On Saturday 1st July the band made an enthusiastic return trip to Hénin-Beaumont in the Pas de Calais for the second ever ‘Les Rutilants’ music festival and as last years event, as can be seen elsewhere on the site, had been a great success we had every confidence that this year would be the same.

Our new MD Helen Tesh was unavailable due to work commitments and special thanks must go to ex MD David Burridge who made a temporary return to lead the band with a varied and exciting programme, which was enjoyed, by both the audience and the players alike.

Some of the band had decided to wear their England shirts in a show of support for the England World Cup squad and I had been invited to take part. As it turned out I decided against it as the most recent England shirt I have, which still fits, is from Euro 96. In fact I think I might still have one from the last world cup but the last time I tried to wear it was so tight it was like putting on a wetsuit so I didn’t bother.

The journey was uneventful thanks to our coach driver Ray who was particularly adept at manoeuvring the ridiculously long coach and its trailer into the most difficult places and we duly arrived at the Hotel Relax which had been very kindly provided, free of charge, to the band by the event organisers.

Arrangements were made to put our suitcases into our rooms and quickly get changed as the itinerary showed us to have a rehearsal with a French wind band in the afternoon as well as concerts so everyone dashed off to their rooms.

I got changed and came out to find Michael Owen and Frank Lampard, sorry Nigel Bogue and Ian Thomas, hanging about in the hallway still in their England shirts. It turned out that they had got to their room only to find that it was already occupied, by ants and the staff were in the process of exterminating them. The ants that is, not Nigel and Ian.

This year the concerts were all held at the former colliery site, which had been significantly developed. The buildings showed a dramatic improvement and it was clear that much money and effort had been expended to make these impressive buildings into a venue fit to serve future generations.

Each of the sites currently being re-developed will be themed and the theme of this one is of course ‘music’ and it was good to play at the site which has brought this whole event into being.

Saturday was a very special night for the band and the band president Ivor Thomas and his French counterpart signed documents twinning Betteshanger band with the Brass Band Atout vent who, under the direction of their Musical Directors William Houssoy and David Burridge combined to play two marches to celebrate the event. Both bands exchanged banners and we all hope that this will be the start of a long and happy association between the two bands.

The band had been joined for the trip by a number of guest players who were needed to replace players who were on holiday or otherwise committed and the band was particularly pleased to see Paul Slater again. Paul used to play Euphonium with the band until his move to the West Country a few years ago.

This was a successful and fun weekend for the band and thanks must go to those committee members who organised the trip and of course to the French organisers especially Gilles Briand and Valery Desmarets.

Steve Griffiths

(More pictures can bee seen in the photo gallery - take the link at the top of the page)

On Saturday the 20th of May the band travelled a little further than we normally do to play a concert at Hoo Church which is near Medway.

The band had been contacted by Stuart Coombes who had explained that the event was a fundraiser to do much needed repairs to the church which, as it turned out, was a fine building and well worth maintaining and was an excellent venue in which to perform. The concert was to be a themed 40’s night.

The regular ‘roadie’ crew turned up at the bandroom at 5pm and, as is customary, one of our percussionists, Ian Thomas turned up shortly afterwards with a large blue van into which went enough percussion to equip an entire Brazilian street band and we were off into the unseasonably high winds battering the A2 at that time.

We arrived first in the ‘Mystery Machine’ and I went for a recce of the venue before the others arrived. Recce turned out to be the right choice of words for, on approaching the church door, I noticed a sign announcing ‘Air Raid Shelter’.

Once inside the church it was apparent that the organisers had gone to a lot of trouble and the entrance had been decked out in camouflage netting and the decoration had a real wartime feel which was helped by the ‘Andrews Sisters’ going for it somewhere in the background (probably a CD and not the actual ones you understand).

It was clear from the outset that this was going to be a good concert and the organisers could not have been more helpful and had prepared very well. The church was filled to capacity with a very friendly and receptive audience some of whom wore period costume and military uniform, which greatly added to the event.

At the appointed hour an air raid siren wailed and the Air Raid Warden entered to tell us to put out the lights and we were off under the baton of our new Musical Director Helen Tesh.

The first half went well with some fine performances, which seemed to be popular with the audience and I certainly enjoyed playing them to a packed house. It makes such a difference to a band to play music to people who are attentive and of course the bigger the audience the better and there were no complaints here on either score.

During the interval the ‘NAFFI’ served some excellent sandwiches and tea or coffee whilst the audience and some of the band sang wartime songs. Great fun!

The second half consisted of songs from the 40’s, as far as the band library would permit, and there is no doubt that the highlight of the evening were the Glen Miller numbers. These literally had the audience dancing in the aisles.

Following the concert I asked one of the volunteers manning the NAFFI if I could have one of the left over cakes and she provided me with a bagful of cakes for the journey home which was very sweet of her and if she is looking for a surrogate son I can be contacted via this web site.

