News
You are never too old to learn - so if you would like to come and have a go contact us at contactfrometownband@gmail.com
FROME TOWN BAND REVIEW OF 2023
Spring is a busy time as we started planning for the year and tried out new pieces for
the band to play - the theme this year was TV & Film music, we had a range of genres....
Police Academy, Lily the Pink, Monsters Inc, My heart will go on, Pirates of the Caribbean
(a firm favourite of the band and supporters alike), James Bond to name a few. March
saw the band put two teams into the Lions Swimathon, "Fish out of Water" and
"Mermoids", mostly made up of our youngsters, family and friends and we were very
grateful for them taking part, they had great fun and managed to raise a huge amount
for the band and Frome Lions cause as well.
We held our very own Coronation Concert at the bandstand in the park, we welcomed
our beginners and intermediates to play, for some of them it was their first ever concert
and they did remarkably well. Dalma from intermediates played a solo of "Morning has
Broken" which was well received as it was very nerve racking playing on her own. The
weather was kind to us for the blessing of the Well at St Johns Church at the end of May,
finished off with our annual treat of ice cream at La Strada. Lions Fete music set in June
was well supported by the public and thankfully a lovely sunny day.
Musical Director Chris Turner has been working in Hayesdown First School this year to provide FREE brass music lessons to pupils in small groups, this has been funded through grants and fundraising. The purpose of this venture is to grow the beginners band and to give back to the community. Some of the main band went in and gave a short assembly to the whole school, we played a few marches and some of the pupils even performed to us what they have learnt.
Frome Festival in July was well attended, and we went 'live' on our FaceBook account: Frome Town Band, they all sounded amazing and some of our beginners from our school programme played to the public, they were nervous but of course they were brilliant.
September we went to Frome Cheese show which was greatly supported as we performed on their music stage in the extreme heat during lunchtime - always a great set. This then followed the event of celebrating 25 Years of the Cheese and Grain in which we got to open the day of festivity, we were proud as punch and very happy to support the Cheese & Grain.
In November, a few of the main band members helped to support Frome Town Council to steward the Drone Show, it was an awesome sight which saw some great light display work which would have taken the Drone company hours to programme. We are looking forward to this again next year. This year, we were honoured to play several hymns to the congregation for the Remembrance Parade whilst they were waiting for the Services, Scouts, Guides to walk down the hill, it is always a very well attended event by Frome Community.
December was a whirlwind of brass music, we started the festive season off with Switching on the Christmas lights, it is always an honour to start the proceedings for Frome community and we saw a bigger crowd this year. We braved the extreme cold to take part in the annual Tree of Remembrance service at Rook Lane Chapel which is put on by Frome Lions. We then visited care homes: Rosetti House, Bellemont Villa and Greenhill Grange followed with carols at Corinth. Busking in Westway precinct and at Asda was fabulously supported by Frome community in which our fundraising this year will go towards providing FREE music lessons for our beginners and intermediate band members.
Our Christmas Concert was a sell out at the Merlin Theatre, the following awards was presented by our Band President Jim Boulter and Deputy Mayor of Frome Andy :
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Natalie Hanna : Best Newcomer
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Alan Sills : Stannard Award
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Katie Jackson : Most Improved Female
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Josh Pulman : Most Improved Male
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Hugh Fowler : Tony Light Award
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Lucy Ide : Musician of the Year
Lastly we busked in the bandstand on New Years Eve for an hour, with classic band
marches and traditional music.
We are continuing to grow the band and always looking for volunteers to help
support the band at events and will welcome any new or experienced player into one
of our three bands. If you would like more information please do get in touch
contactfrometownband@gmail.com . We wish all our members, supporters a very
Happy New Year and all the best for 2024.
FROME TOWN REMEMBRANCE SERVICE
We took part in the towns annual Remembrance parade and service at the Memorial Theatre led by the Royal British Legion. We had the honour of playing several hymns to the community before the parade of service, scouts & Guides arrived. It was a very well attended event and we look forward to playing again next year.
Frome Town Drone Show
Saturday 4th November : What a fantastic night for the community of Frome. In conjunction with Frome Town Council (Rotary, Lions and Inner Wheel ), Celestial Labs Ltd put on an awesome drone show in replacement of fireworks, around 500 drones was used to create a show with aliens, spaceships and even Stonehenge. Over 7,500 people turned up to watch the free event. Frome Town Band, alongside other Frome Charities supported the event by collecting donations which will be given back to the Frome Charities.
