyment of the event.
The band played extremely well, probably due to the special occasion that the Patrons' Concert always is, and even our very own junior band, who ha been working very hard to prepare several pieces for the event, performed very well indeed, showing how far they had progressed since their last appearance at our 2006 Christmas concert. There were a lot of very proud mums, dads and other family members that evening.
As usual, our Patrons were given VIP treatment and attended a special pre-concert cheese and wine event and were able to reserve their seats in the hall. If you would like similar VIP treatment for future Patrons' Concerts, please visit our Patrons Web Page for more details. Many thanks go to Gill and Diane for their work in organising, preparing and serving at both both the Patron's Reception and interval sessions, along with thanks to all our other helpers at the event.
Some photographs of the junior band at this event can be found on our gallery pages.
Despite the midweek date, the band were able to provide an ensemble who played the music for an Ascension Day service held in the Featherstone Precinct.
An ensemble from the band performing in the grounds of Horsforth Hall Park for this Sunday afternoon. A very pleasant occasion.
Following a very enjoyable event in March 2006, we all heading north for another delightful evening with our new friends in Sherburn-in-Elmet. As in 2006, it was a fund raising event organised by by their local Rotary Club where the funds went jointly to local charities and the church itself. The band played very well which was a delight for everyone, so the church was full of the great variety of music that we had been working hard to put together over recent weeks leading up to the event.
The summer of 2007 will be remembered for the terrible floods due to consistent and often extremely heavy downfalls of rain. The lead up to the 2007 Knottingley Carnival was no exception and every day that week had seen heavy rain in the area. But someone must have been looking after on the day itself, as it did stay dry and we even saw a little sunshine. Though it was back to rain the day after.
The procession itself went off fine with KCB leading the way as usual, followed by local dignitaries and the rest of the procession including majorettes, several floats, horse and carts and I'm sure I even saw some cowboys on horses bringing up the rear. The route ended up as usual in the grounds behind the sports centre where there were plenty of stalls and activities to keep the whole family entertained. Due to the recent rain, it was not possible to bring the floats onto the sodden green. But that did not stop the rest of the entertainments from going ahead and everyone seemed to be having a great time. If you like this sort of occasion, and who doesn't, then make a note in your diaries for the 3rd Saturday in July for the 2008 Knottingley Carnival.
KCB are always willing to offer their services to support charitable organisations, large & small, local & nationwide. One of the charities we regularly like to support are the RNLI and we performed another concert to raise funds for their excellent organisation. The event was held in the Central Methodist Church, Pontefract, who's refurbishment was recently completed in 2007. This was the first concert to be held in that refurbished hall. Special attention had been put into the design to enhance the acoustics, as the previous hall design had not been particularly helpful in that area. The design has certainly worked as the new hall comes alive with the music. One audience member told me how the sound was bouncing off all the walls making it seem as if the audience were sitting in a surround-sound space, without the use of any speakers!
The brightness of the hall was certainly felt by the band and it certainly lifted them into some excellent playing. The brightness of the bigger pieces came through brilliantly and the softness of the quieter atmospheric pieces was quite emotional. The new Central Methodist Church hall is certainly a success and the first concert held there was every bit as successful as everyone there enjoyed the evening performance to the utmost, including the band members themselves. KCB have already decided to adopt the hall for their own Christmas Concerts from now on, and I'm sure we will be back for many other concerts too.
As for the RNLI, it was a good night for them too, as they made over £500 during the evening which went straight into funds supporting that great organisation.
The organisers had to cancel this event. I suspect it was due to the field being too wet to use. I hope they won't be put off by this and will try again next year.
KCB attended this Harvest Festival service for the Leyburn Church with an ensemble to accompany the hymns and songs. I've not had any feedback from the members of the ensemble at this event yet, but I will put up some of their comments when I hear anything.
KCB provided an ensemble to play the music for the hymns being sung at the Harvest Festival service in the lovely Kirk Smeaton Church.
Plenty of rehearsal time had gone into preparing for this event held at the Princess Street Methodist Church, Wath. The church has close links with members of the band, particularly Jennifer who used to attend this church when she lived in the area with her family. It is still her family's church today and this is how the event came about.
The stage was quite small but we managed to squeeze in and around it, and the music sounded great in the lovely church hall. The practicing paid off well as the concert was well received by everyone there. They provided plenty of lovely home made refreshments at the interval that went down a treat with everyone. All monies made went into church funds and KCB were able to contribute by giving our usual fees to go into the fund as well.
