Rode Hall Silver Band had the absolute pleasure of helping two of our own celebrate their big day on Saturday 9th August 2025, when Charlotte and Phoebe were married in a beautiful ceremony surrounded by family, friends, and of course, music.
In true RHSB style, we didn’t just play the traditional wedding favourites — we put together an innovative, upbeat programme designed to keep the wedding party dancing late into the night. The set included a mix of swing, pop, party classics, and modern favourites, showing just how versatile a brass band can be.
A particularly special moment came when Phoebe stepped up to conduct a couple of numbers, to the delight of the guests. Both brides even joined the band for a few items, making the evening’s music extra personal and memorable.
The atmosphere was electric, with a packed dance floor from the first note to the last. It was a truly joyful celebration of love, friendship, and community — and one we’ll all remember for a long time to come.
From all of us at Rode Hall Silver Band: Congratulations Charlotte and Phoebe! We’re so proud to have shared this day with you and wish you both a lifetime of happiness together. ❤️
Rode Hall Silver Band made its annual pilgrimage yesterday to the iconic Whit Friday Marches, taking on the challenge across Saddleworth Moor and Tameside. Known as “the greatest free show on Earth,” this much-loved event once again delivered a fantastic day full of music, community, and celebration.
This year, we marched with “Death or Glory” and chose the ever-popular “Knight Templar” as our contest piece. We performed at ten brilliantly organised contests throughout the day, enjoying favourable weather, enthusiastic crowds, and a brilliant atmosphere wherever we went.
We’re thrilled to report that we took the 2nd place third section band at Stalybridge Celtic, where a particularly special moment saw us spurred on by the presence of the famous Foden’s Band, who gave us a cheer and helped lift the performance even higher.
A huge thank you to all the contest organisers and volunteers, and of course to our players and supporters for their hard work and commitment throughout a long and memorable day and our MD Ken Mackintosh who put a huge amount of effort into getting the band ready to compete this year. Whit Friday remains a highlight of the banding calendar — and we can’t wait to do it all again next year!
There was plenty to celebrate recently as many in the band came together to raise a glass (or two!) to two of our brilliant players; Charlotte, our horn player, and Phoebe, our cornet player, who will be tying the knot this August.
To mark the occasion, we headed to Manchester for a double hen-doo packed with fun and laughter. The day featured a round of Tree Top Golf (with varying levels of skill on display!), delicious food at Mackie Mayors, and a steady tour of some of Manchester’s fine pubs. It was a fantastic way to celebrate two amazing people and share in their excitement ahead of the big day.
Charlotte and Phoebe have both played important roles in the band and it’s been a joy to see their relationship blossom both on and off the stage. We’re all looking forward to the wedding in August and wish them every happiness for the future.
Rode Hall Silver Band is pleased to announce that, after a series of successful rehearsals and a great concert performance, we have appointed Ken Mackintosh as our new Musical Director.
Given the alignment between his vision and the band's aspirations, the band has decided to conclude the application process early and will not be accepting any further applications. The band would like to thank all those who expressed interest in the position.
We are excited to begin this new chapter under Ken’s leadership and look forward to continuing our journey of musical presentation and development.
For more information and updates on our upcoming events, please continue to visit our website.
Rode Hall Silver Band took to the road on Friday 10th June 2022, heading for the fantastic and traditional Whit Friday Marching contests held around Thameside, Oldham and Saddleworth.
Whit Friday meaning White Friday is the name given to the first Friday after Pentecost or Whitsun. The day has a cultural significance in the North West as the day on which the annual Whit Walks are held.
The brass band contest has been held since 1870: and attracts all the big name bands as well as bands from far and wide, young and old.
Each location organises its own contest and it is up to each band to navigate to as many venues as possible. This tests the skills of the coach drivers to their limits as the pressure builds to get to the next one as fast as you can.
When you arrive out jumps a runner to register your entry and then you join the queue to march up the road literally packed with spectators. The band then forms up on a stage, a field a pub car park or wherever the contest is to be held and upon the adjudicators whistle you commence your performance of your chosen piece. When you finish its back onto the bus and off to the next one.
Our first stop was Scouthead. Our musical director and big bass drummer Nigel Butler had chosen True and Trusty to march up to and the tricky and testing ‘Mephistopheles’ by Shipley Douglas as our contest march. It was straight into action and the crowd gave us a warm welcome in the late afternoon sunshine.
Back to the bus and Stephen our fantastic coach driver was ready to whisk us off to Delph, probably one of the favourite locations. The crowd gathers in chairs around a pub forecourt and appear to really know their stuff.
Two down, we scramble back on squeezing onto the coach between drums, basses and trombones. Then as is tradition, we got lost trying to find Dobcross. A few wrong turns, lots of different sat nav opinions and after a few detours, driving back through a bemused crowd at Scouthead we finally arrived at Dobcross. No time to hang around it was straight onto the village green and under the oak tree, surrounded by a great crowd enjoying the warm blustery afternoon sunshine.
RHSB performing at Dobcross
The band were playing well with a great full sound, helped in no small part by the welcome support of some of our friends from the Acceler8 band.
It was now early evening and the crowds had had plenty of time to enjoy the 70 or so bands as they made their way around the contests. They had also had a lot of time to enjoy the beer and wine, as could be seen by the rather leery supporters at Uppermill. We had quite a long wait here, but it gave us time to soak in the carnival atmosphere and look and listen to some other bands and recover our lips ready for the next ones on the list. After a while we played at Uppermill and it was clear that we had done well, you know when its right and it was getting better as the night wore on.
By now it was dark as we made our way to Greenfield, a great venue, under floodlights on an impressive stage. Right in front of us was the Championship band Leyland. Always a bit daunting to follow a top band, but we were not put off and in fact put in our best performance of the night.
Five down, could we get another one in before the events closed down. We managed to sneak into Lydgate as the 2nd to last band to perform there. Brighouse followed us on and closed the night.
We rushed off to see if we could get one more in at Denton. We arrived at 11.15pm only to be told that we had missed final registration but the good news was the bar was still open. A very relieved and tired bunch of players were very thankful to have a celebratory drink after a long hard but thoroughly enjoyable day where everyone had given their very best.
So then the wait for the results to come in:
Rode Hall competes at the 3rd section level so that is who we were in competition with.
We were delighted to hear that we won at Greenfield, we came second at Dobcross and Uppermill and got third at Scouthead. Placed in 4 competitions out of 6 completed, what a night and what a great boost for the band.
