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Congleton Rotary Last Night of the Proms 17th September 2022

Rode Hall Silver Band were delighted once again to be invited to play the Congleton Rotary Last Night of the Proms Concert on Saturday 17th September. The excellent Sarah Anne Francis also performed some great solo numbers and also accompanied us for Land of Hope and Glory, Rule Brittania and God Save the King.

The planned programme was preceded by a tribute to Queen Elizabeth II, led by Steve Hodgkinson, followed by the band, Sarah Francis and the audience joining together in a rendition of 'God Save the King'.

We'd like to thank John Gauld Photography for sharing these great images of the evening. https://www.johngauldphotography.co.uk/

Quiz Night & Raffle – Joint fundraising event in aid of Caudwell Children and RHSB

On Saturday 31st August 2019 the band will be holding a Quiz Night and Raffle at St. Mary's Parish Centre in Congleton. Proceeds from the event will be split between the band, to help cover costs associated with competing at this year's National Finals, and the Caudwell Children Charity.

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Caudwell Children transforms the lives of disabled children across the UK. This amazing organisation acts as a safety net for families who are unable to gain the help they need.

Event organiser and band percussionist, Katharine Slater is seeking donations of raffle prizes. Anyone with prizes to donate can contact bandmanager@rodehallband.org.uk

The Band would like to thank the following organisations who have already supported our event with raffle prizes:

RHSB win 1st Prize at Buxton

Rode Hall Silver Band took part in the NWABBA Buxton Brass Band Festival on the 28th April 2019.   The event was an own choice test piece contest and was held in the newly refurbished Octagon Theatre which provided a fantastic acoustic for the event. The order of play for the bands had been pre-drawn and Rode Hall Silver opened proceedings at 10:30am by playing the National Anthem as is traditional at all brass band contests in the UK. The band then went on to play it's chosen test piece for the 4th Section, 'Music for a Festival' by Philip Sparke. Competition from the other bands was strong and adjudicator Mike Kilroy commented on the quality and ambition of all the performances. The band were delighted to be placed 1st overall and also won the prize for the highest placed NWABBA band.

Rode Hall Silver Band reach National Finals and acheive promotion to Third Section

Rode Hall Silver Band marked a significant milestone in its 182 year history this weekend at the North West Area Regional Brass Band Contest in Blackpool. The band travelled to the Winter Gardens confident that the hours of preparation under conductor Nigel Butler would secure the result required to push the band into the third section.

12 bands in total performed Ray Steadman-Allen's 'Stantonbury Festival' with Rode Hall being awarded second place by adjudicators Jim Davies and Andrew Warriner who also commented that the band had produced 'A really fine show'.

For the first time ever, the band will promoted into the third section and the second place prize also secures an invitation to the National Finals to be held at Cheltenham Racecourse on the 14th September 2019.

The committee would sincerely like to thank our conductor, Nigel Butler and all the players for the hard work and committment over recent months that has enabled such great progress.

Wychavon Festival of Brass 2018

The band returned to the De Montfort School on the 3rd of November after 4th Section success last year. This year the band entered both the 3rd and 4th section competitions and our results are as follows:

4th Section

Second Prize

Best Entertainment Prize

Best Soloist: Mark Leigh - Trombone

Adjudicator: Nicholas Garman

3rd Section

Third Prize

Best Soloist: Mark Leigh - Trombone

Adjudicator: Ian Porthouse

 

Double fourth section success for Rode Hall Silver Band at Whit Friday 2018

The band traveled to Saddleworth once again this year to take part in the Whit Friday contests on the 25th May. Heavy Bank Holiday traffic coupled with extensive roadworks meant that the journey took a little longer than usual. However, the band arrived for their first contest at Scouthead at just before 5pm. The weather was wet and windy and the players thought that the first performance went well considering the conditions. So well in fact that the band achieved the top placing for a fourth section band!

Moving on from Scouthead, the band then played at Delph and Dobcross, putting in solid performances under steady rainfall. On leaving Dobcross to head to the next contest at Uppermill, band members at the rear of the coach noticed the smell of smoke. The driver pulled over (conveniently outside The Commercial pub) as he entered Uppermill. It was fairly clear on inspection that this was the final stop that this particular coach would be making! Fortunately, the band were well within walking distance of the contest at Uppermill and so were able to register and compete in what could have been, and turned out to be, the last contest. As such, the band focused hard and made its last performance count, resulting in another top fourth section placing.

Although players had fingers crossed that a replacement bus would arrive in time to make another contest or two, it wasn't to be, and the band enjoyed the opportunity to socialise, take refreshments and absorb the... rather lively... Uppermill atmosphere!

Even though the day's playing was curtailed, the band are delighted with the performances and results achieved and would like to thank MD Nigel Butler for all the hard work preparing the band for this year's event. 

Photographs from the night can be found in our Gallery.

North West Area Preview Evening 2018

Rode Hall Silver Band are pleased to once again be appearing at the 2018 MMU Brass United preview evening, hosted by the TCTC Group Band. We encourage our local supporters to come along and hear our test piece, World Tour by Rodney Newton, as well as performances of test pieces from each of the other sections.

The event starts at 7:00pm on 17th February at the MMU Crewe Campus.

Admission is free.