The NAFFI Choir

All in all we thoroughly enjoyed taking part in this event and felt appreciated and have been invited to take part again next year. I think we will all look forward to it.

Steve Griffiths

My late father-in law often used to moan that our band should be called ‘The Betteshanger Colliery Band’. Coming from a mining family, both in Yorkshire and at Betteshanger, he felt very strongly that the name was important so that the bands origins would be clear to all and so that the generations of former miners we represent would never be forgotten. I agreed with him but used to explain that since the pit had closed we could not use the original name as it was no longer producing coal and there was, is, no colliery. The argument always seemed a bit on the weak side to me too but that was the explanation I had been given and, as the pit buildings had all been swept away by the broom of ‘progress’ leaving no trace of their existence it seemed a little academic.

Anyone who travels along the Deal to Sandwich Road cannot fail to have noticed the changes which are taking place along both sides of the road at the former colliery site as part of the work being carried out by The South East England Development Agency (SEEDA), in conjunction with English Partnerships who are responsible for the regeneration of the former Kent coalfield sites, and I for one did not know that similar plans were afoot in France in an effort to regenerate the French former coalfield sites.

On Saturday 12th November the band travelled to the Pas de Calais via P&O ferries on a luxury Buzzlines coach arriving in the mid afternoon. Mark Ashley (trombone) and his wife Lisa had formed and advanced guard travelling by car to purchase their duty frees for Christmas and telephoned the coach to say that the sleeping arrangements were a series of dormitories and suggested ‘boys’ and girls’ in separate rooms. A number of couples were on the bus including four guest players who are friends of Andrew Moody Our guest players were John Mudway (Solo Horn), Alison Mudway (Second Cornet), Barry Pope (Repiano Cornet) and Sue Pope (Euphonium) and Karen and I wondered what they, and the other band couples would make of the accommodation when they arrived.

The accommodation turned out to be at the sports college in Hénin-Beaumont and it just goes to show how adaptable people are as the majority of players settled in straight away and made themselves right at home despite the facilities being quite basic.

We were then taken to dinner at a local restaurant where the band was wined and dined and, with the exception of Eb Bass player Ian Yardley, who would have preferred some ‘poisson et frites’, we tucked into mussels, steak and chocolate leigois galore…….. Mmmmmm.

A short bus-ride back to the accommodation saw a determined effort by the ‘back seat gang’ to demolish Mark Ashley’s duty frees whilst the more sensitive types, including myself ‘hit the sack’ Quite literally as it turned out as the bedding was supplied sleeping bags. All very well if yours fits but I understand that certain players had short sleeping bags and had to do a bit of jiggery pokery with towels and fleeces over their feet in order to remain covered.

At 6:00am Solo Cornet Nigel Bogue and Soprano player Tim Vinall arrived at the college having been involved in a show the previous night and having travelled through the night to get to Hénin-Beaumont. Throughout the journey they had kept BBb bass player Phil Linkin informed of their progress across the Channel and through France, much to Phil’s disgust and to the detriment of his own sleep.

Our band’s performance went well and was well received being a mixture of well known English and French pieces before finishing with ‘Summon the Heroes’ which was written for the 100th Anniversary Celebration of the Modern Olympic Games by John Williams and was transcribed for Brass Band by Phillip Sparke.

This was a great weekend and the band was very pleased to have been asked to take part. The organisers could not have made us more welcome and it was wonderful to have been involved at the beginning of this event which I am confident will grow into a popular annual festival.

Test Piece:
1. Betteshanger Welfare, David Burridge, 192
2. City of Cambridge Brass, Craig Patterson, 189
3. Hatfields of Colchester, Marc Easener, 188
4. Fairlop Brass, Kevin Jordan, 187
5. Egham, Gareth Green, 186

Best Instrumentalist: Flugel (City of Cambridge)
Best Euphonium: Betteshanger Welfare
Best Bass Section: City of Cambridge
Conductors Prize: David Burridge, Betteshanger Welfare

Hymn Tune:
1. Betteshanger Welfare Brass (David Burridge) 190

Steve Griffiths

Stevenage Contest 2005

Mouse over the image for the reveal!!

Festive Jumper competition 2004

Closed adjudication for this years contest.

First prize went to Mr and Mrs Christmas, Ever smiling Karen and Eric Morecambe. The advent calendar provied the theme for their co-ordinated entry.

In second place awarded to 'Our John' - (originally from Huddersfield) in a fetching yellow sleaveless number with tree dec trim.

And the group picture that you have all been waiting for...

Thanks to Sarah and Tim for facilitating the competition and taking the pictures.

Dover Town Hall 12 Dec 2004

Ivor's Birthday

Ivor Thomas celebrates his 80th birthday in style. Dave Burridge can't wait to pass the flaming inferno back to ever smiling secretary Karen Griffiths