A full list of the rest of our Christmas Engagements is as follows for those of you that want to come and hear a band in the lead up to the festive season.

• Saturday 3rd December 2011
  11:00 – 12:00
  Swinton Carols
  Swinton Precinct, Swinton Precinct,
• Sunday 4th December 2011
  11:00 – 18:00
  Trafford Centre Carols
  Trafford Centre, Manchester
• Wednesday 7th December 2011
  19:30 – 22:00
  St. Paul’s Carol Service and Concert
  St Paul’s Peel Church, Little Hulton
• Saturday 10th December 2011
  10:45 – 11:45
  Eccles Civic Carol Service
  Eccles Cross, Church Street
• Saturday 10th December 2011
  18:00 – 19:00
  Eccles Rugby Club Christmas Party
  Eccles R.F.C, Eccles
• Sunday 11th December 2011
  18:30 – 21:00
  St. Anns Christmas Concert
  St Anne’s C of E Church, Swinton
• Saturday 17th December 2011
  19:30 – 22:00
  Dunham Road Brass and Carols Concert
  Dunham Road Unitarian Chapel, Altrincham
• Sunday 18th December 2011
  10:30 – 12:30
  Monton Carol Service
  Monton Unitarian Church, Monton
• Sunday 18th December 2011
  18:00 – 20:00
  St Lukes Carol Service
  St Lukes RC Church, Irlam o’The Heights

Congratulations to Elland Silver Band who won the contest.

1. Elland Silver (182 points)
2. Trinity Girls (181 points)
3. Lostock Hall (179 points)
4. Eccles Borough (177 points)
5. Pemberton Old Wigan DW B (176 points)
6. Eagley (175 points)
7. Lofthouse (174 points)
8. Hawk Green (173 points)
9. Farnworth & Walkden (172 points)
10. Stalybridge (171 points)

The adjudicator, Robert Childs, awarded the band first place and also awarded the best soloist prize to our Solo Baritone player, Marrianne Garbutt, for her playing of Goff Richards’ “Little Red Bird”.

1. Eccles Borough Band (88 points)
2. West Mercia Police Band (87 points)
3. Cubbington Silver Band (85 points)
4. Arrow Valley Brass (84 points)
5. Newport Borough Brass Band (83 points)
6. Shipston Town Band (82 points)

Our programme was as follows:

• Bombasto – Orion Farrar (arr Dave Timmins)
• Little Red Bird – Traditional (arr Goff Richards)
• Buglers Holiday – Leroy Anderson (arr Roger Barsotti)
• Letter From Home – Pat Metheny (arr Svein Giske)
• The Incredibles Theme – Michael Giacchino (arr Philip Harper)

Here you can see the performance of Buglers Holiday featuring Russell Gray, Debbie Fry and Graham Ebbrell

This Autumn we have had first places in both the Wychavon Entertainments Contest and at Fleetwood Contest.

Wychavon Contest took place at Evesham Working Mens Club and our programme consisted of:

• Mumbo Jumbo (Barry Gott)
• La Melancolie (Ole Bull) – Euphonium Soloist Andy Griffiths
• Ejala (Jan Magne Forde)
• Singing in the Rain (arr Alan Fernie)
• The Incredibles (arr Philip Harper)

At Fleetwood contest we came 1st playing Jan De Haan’s Variations on a Chord.

Band Chairman Alex Hill stated, “Both Mareika and the band have worked really hard over the last few months and it is great to see that this hard work is paying off.”

New Signings

The band are pleased to announce new additions to the band. Andy Griffiths has joined as our new Solo Euphonium player. Ben Seale joins us on Eb Bass and both Debbie Fry and Ross Malloy are new additions to our cornet section.

Playing Percy Fletcher’s ‘Labour & Love’ the band were drawn to play 17th out of 19 bands in the third section, we came 11th overall.

The contest was won by Delph band of the number one draw and we congratulate them. We wish them good luck at the National finals in September along with the other qualifiers, Bolton (Hoover) Band and Cheshire Constabulary Band.

Eccles Borough Band have already started their Christmas Programme for 2009. On Thursday November 12th we took part in the events for the switching on of the Christmas lights in Eccles Town Centre. The lights were swtched on by Ditchy & Salty, the breakfast presenters from Real Radio.

The band were also joined on the night by Monton Voices and there was entertainment and food from the Yemeni Community Association.

We have a full programme this coming festive season. Iif you want to hear the band playing your favourite carols then there is a whole list of our concerts on our Events page.

Pontins Contest

On Saturday October 24th, Eccles Band took part in the 4th section of the annual Pontins Contest. Our performance of Benn Tubb’s “A Bournemouth Suite” was placed 3rd by the adjudicators, Alan Morrison and David Horsefield.

The contest was won by Hazel Grove with the Farnworth and Walkden band taking second place.

What others said about our performance:

4 Bars Rest Retrospective

Eccles in third perhaps just paid the price of trying too hard in places to show that they had the broadest dynamic range of the field.

They did benefit from some lovely individual moments, especially in the euphonium line, but a touch less robustness in the ensemble may have brought more pastel shades of colour to a boldly painted rendition.

New members

The band are happy to welcome a couple of new horn players. Matt Price joins us from Sale Brass and Kirsty McNeil joins us whilst she is studying at University in Manchester. We hope they both enjoy their time with us.

The test piece was a new composition called ‘Alta Vista’ by Bruce Fraser themed around the tallest buildings in North America, The CN Tower, Empire State Building and Sears Tower (now renamed Willis Tower). The band were very happy with their performance off a number 10 draw. Unfortunately, it didn’t find much favour with the judges (David Horsefield & Roy Roe) who awarded the band a 9th place finish.

Our congratulations go to St. Breward Silver who won the contest with Dronfield coming second and Rivington & Adlington finishing third.

What others said about our performance:

4 Bars Rest Live Comments

CN Tower: Well it’s certainly big and bold – and a bit of a bashing in places. It’s as red raw as a Chicago ribeye steak. It certainly made an impact this.

Empire State: Has flow and style if a little untidy. Tarzan calls in horns don’t really summon Jane. It’s confident playing though and has controlled dislocated feel. Just a bit lumpy to close.

Sears Tower: Energetic playing full of vibrancy and purpose. We hear contrasts amid some untidy playing. Fair old finish holds focus.

Overall: Another good one this – went for it in style and volume at times but it was one that caught the imagination.

Star player: Percussion – neat, tidy and unobtrusive. Just how they should be!

Star player: Percussion : neat, tidy and unobtrusive. Just how they should be!”

British Bandsman

“Eccles Band, conducted by Les Webb, closed the first half with a well-presented performance that wasn’t reflected by the result, the band finishing in a disappointing ninth place.”

4 Bars Rest Retrospective

“Eccles can perhaps count themselves unlucky to have ended up in 9th place.”

The band came first in a field of 19 bands at the Winter Gardens in Blackpool on Sunday March 1st. The testpiece was ‘The Talisman for Brass Band’ composed by Frank Hughes.

This means that Eccles Borough Band have been invited to represent the north west region at the National Championships of Great Britain in late September 2009.

The contest proved a good send-off for our Repiano player, Rob Thorpe, who is moving to the North East to further his career. The band wish Rob every success for the future.

The band were drawn last in a field of 18 and put in a fantastic performance of Philip Sparke’s “The Four Noble Truths.”

MD Les Webb stated that he thought the choice of test-piece suited the band and that he hoped that the band would now build on this result ahead of the forthcoming North West Regional Championships on March 1st.

The Eccles Borough Band would like to send Ruth and Les our love and best wishes for a very happy future together.