It’s been a busy couple of months for the Band and, with Christmas fast approaching, it’s unlikely to get any quieter in the foreseeable future!

Saturday September 19th was the date of the Band’s Annual Concert, held in St Mary’s Church in Menai Bridge and, as always seems to be the case, an occasion to celebrate the achievements of the previous 12 months as well as bidding farewell to members moving on to pastures new. This year we had to say goodbye to our Principal Cornet, Tomos Evans, and also to Catherine Hoyle, our First Baritone.  Tomos has been a member of the Band since 2001 and progressed through the Junior and Intermediate Bands before finding himself in the end chair of the front-row cornets.  He is now off to Cardiff University to study Civil Engineering, so we wish him well in his endeavours and look forward to seeing him again in the holidays!  Catherine has left the Band having come to the end of her studies at Bangor University, where she gained a degree in English, and has now returned to her home in the West Country. It’s always sad when we lose players, but we wish both Tomos and Catherine all the best for the future and hope that they look back with affection on their time in Band Pres Porthaethwy.

As for the concert itself - it went very well, with Chris (our Musical Director) declaring himself extremely happy with the Band’s performance.  We were fortunate to have 2 excellent guest artistes in the form of Wesley Wharton, who charmed and enthralled us all with his wonderful voice, and Swing Low, a tuba quartet made up of 4 members of the Band who showed us that it is possible for the larger instruments in the brass band to be just as melodic as all the others!

Thanks must go to all at Eglws St Mair for their help and support in putting-on the concert, as well as all the usual friends and supporters (you know who you are!!!) for the provision of refreshments, programmes and the raffle.

Just a couple of weeks later members of the Band, along with friends and families, assembled at Ysgol Y Borth for a chance to expend copious amounts of energy at the Tympath Y Band.  Once again the music and ‘calling’ was provided by Nicki Pickering and Defaid Du and a good time was had by all (see the Band’s facebook site for the photos!). A table of food fit for a king was laid on at half time and the evening succeeded in raising money for Band funds.  Thanks to everyone who contributed to the evening for making it such an enjoyable event – I’m sure we’re all looking forward to the next one.

So, as I mentioned earlier, Christmas will soon be upon us, which means the Band will be out and about in the local area entertaining the general public.  Before that, however, there’s the small matter of the North Wales Brass Band Association contest at Mold on November 21st, for which we are hard at work right now with our preparation.  I’ll be back with another update before the end of the year, so do please keep checking back on the web site and facebook for news of the Band.

Brian Mottershead