Cheese & Grain 25th Birthday
We were privileged to open up the 25th Birthday celebrations for the Cheese & Grain on Sunday 17th September. The band performed several pieces of music with a special rendition of Happy Birthday.
Members of the band Adrian , Chris, Kirstie & Alan Photo from Frome Times
Frome Cheese Show
Saturday 9th September
We were invited to play on the music stage at the annual cheese show at West Woodlands showground. It was a very hot occasion, we performed a range of music from traditional brass marches from Barnard Castle to Sussex by the sea and some from our TV/film theme tune set: Police Academy - Monsters Inc. With a frim favourite The floral dance.
Frome Festival
Sunday 16th July
We held our annual event at the Frome Festival in the Bandstand, Victoria Park. This was the first performance for some of our band members where we showcased our Beginner and intermediate bands.
Main Band set one:
1. The Flintstones
2. John Williams
3. Monsters inc.
4. My heart will go on
5. Disney on Parade
6. James Bond
Beginner band:
1. When The Saints
2. Twinkle Twinkle
3. Au Clair de la Lune
4. German Tune
5. Ode to Joy
Intermediate Band:
1. Strollin'
2. Amazing Grace
3. Portsmouth
4. Johnny Todd
Main Band set two:
1. The Muppets
2. The Police Academy
3. Memory
4. The Lion King
5. Pirates of the Caribbean
6. Ghostbusters
Frome Town Band perform at Hayesdown School
Monday 12th June
As our schools programme "Brass music for all" is underway - we are currently at Hayesdown giving free taster sessions of brass music to pupils (we receive funding from local and national grants). Musical Director Chris Turner is working in small groups of 6, teaching them how to read and play brass a instrument.
Some main band members went along to their assembly to play to them, pupils could answer Chris's questions and even one of the pupils conducted the main band and did quite a good job, Watch out Chris !
Musical Conductor : Chris
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1st Cornet: Alan
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Flugel: Kirstie
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2nd Cornets: June & Dalma
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Euphonium: Adrian
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Bass Trombone: Shaun
Lions Fair, Victoria Park Saturday 10th June
Main band were invited to play in the afternoon at the Lion's Fair. It was a very sunny day and we played a set from our Tv & Film theme tunes, alongside some of our traditional brass band marches. It was Hugh's first performance as the main band drummer, amazing job he did too.
Kings Coronation Concert
Sunday 7th May
Frome Town Band were delighted to hold another celebration concert in Victoria park, playing in the bandstand is a great experience especially as some of our members have never performed in public before.
Dalma performed a solo of "Morning is broken" in the Intermediate band. The weather was super, we had fabulous donations for our cake and tombola store and we had a very good crowd of support. Thank you to everyone who came to support us.
Wells Dressing, St John's Church, Frome
Saturday May 27th
Frome Town Band supported St John's Church for their annual Wells Dressing, it was a lovely sunny morning. The display below was made by pupils at St Johns First School. We then went and had an ice cream at la Strada as a little treat.
Frome Town Band AGM
Wednesday 17th May
Frome Town Band held their Annual General Meeting, we were delighted to hear the beginners and intermediates play us a short repertoire of what they are currently playing:
We had the finance report, Report from Musical Director Chris Turner and the the Chairmans Report from Kirstie Jones.
Kirstie presented the band with a cheque of £600 from the bands 100 club, which is going towards the school brass programme.
All nominations were received and seconded by members of the band:
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Chair: Kirstie Jones
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Treasurer: June Walsham and Adrian Parnham (To start off as joint leads but with Adrian to take over during the year)
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Secretary: June Walsham
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Committee Members: Dalma Luttrell, Alan Sills, Chris Talman
FROME Lions sponsored Swim, Sunday 19th March
Frome Town Band entered two teams into the Frome Lions sponsored swim event, "Fish out of Water" and "Mermoids". They have raised a huge sum of money , thank you to everyone who took part.
FROME TOWN BAND SOCIAL SKITTLES
Friday 27th January
All members were invited to our New Year
social event, playing skittles in two teams of
Sharps & Flats, mixed up from family members
it was a very tight game. Flats won 5 but
Sharps nailed the last game. An enjoyable
evening had by all at Frome Rugby Club.
Band member Polly was under the watchful
eye of Band President Jim
