About Pennine Brass
Pennine Brass was formed
in March 1999 by John Lockwood (Chair), Bruce Jones (Secretary), Mike Pearson
(Treasurer), Paul Fligg (Musical Director), Martin Leech, Ken Booth, Ruth
Milnes, Sue Jones and Karen Jazwinski. These founder members were quickly
joined by a number of close banding colleagues, resulting in the band's first
performance on the 8th of May 1999 at a housewarming party in Halifax, followed
by it's first competition at the Slaithwaite March contest on the 23rd of
May 1999.
The band went on to perform 32 times in its first year, culminating in being crowned
Northern Open Champions (Section B) in November 1999. The latest band
resume is online to view.
Pennine Brass rehearses at it's base in the Sellers Engineering buildings ,Chapel Hill
, Huddersfield, West
Yorkshire.
The band's objectives are:
To develop the musicians within the band by:
Based in Huddersfield the band was formed from a position of zero assets, however, difficulties such as instruments, rehearsal venues, players, music and uniforms to name a few were surmounted by a mixture of player generosity, a determined and dedicated Management Team, dynamic musical direction and unrivalled player commitment.
The band's first uniforms were actually purchased by the players at the time and immediately donated to the band. Despite their humble financial status the band donates a substantial percentage of its Christmas collections to selected charities each year.
Following the loss of their first Musical Director
,Paul Fligg, in August 1999 due to work commitments the band were delighted
to appoint Ian Porthouse (ex-principal cornet with YBS, Black Dyke, Desford,
BNFL and Tredegar) as his replacement.
This gave the band a fresh impetus and helped greatly in the recruitment of the few missing players required
to complete the team.
Given a 2nd Section grading in early 1999 by the Yorkshire Area Contest Committee the band went from strength to strength and eight months after formation tasted it's first contest success at the renowned 'Northern Open'. This was despite having to borrow all the required percussion equipment from another local band and one of the Bass players announcing at the pre-contest rehearsal that, his already less than adequate, instrument was falling to pieces.
This initial success was consolidated in 2000 by a 3rd placing at the Rochdale Contest, victory at the Yorkshire Area qualifying competition, a number of top 10 positions and several Best 2nd Section Band prizes at the Whit Friday marches, 2nd place at the inaugural Brighouse March competition and other notable results in local hymn tune and march competitions. The band rounded off a memorable first 18 months with a deserved 2nd place in the Millennium 2nd Section National Finals at the Royal Albert Hall in October 2000.
The band attained Section 1 status from January 2001 and has gained further promotion, to compete Nationally within the Championship Section from 2002.
Other important pages about the band