Show goes on...
With two players taken ill, last minute changes to the cornet section enabled the concert to go ahead at Blidworth Miners Welfare on Thursday 5th July.
Assistant Principal Cornet, Stephen Bennett moved on to Soprano Cornet and audience member (and former Assistant Principal Cornet), Colum O'Shea kindly stepped in to take the bumper up chair. Third cornet player, Christine Woodcock had also taken ill earlier in the day leaving guest player Pete Tombs to cover Third Cornet.
The band opened the programme with Toccata in D Minor arranged by former conductor of the band, Ray Farr before then playing The Miner's Hymn, Gresford. Blidworth then performed their programme based on the theme of Fire which will e featured on Sunday 8th July as the band perform at the Shirebrook Entertainment Contest, opening with Celtic Fire, paying tribute also to composer, Darrol Barry. Sara Baldwin, the band's Flugel Horn player then performed the beautiful slow melody from The Torchbearer entitled Follow the Flame before the band quickened the tempo once again with Peter Graham's With Fire and Sword.
Tom Davoran's work, Embers then took the penultimate piece in the first half of the concert before the band returned to Ray Farr for his excellent arrangement of Stravinsky's The Firebird Suite.
Opening the second half in a very warm venue was Philip Harper's arrangement of Climb Every Mountain from the sound of music before Stephen Bennett then stood to perform Live and Let Die, a solo he hadn't played before the evening on an instrument he had never played before. After an excellent rendition and cheers from band and audience, the band then slowed the tempo down with I'll Walk With God.
Swearingen's Valero followed before introducing the band's Principal Cornet player, John McMurran to perform Share My Yoke. The band then performed Denzil Stephen's arrangement of Myfanwy before concluding the concert with John Miles' Music.
Blidworth will be back at the Welfare for their Autumn Concert on Thursday 20th September at 8.15pm.