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Carriden Band headed to the 1^st Section National Finals in Harrogate last weekend and came away with an amazing double of 4^th place and Best Instrumentalist.

Having travelled down on the Friday afternoon, the weekend got of to a great start with rehearsal performance that left professional conductor, Steve Sykes, struggling to find any fault and the players with sky high confidence.

Contest day arrived and the band drew to play number 14 which meant a long wait before they finally made it to the warm up room.  The band then took to the stage and under the impressive direction of Steve, played a blistering performance of George Lloyd’s “Diversions on a Bass Theme” which was widely appreciated by the Yorkshire audience.

Live comments by 4barsrest.com stated of Carriden Band’s performance “a possible contender this” and this led them to predict second place.

However, the adjudicator's eventually awarded the band’s hard work with a well deserved 4^th place and Best Instrumentalist in Britain to the band’s Soprano player, Richard Tobin.

All in all a very successful weekend.

White Christmas (and New Year)

Carriden Band’s 2009/2010 festive period was only slightly disrupted by the worst spell of winter weather in years.

First off was the Annual Christmas Concert in Bridgeness Club on the 20^th of December.  Heavy snow eventually meant that 6 players didn’t make it but the show went ahead regardless.  After adding to our ranks by pulling two players out of the audience (thanks to Robert Burns and Ian Stewart) Bede Williams conducted this traditional end of year event (and sang a few missing drum parts) and an appreciative audience enjoyed the whole event.  Thanks must also go to our friends in Iolare for adding to the nights entertainment.

Then the band reconvened on the 2^nd of January for the traditional New Year march round the town.  Bad road conditions dictated that a couple of our usual stops had to be cancelled (apologies to Craigview sheltered housing and The Grange).  For most members of the band it was their first ever experience playing/marching in a blizzard but we made it safely to Bridgeness Club to entertain the crowds.

It was there that the bands player awards were then announced and the winners were:

Player of the year 2009: Hugh Foster

Bandsman of the Year 2009: Scott Cameron

Congratulations to both.

Also, Ian Stewart, on behalf of the Junior Band thanked the Senior band for the help and support throughout the previous year and presented a cheque for £750 from the Junior Band to the Senior Band.

Rehearsals begin again on the 11^th January with David McLeod covering conductor duties while Bede Williams has a well deserved trip back home to New Zealand.

Bo’ness & Carriden Band would like to thank everyone for their support over the last twelve months and wishes everyone a Happy New Year.

Junior Band Annual Concert

On Friday 27^th November the Bo’ness and Carriden Junior Band put on a great performance to the packed crowd at their annual concert in Bridgeness Club.

Under the baton of Douglas (Dougie) Stewart the band commenced their performance with the traditional march “Slaidburn”. This was followed by a very varied programme ranging from Bach to Mamma Mia. Certainly something for everyone in the audience!

Soloists on the night included Calum Middleton - Ballade fur Flugelhorn on flugelhorn,  Jordon Burns -The Post Horn Gallop on the senior bands treasured post horn, Ross McGuinness -The Joker on trombone and David Mclean - Aye Waukin’O on the cornet. All playing very well indeed.

The junior band Achievement Trophy for the player who has made the most progress in the last year voted on by the band players was awarded to a very thrilled Lindsay Hamilton. The trophy was presented by Hugh Grant. Well done Lindsay.

It was very encouraging to have two new players in the junior band this year Caitlin Grozier and Amy Purvis who during the year have moved up from the intermediates group.  This is a great reward for all the hard work by Caitlin and Amy.

The beginners and intermediate groups were not out done on the night thrilling the audience with solos and group performances of music by Robert Burns conducted by strangely enough Robert Burns assisted by David Mclean. Based on this performance there will certainly be no shortage of players looking to move up to the junior band next year.

The beginners and intermediates group Achievement Trophy ( the Hugh Bell Memorial Trophy kindly donated by Val  McKay) was awarded to Lewis Murray. Well done Lewis, what a tremendous sound, Hugh Foster watch out!

The band finished the evening with “When The Saints Go Marching In” which now could be said to be the unofficial anthem of the junior band!

Many thanks to all our guest players for supporting us in this event.

(Ian Stewart)

Centre Stage at Murrayfield

Bo’ness & Carriden Band were at Murrayfield Stadium on Saturday (28.11.09) to play the Argentine National Anthem prior to the International Autumn Test between Scotland and Argentina.

It’s been a few years since the SRU last hired BCB to play at an international match so the band were looking forward to a return to such a big stage and despite freezing conditions they carried out their duties extremely professionally under the direction of resident conductor Bede Williams.