Those were the days of band subs and Mike had the job of collecting the money, apparently only one person paid in fifteen weeks! Perhaps it was he and his pals friendly support of the young teenagers coming in from local schools later in the 1960’s that made the turning point into a full band and then contesting.

The first contest of the reformed band was in 1970 with London River, having Mike on the end chair playing Solo Euphonium. Second prize was awarded, with the band’s first trophy for a very long time. There is a famous photograph showing Mike holding this trophy celebrating in the Navi with all his mates still in band uniform and with those younger players included too.

In the ups and downs of the bands fortunes, Mike was always there, decade after decade. A principle player, committee member, band master and coach driver… Yes he sometimes drove the coach to band contest’s as well.

Fancy dress concerts were becoming a successful fundraiser for trips to the London Finals, with Mike being seen as a Red Indian Chief on the ‘Wild West Night’, a Navy Sailor in the ‘Back to the Forties Night’ and a fierce looking Pirate on a sponsored boat lock flight down the canal, complete with eye patch and a real missing tooth.

Mike was still on the Euphonium top chair in the mid 1980’s when the bands contesting success just seemed to take off. Mike had returned to the bandmaster position once again, supporting his new conductor, chairman and band secretary – that was a dream team of top notch talent that seemingly could do no wrong.

Nearly twenty years of contest win’s produced a run propelling them from village band level to giant killing performances – cutting up many of the top section bands. During this time Mike had the intuition to hand over the Euphonium end chair and famously nail down the 2nd Baritone position for later times in the higher sections. Retiring from playing just a few years before the band won the British Open in 1996, but he was there in the audience supporting as ever. Overjoyed with the bands achievement and eager to take part in the long celebrations that came afterwards.

In the following years after the Open win, the band had its problems of players moving on, some to the big named bands that Mike was always so very proud of. This created vacancies and the band standard reduced again to the lower sections and in 2004, Mike returned to his baritone chair to help out. After some rebuilding the band started to progress once again, until Mike got his hands on the 2nd Section National trophy for the second time in 2014, another famous photograph was taken at The Cheltenham Racecourse for the records.

Mike was presented with a Diamond Long Service Award for 60 years service to brass banding. It wasn’t long before he was referred to as

‘The Diamond Geezer’… such a well respected man in the banding world.

RIP Jacko… Banding just won’t be the same without you.

It’s amazing how quickly the Regional Championships in Blackpool seem to come along with the intervening year sometimes seeming to flash by from one contest to the next. The second section 2023 test piece was The Pilgrim’s Progress by Rodney Newton, an interesting but quite challenging piece demanding much not only of individual soloists but the band as a whole.

Our initial encounter with the piece was rather confusing, composed as it is of several sub-sections each styled to describe stages along the journey of Christian from the City of Destruction to the Celestial City (Heaven). The key and tempo changes, as well as a liberal supply of accidentals and occasionally tricky flourishes, take a while to get your head around, but as the story unfolds through the music the character of the various sections and the journey as a whole begins to make sense. This journey is, in some ways, analogous to the journey taken by bands when they endeavour to master each year’s test piece going through periods of doubt, uncertainty, struggle and finally salvation as you work your way through hours of rehearsals and individual practice before finally arriving at a level of performance that pays due tribute to the music and the endeavours of the players.

During the presentation of prizes, the judges acknowledged how challenging this particular piece is with many a First and Championship section band likely to struggle with aspects of it. They paid tribute to all the bands attempting to master the piece, albeit with differing levels of success. Important issues such as players breathing together prior to playing a phrase, bands being reasonably faithful to tempo markings but not at the expense of clarity and also attempting to bring out the character of each section were noted.

Listening to a few of the bands it seemed to be the case that most had problems with aspects of the music from time to time, for example, unison entries, some of the solos and also achieving a harmonious balance across the band. However, a couple of the ones who managed to achieve the top spots seemed to minimise the problems while also achieving what might be described as a ‘traditional’ brass band sound – very smooth and blended and also successfully bringing out some of the nuances of the piece in a clear but not over-done way.

Like the other 16 bands in the Second section, we took the journey to the band room on a frequent basis in our attempt to master the piece and also the journey to Blackpool in pursuit of our best performance on the day; sadly, we weren’t successful. Did the band of Marple Pilgrims make progress? Undoubtedly yes, as there was a substantial improvement in our rendering of the piece from our first encounter with it to our delivery at Blackpool but not sufficient to win over the judges, in comparison to several other bands, this time.

It’s true to say that contests are a mixed blessing and not everyone enjoys them, some preferring concerts for example. An important benefit of tackling set contest pieces is the skill development that arises from trying to meet the demands of the music, although it can be a bit demoralising when, after many long hours of practice, the result is not the one you’d prefer. When things don’t go your way, the only thing to do is to keep faith, put the disappointment behind you and continue the journey towards being the best players and the best band that you can be. Don’t worry – it’ll soon be the regionals in 2024 offering another chance to do well.

Article by Malcolm Harper

Some members of staff also joined us for the choral rendition of Rudolph.

On Monday 19th December, three members of The Marple Band took part in the Winter Wonderland event at Firwood High School, Bolton.

Their playing delighted around 200 children with severe learning difficulties but this was not all; the children were treated to a snow machine, hot chocolate and a real dancing snowman while they enjoyed the band playing a selection of Christmas tunes.

Dawn Evans, the headteacher of Firwood thanked the band members for making the event a memorable occasion. She said, “When you played In the Bleak Midwinter, I admit I got goosebumps. There is something about brass band music which resonates with your soul. You could see on their faces how much the students and staff enjoyed themselves, thank you.”.

Article by Susan Hocking

What is more Christmassy than a brass band and Father Christmas? There was no denying this was the real Father Christmas, no fake about him.

The procession was fantastical, watching children’s faces light up, and become very serious and well-behaved on seeing Father Christmas in his float being accompanied by a marching band playing what must be one of everyone’s favourite: Rudolf the Red Nosed Reindeer.

After the procession, the band accompanied and entertained the long list of patient but excited children queuing to see Father Christmas in his grotto. For those walking down Market Street—which had authentically turned into a veritable market street of food and gifts—the atmosphere was created with magic by the carols playing brightly, infusing the air with the upcoming Christmas.

Article by Julie Robinsong