Kingston House at Kingston near Canterbury was the venue for a surprise birthday treat performed by the band on Sunday the 20th of July 2003.

The Deputy Manager, Garry Duffy, who had told us that the home cares for people with learning disabilities and dementia, had contacted the band and told us that one of the residents was a gentleman called Donald.

Donald would be 60 on the day in question and staff at the home recently realised that he was a fan of brass music and had decided to try and give him a surprise concert. The band was only too pleased to oblige.

The majority of the band was able to turn out and give Donald, his friends and family and the staff at the home a one-hour concert in a lovely garden under the baton of Alan Finnemore, who is more used to playing his cornet. Never the less Alan did an excellent job and helped Donald conduct ‘Happy Birthday’.

Donald’s favourite piece of music turned out to be ‘O Come All Ye Faithful’ which the band was happy to play for him. It’s a bit out of season but it was, after all, Donald’s party.

One by one we picked them all up until we got to Nigel’s house. I gave him a ‘toot’ on the horn….. No reply. Eventually Nigel appeared dressed in a baggy t-shirt and baseball cap (like an extra from the last part of ‘Pulp Fiction’) obviously intending to do something technical with a door resting on a ‘workmate’ on the drive. The look of horror on his face was a real sight and he raised four fingers and was met with a unanimous three fingers from the vans occupants signalling a 3-o’clock start. One hurried transformation later we were on our way.

Mick Sole (Trombone) had an interesting moment when his music stand began to fall over during the performance. Having had to make a split second decision as to whether he should attempt to rescue the stand and it contents on its journey to the ground he grabbed out resulting in his trombone slide coming clean out! I just wish I had it on video.

Mark Ashley (Trombone) swapped his normal instrument for an Eb Bass for the day due to the regular Bass players being on holiday, working, or in Phil Linkin’s case moving house. Thanks go to Mark for a stirling job at very short notice.

Congratulations must go to Peter Bryan who yet again put in another fine performance on Soprano Cornet. Peter has filled in a number of times now and has not disappointed.

Steve Griffiths

This is the second year the event has been staged, raising a much needed £690 towards the Village scout troop funds. A special vote of thanks went to Jane and Colin Hartridge, for the use of their garden to stage the event. Lets hope we can do it again, next year!

Mark Ashley.

Sunday the 8th of June saw the band, under the baton of David Burridge; perform at the Bandstand on Herne Bay’s historic seafront. This bandstand must surely rank amongst the best in the country and was filled to capacity with an enthusiastic crowd enjoying the bright sunshine and the music.

On Saturday the 14th of June the band performed at the eagerly awaited ‘Nonington Brass on the Grass’ and I have to say that the event lived up to my expectations.

The setting for the concert was a fenced, lawned area which forms part of a former dairy site and which is adjacent to a small country church right in the middle of the picturesque village.

The theme for the afternoon and evening was ‘Proms’ and the audience were each issued with a Union Flag as they entered before being ushered through into the main ‘arena’ past the tea and coffee, ‘Jubilee Bar’, barbeque, tombola and raffle. Once inside the arena the audience could see, for the first time, gazebo’s around the perimeter of the area which had been erected the previous night by their owners and which had hundreds of balloons suspended from them like giant bunches of grapes which would be used later on in the evening. Picnic tables and chairs were set up by the audience amid proudly fluttering flags and, down in one corner of the arena, was the band’s area with a wooden framed gazebo as a backdrop. The gazebo had been covered in fabric and it was planned for the band to retreat into it in case of inclement weather. Apparently Cindy Parker had put in the last stitches rather late on the previous night!

First to perform were the Canterbury Rhythmic Gymnastic Group who put on a fine display. Whilst I am confident that I could get into some of the positions these young people did it is likely I would spend a considerable time as a guest of the NHS as a result.

Next to perform were the Deal Air Training Corps Band who, under the direction of their lead drummer Ashley Griffiths gave an excellent 35-minute display despite having a rather smaller band than usual due to other commitments.

At 7.30 pm the Betteshanger band was introduced by Martin Ward, a BBC presenter, who explained to the audience that the Betteshanger Welfare Band was formerly the Betteshanger Colliery Band and Ivor Thomas, our band secretary, was interviewed on microphone where he answered questions about life in the Kent coalfields prior to the closure of the pits and about life in the band during 60 or so years playing with it. Ivor, who is central to the band, has seen many changes over the years and is, to say the least, an interesting person to speak to. He is also a very genuine and decent man and it was nice to see him receive the respect and applauds of a large audience after a lifetime spent in the band and on the coalface.

