History

History of South Berks Concert Band

The Band was founded in 1976, with the aim of forming a true community band, allowing musicians of all abilities and ages to meet together to improve their playing, both individually and as a band. The band has evolved over the years, but still remains true to this ideal.

Musical Directors

We have had the pleasure of being led by 8 different Directors of Music in the band's 46 year history. The band's founder, Tom Prior, started the band as a youth band to encourage young players to play music. He continued as MD until 1983. He was followed by Vic Sandoe from 1983-1985, Kevin Mayhew from 1985-1989, Paddy Grey from 1989-1993, Jeff Anderson from 1993-2001, Ian Hooper from 2001-2007, and Kemuel Spence from 2007-2008. Paul Speed took over as our current MD in 2008.

Many of our MDs have been serving members of the armed forces, so for some time we also had Assistant Musical Directors to take over when our Musical Director was unavailable. These included Mark Picken from 1997-2002, Martyn Greenway from 2003-4, Gordon Leask from 2004-2007, Pete Bateman during 2007 and Stewart Lewins from 2009-2012.

Rehearsals

In September 2013 the band moved to the village of Mortimer in West Berkshire, as its success in recruiting more members meant it was no longer able to continue in the small hall in the village of Englefield on the estate of Englefield House. Now we have taken on the challenge of introducing our vibrant and fun-loving group of musicians to the very active village community we have adopted as our home for the foreseeable future.

Since 2021 we have been rehearsing in Tadley Community Centre, which initially we moved to as it had a larger space for us to spread out and socially distance during the Covid pandemic. Since then we decided to remain in the hall as the larger volume provides a better acoustic for our band, and space for new members to join us.

Concerts

We usually perform three formal concerts each year in spring, summer and winter, with the occasional extra one in autumn, and over the past few years these have primarily been based in Mortimer, Tadley and Burghfield. Prior to this many of our events were at Kennet Valley Free Church in Calcot in Reading, with some special occasion venues including Leighton Park School and The Abbey School in Reading. From 2015 to 2018 our summer concerts were all picnic-style events performed in a large marquee on Mortimer Fairground. Our regular venues now include St John’s Church in Mortimer, St Mary’s Church in Burghfield, and Tadley Community Centre.

Tours

Over the years, the band has been on several European tours, including 4 in the 1990s and early 2000s. We went to Holland in 1995, Rhineland in 1997, Paris, including Disneyland in 2001, and back to Holland again in 2003. We then had a break of 8 years before our next tour.

In 2011 we celebrated our 35th year as a community band by going on tour to Belgium, where we performed 3 concerts in Diksmuide, Ypres and Ghent.

In May 2013 the band embarked on another European tour, this time to the Black Forest region of Germany, where we performed 3 concerts over 3 days in different venues in Titisee, Wolfach and Schluchsee.

We went back to Belgium again in May 2015, performing outdoor concerts during the afternoons in Bruges, Ostend and Ypres. The highlight for all of the band members was being given the opportunity to be part of the deeply moving Last Post Ceremony at the Menin Gate, where we played Nimrod and the Air from the New Baroque Suite whilst the wreaths were being laid.

Our European tour in 2017 was to the Rhineland area of Germany. We gave concerts in Rüdesheim am Rhein, Linz am Rhein, and Boppard in very hot weather. The group also enjoyed a cruise along the Rhine and cable car rides in Rüdesheim and Koblenz.

At our last tour abroad in May 2019 we stayed in The Netherlands, but visited three countries, going to Germany and Belgium too. We performed in Valkenberg in The Netherlands and at the Three Countries Maze - the point where Germany, Belgium and Netherlands meet. Our final concert should have been in Maastrict, but the weather turned against us for an outdoor performance, so some band members went caving instead!

Our most recent tour took us to Devon in May 2024. This was our first tour since the pandemic & the first time the band has been on tour in the UK. We performed at 3 locations in the area: at Dawlish on Sunday, although we were rained off after only 1 piece; we had a sunny and popular performance at the Transit Shed at Exeter Quayside on Monday afternoon; the final concert, on Tuesday, was in Connaught Gardens in Sidmouth. On the way to Devon we stopped off at Glastonbury for the afternoon, with most of the band taking a trip up to the Tor. In between the concerts we visited Torquay & Exmouth, and then returned home via Weston-super-Mare.