As usual, he Band supported St. Andrew's church with their Remembrance Day service. We lead hymns during the Remembrance service and Eucharist, before we move outside to lead the procession from the church to the Cenotaph for 11:00am. Here the traditional service of Remembrance continued with hymns and prayers, the laying of wreaths and Jennifer played the Last Post, with her usual moving and emotional style.
We joined forces with a local school choir and the Pontefract Male Voice Choir once again this year in support of Prince of Wales Hospice, a charity we are happy to give up our time for around this time of year on an annual basis. A lot of preparation by the band has gone into this year's Christmas season and this was the first event where performed a few of our festive pieces. The children did their best but seemed to be lacking some leadership (not their fault) and the male voice choir where just about up to their normal standard but managed to be entertaining as always. But the KCB rehearsals certainly paid off as we performed very well for the occasion and if I may say so, were by far the best performers on the night.
Our main Christmas concert of the 2007 season was entitled "KCB Celebrating Christmas". The audience were a little smaller than hoped but it turned out that several other concerts and events were happening in the local area that day. But the people who came were treated to an excellent evening of entertainment from the moment they entered the church, where they were met by friendly band members and the festive decorations. The recently refurbished church hall resounded magnificently to the Christmas music we had been preparing especially for this very occasion and we didn't disappoint, as this was probably one of KCB's best Christmas Concerts for a long time. From the moment we struck up the first piece, A Christmas Adventure, which cleverly combines Indian Jones themes with several well know Christmas carols right through to the ever popular Christmas Song made famous by Bing Crosby, the band played their hearts out to a delighted audience. Our junior band has made excellent progress this year, and have even been joining the main band at rehearsals which has boosted their confidence. They had two of their own sessions during the concert where they delightfully played Christmas carols for everyone to sing along to. As santa was very busy at this time of year, he even got the junior band members to help him by passing out early gifts to the members of the audience on his behalf.
A feature of our own concerts is the quality of the refreshments provided by the band and this year was no exception. Thanks go to Diane and Gill particularly, and all to our helpers generally, for their organising of all the festive food and drink that filled the decorated tables in the refreshment hall during the interval enjoyed by the audience and band alike. We certainly know how to put on a concert and if you happened to miss out this year, you should ensure you don't miss out in future by checking out Future Events page for our next KCB concert. You won't be disappointed.
Some photographs of this event can be found on our gallery pages.
We performed another joint concert with the excellent Pontefract Choral Society led as usual by Phil Higgins. It is always a delight and a privilege to perform with this excellent local choir in what was a new location for this concert, Micklegate Methodist Church. With the choir at the back, it was a bit of a tight fit for the band immediately in front of the packed hall but everyone managed admirably. The groups took turns in entertaining with plenty of excellent festive song and music. Both groups were on top form for the occasion and you would not have known the band had performed a very tiring full concert just the evening before.
After the event, the organisers provided plenty of refreshments which everyone enjoyed.
Some photographs of this event can be found on our gallery pages.
It had been a little while since KCB performed in this wonderful church building, but we were delighted to be back. The church hall really brought our festive music to life as we performed another full concert for the large and appreciative audience who had made it through the very cold evening to attend. The band may not have the largest membership at this time, but there is no doubt that they are among the most talented members collected together at any one time and once again, this final major concert of this year's festive season, the band performed to the highest of standards, making all the hard work in recent weeks all worth while. Everyone present had a most enjoyable evening of seasonal music and many were kind enough to tell us how much they had enjoyed it. The organisers had prepared plenty of home made festive food which was served to a grateful audience and rounded off the evening perfectly.
The lead up to Christmas wouldn't be the same without our annual visit to the wonderful residents at the Grove Nursing Home in Knottingley and 2007 was no different. They are always delighted to see us and despite a good number of years under their belts, they all enjoyed clapping and singing along like youngsters to our Christmas songs and carols. It was such a delight to see their faces light up with the excitement a brass band brings to them, as many remember with glee, brass bands, such as the Salvation army, visiting their streets in years gone by.
We even had Alex's two young children with us this year, and they sat and led the carol singing with the rest of the residents sitting around the room enjoying themselves. After the event, the helpers provided a table full of refreshments for the band to enjoy. A lovely finale to our 2007 set of concerts.
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