Alan Langley’s website got a deserved and complementary mention too. The audience was advised to log onto the bands site for details of forthcoming events, which has got to be good advice!

The main concert opened with the National Anthem, before launching into the ‘Liberty Bell’. This was followed by the ‘March from the Karelia Suite’ by Sibelius. As the evening progressed these were followed by ‘Country scene’, which was very apt accompanied as it was by birdsong, ‘Bohemian Rhapsody’, ‘Light As Air’, ‘Cornet Carillon’, ‘Mr Jums’ and to finish the first half the powerful and moving ‘Finlandia’.

Mention must be made of the performances of trombonists Don Peerless and new band-member Mick Sole who stepped in at very short notice to play euphonium, as Paul Slater was unavailable and Fred Thompson is, thankfully, recovering well from his long awaited cataract operation.

A highlight of the evening was Nigel Bogue’s performance of Rodrigo’s ‘En Aranjuez Con Tu Amor’. This is a great piece of music; a superb arrangement for Flugel Horn and Nigel plays it with great style. Nice!!!!

A well earned interval followed this and the band availed themselves of the ‘Jubilee Bar’ and barbeque before David Burridge, the band’s Musical Director, propelled the band into a patriotic ‘Last Night of the Proms’ style second-half featuring the ‘Radetsky March’, ‘Hymn to the fallen’, ‘Jerusalem’, ‘Pomp and Circumstance No1.’ and ‘Fantasia on British Sea Song’s’. David whipped the audience into a patriotic frenzy as they waved their flags, sang along and even got the entire audience involved in Barn Dance style clapping along with the ‘Hornpipe’ portion of ‘Sea Songs’ which, from where I was sitting, looked to be great fun.

The climax of the evening was the ‘1812 Overture’. By now darkness had fallen and lighting, brought in by Dick and the organisers, illuminated the band. At the appropriate times the audience, who had been issued with two balloons each and a cocktail stick, popped the hundreds of balloons to simulate cannon /gunfire whilst lighting effects were flashed on the band and nearby church by the sound and lighting man, Philip Abbott. On the very last note the entire area was plunged into darkness as the last chords drifted away to complete the concert.

The organisers went to a great deal of trouble to stage this event and did a superb job. Our congratulations and thanks go to them all. The intention was to raise money for local charities and to give the spectators a night to remember and I think they succeeded admirably. I for one hope that this proves to be an annual event!

Steve Griffiths.

12 June 2003 - Site Update

Unfortunately I have had to remove the old guestbook due to annoying pop-up adds. The new guestbook can be accessed via the links at the top of each page. I look forward to seeing your new entries and you will notice that you can now upload a picture. What have I let myself in for??

When I get time I will archive the old entries and add them to the new forum, until then you can view the old gustbook entries by taking the link below.

Alan Langley

On Saturday the 31st of May the band played at Trinity Church in Deal under the baton of our assistant Musical Director Trevor Attwood.
The concert was in aid of building work, required by the church to repair its aging roof. As luck would have it the roof obliged by remaining intact for the evening and valuable cash was raised.
The evening was very hot indeed but all, despite the heat, had a good time and the majority of the concert was performed in shirtsleeve order to combat the temperature.
Our regular Flugel player, Nigel Bogue, was otherwise committed and Alan Finemore stepped into the breach to give a fine performance.
Trevor’s selection of music was popular with both the band and the audience and featured ‘The Conqueror’, a rather tricky Euphonium solo that was performed with great aplomb by Paul Slater. This is a piece, which requires a great deal of concentration from the whole band in order to compliment the soloist’s skill.

Assistant MD Trevor Attwood

The ever popular ‘Cornet Carillon was another highlight featuring the Cornet playing skills of Rosie Cullen, Keith Davies, Peter Bryan and Jules Prosser.
On a purely selfish note I was very pleased that we played the Finale from Pineapple Poll. As a lover of Arthur Sullivan’s music it made my evening!
This coming Sunday the 8th of June will see the band at the Central Bandstand at Herne Bay. If you are in the Herne Bay seafront area at around 2.30 pm please drop in, we would be pleased to see you.
Be sure to check out our home page where you can find details of the ‘Nonington Brass on the Grass’ concert. This will be a ‘Last Night of the Proms’ style concert and promises to be an excellent night out for the band and audience alike. Be sure to bring your picnic table and chairs and of course your Union Flag, correct way up please, for a great night out in a beautiful rural setting.

Steve Griffiths