Awards

In November 2012 the band entered the Community Band section of the National Concert Band Festival in Southampton and gained a Gold award for its performance. This goes with a previous gold award in 2010 and silver and bronze awards before that. In 2014 & 15 we decided to challenge ourselves to do something different so held our own “Adjudication Day”, with the chance to perform for an adjudicator and then work on the pieces with him to improve them even more. We were pleased to be told that we had shown good improvement on some of our weaker areas and remained at Gold award standard. In December 2017 we went one better and achieved a top Platinum Award at the London and SE Regional event at the Cardinal Vaughan School in London, with a Gold in the Finals in 2018. In 2023 we received another Gold Award at the Regional event at Wellington College in Crowthorne.

Highlights

2021-2025

In 2021, after missing a year of performances due to Covid, the band was delighted to finally be able to play together again. We started performances in July & August with outdoor events as Alton Town Gardens, Eastrop Park in Basingstoke, Mill Meadows in Henley and then Brighton Bandstand. In October, we were able to perform our first indoor concert "Live Music is Back" at St Mary's Church in Burghfield, with a small audience to comply with continuing Covid restrictions. We were able to offer additional tickets for our Christmas Concert in Burghfield, and bring some much needed festive cheer to everyone attending.

During 2022 we "Travelled the World" at our spring concert in Burghfield, brought the "Magic of the Movies" to Tadley in the summer, returned to St John's Church in Mortimer for "The Mortimer Revel" in the autumn, and returned to St Mary's Church in Burghfield for "Burghfield and Mortimer's Christmas Concert. Our outdoor summer performances were held in Guildford Castle Gardens, Mill Meadows in Henley, Alton Town Gardens, and on Newbury Bandstand, and we returned to Newbury as part of their Christmas Light's Switch-on.

2023 saw us perform our 3 regular concerts in Tadley, Mortimer and Burghfield, and summer bandstand-style events in Bradfield, Henley, Newbury and Eastbourne, and we also took part in the King's Coronation celebrations in Mortimer. This year saw Paul Speed reach 15 years as our Director of Music, and the band took part in our first regional NCBF heat since the pandemic, which took place in Crowthorne, and where we gained a Gold Award.

In 2024 we had had a busy summer with taking us on our first UK tour, travelling to Devon, and performing at 3 locations in and close to our base in Exeter. We also fitted in bandstand & fete performances at Bradfield, Henley, Shaw-cum-Donnington, Newbury and Alton. Our 3 indoor concerts were in Tadley Community Centre in spring, St John's Church in Mortimer for the summer concert, and back in Burghfield at St Mary's Church for our Christmas celebration. Tadley was also the venue for an enjoyable day-long workshop in October, led by Chris I'Anson, Director of Music for the Royal Air Force.

2016-2020

2016 was an important year for the band as we celebrated our 40th Anniversary. We organised a series of events to help us celebrate throughout the year. Our four special concerts were:

• Spring Concert: "Through the Decades", which featured a range of music from the past 40 years
• Summer Concert: “Community Celebrations” was played in the marquee on Mortimer Fairground. Included in the musical selections for the afternoon was the première of "Highdays and Holidays: The Mortimer Revel", written by world-renowned composer, Philip Sparke, which had been commissioned by the band to celebrate our anniversary.
• Autumn Concert: "Our Favourite Music" was performed in St John's Church in Mortimer. It was conducted by Rob Wiffin, the Director of Music at Kneller Hall, and featured music voted for by band members.
• Christmas Concert: Our final concert of the year was "With Friends", and we invited former members of the band and past Musical Directors to join us either in the band or the audience.

Other performances during the year included a patriotic concert in Mortimer to celebrate the Queen's 90th birthday, plus bandstand events in Henley, Wokingham, and at Bradfield Mayfayre. We featured on Radio 3 in August with a recording of With Each Sunset by Richard Saucedo, and ran a “Get Playing” workshop on 10th September, where over 50 budding musicians from the local community had the opportunity to try lots of different instruments.

We started 2017 with our 2nd trip to a recording studio, where the band was also videoed by students from the Videomeister course. Our three main concerts for the year were "Best of British", at Kennet Valley Free Church in Calcot, "Heroes and Villains", in the marquee on Mortimer Fairground, and a Christmas Concert at St John's Church in Mortimer. We supported the charity, Save the Children, throughout the year. Our outdoor events started at Bradfield Mayfayre and then moved to Germany, where we toured in the Rhineland region. At the Mortimer Fun Day in July, we provided instruments for visitors to try out. In December, the band entered the regional heat of the National Concert Band Festival in London, where, after performing a 20 minute programme of Stephenson's Rocket by Nigel Hess, Seal Lullaby by Eric Whitacre, and With Clouds Descending by Philip Sparke, we gained a Platinum award.

In 2018 we returned to the Institute of Sound Recording at The University of Surrey in Guildford for our third time in a recording studio. We then held a workshop day for band members, led by Duncan Stubbs, former Principal Director of Music of the RAF Music Services. In April we took part in the finals of the National Concert Band Festival in Manchester, bringing home a Gold award for our performance. Our three regular concerts included the spring concert "From Burghfield to Broadway" at St Mary's Church in Burghfielda summer concert, "Stage and Screen", in the marquee tent in Mortimer, and our Christmas Concert in St John's Church in Mortimer. We performed at three bandstand/ fete events during the summer: Bradfield Mayfayre, Eastbourne Bandstand, and Henley Bandstand.  We gave adults and children the chance to "have a go" at brass, woodwind and percussion instruments at Mortimer Fun Day. 2018 was also the first time a Director of Music had been with the band for 10 years.

We performed three formal concerts in 2019. The Spring Concert was conducted by guest Musical Director, Peter Cole, in St John's Church in Mortimer, and included a Dixie group, solos on flute and clarinet, and a brass choir. The Summer Concert, "Family Concert Experience", was our first performance at The Link in Tadley Community Centre and included music to appeal to the whole family. Our last concert of the year was Mortimer's Christmas Concert in St John's Church. We performed outdoors at Bradfield Mayfayre, Forbury Gardens in Reading for Armed Forces Day, and Henley Bandstand. At the end of the year a smaller group of band members were joined by other local musicians to play for Mortimer's Christmas carols. The band went on tour in May, visiting the three countries of Germany, Belgium and The Netherlands.

In 2020 rehearsals ceased for the first time in the history of the band due to the Covid pandemic.
We produced a virtual Christmas Concert on YouTube from previous recordings.
 

2011-2015

In 2011 we celebrated our 35th year as a community band with a special 35th anniversary concert at Leighton Park School in Reading with a "summer proms" feel to it. Other formal concerts this year included a spring concert in Kennet Valley Free Church in March, a community concert at Bradfield Primary School in November, and our Christmas concert at St Barnabas Church in Emmer Green, Reading. We also played at Bradfield Mayfayre, local bandstands in Reading and Newbury, and travelled to the seaside to perform on Brighton Bandstand, as well as going on tour to Belgium in May. We finished the year with carols at Englefield Garden Centre.

In 2012 our spring concert was at Kennet Valley Free Church. We exhibited an original Olympic Torch at our Summer concert, in aid of Sport-in-Mind. The Christmas concert included the winner of our Young Composer Competition, with a premiere of the winning piece, "Taking Flight". We also performed at bandstands in Eastbourne, Reading and Newbury, and raised money for Brass for Africa carolling in Reading. We gained a Gold Award at the National Concert Band Festival

2013 saw us do four performances in Kennet Valley Free Church: The Spring charity concert “Around the World in 80 Minutes” was in aid of Brass for Africa. We also did a Summer concert “A Summer Spectacular”, a special Children's concert with percussion workshop, and at our Christmas concert we featured the winning entry to our 2nd Young Composer Competition, "We Remember". We played at bandstands in Newbury's Victoria Park, Basingstoke's Eastrop Park, Reading's Forbury Gardens and Eastbourne Bandstand. We also went on a tour to the Black Forest in Germany.

In 2014 we performed 3 formal concerts at Kennet Valley Free Church in Calcot. The Spring concert “Carnival of the Animals” raised money for Launchpad Reading and The Children's Charity. The Summer concert was music “From Stage and Screen”, and our Christmas concert was called “A Festive Celebration”. We had a stall at the Mortimer Fun Day, talking to people about the instruments of a concert band. We also enjoyed several outdoor performances at Bradfield Mayfare, Victoria Park in Newbury, Reading's Forbury Gardens, Eastrop Park in Basingstoke, the Royal County of Berkshire Show, and Bournemouth. We finished off the year with carols at Sainsbury's in Calcot.

2015 was a year of several “Firsts” for the band:

• First time in a recording studio
• First time members of the audience were invited to sit amongst the band to experience the music from a new perspective
• First time we performed at the Menin Gate whilst on tour in Belgium
• First time we helped members of the community had a go at some instruments at Mortimer Fun Day

There were also regular concerts at Kennet Valley Free Church – Spring Concert “A Woodland Wander”, and the Christmas Concert “A Winter Wonderland”, playing our first full concert in Mortimer in a marquee with “Music for a Family Picnic” at our Summer Concert, plus bandstand-style events at Bradfield Mayfayre, Reading's Forbury Gardens, Henley's Mill Meadows and in Wokingham Town Centre.