The third concert of 2021 for Chippenham Town Band involved a fair journey to a beautiful Plaza at the Centre Parcs near Longleat. For the occasion we focused on military style music including various marches as well as some swing classics. There was the traditional pause at 11 with the Last Post resonating throughout the Dome (see photo).

We also played a “Marching Through The Movies” medley which surprised the audience when we started with whistling part of the Colonel Bogey March. Thankfully the rest of the piece involves our more traditional wind instruments!

The mix of solemn music such as “Nimrod” (from Enigma Variations) and the “Theme from Schindler’s List”, with striking tunes including “The Dam Busters”, “Thunderbirds” and “Those Magnificent Men In Their Flying Machines” seemed perfect for the morning and the audience seemed to appreciate the live music.

We are hoping to return to this location on Christmas Eve for festive carols!

Our second concert of 2021 and the honour of closing the bandstand season at John Coles Park, Chippenham. It was wonderful to see so many people in the park (including friends and family of band members); we even had a few requests we were able to play!

For such a brilliant day we bizarrely ended up playing a lot of songs that include the letter “B”: Barnard Castle, Birth of the Blues, Beach Boys (medley), Abba (medley), Basin Street Blues and Embraceable You!

We played a variety of music; around 20 pieces in total consisting of a march, various songs, theme tunes, a hymn and we ended with the national anthem. My personal favourite of the bunch was “Those Magnificent Men In Their Flying Machines” although it was a delight to have a few pieces that included solos showcasing the different instruments: trombone (Basin Street Blues), alto saxophone (Embraceable You) and clarinet (My Way).

Hopefully we will return to the bandstand in May 2022!

Our final music played in 2019 (22nd December); a 2 hour set towards the exit at Morrisons where we performed festive tunes as well as more traditional carols.

Christmas hats (and antlers) were worn in the spirit of the season and many shoppers stopped by on their way out of the store.

Donations were collected in separate tubs for the Wiltshire Air Ambulance (https://www.wiltshireairambulance.co.uk/ ) and also for Chippenham Town Band (to help fund our rehearsals).

We played a 2 hour set at Morrisons near the exit (our band was too big to fit in the foyer!) Many a shopper enjoyed the tunes which ranged from music such as Jingle Bells and I Saw Mommy Kissing Santa Claus, to traditional carols (Away In A Manger, God Rest Ye Merry Gentlemen, O Come All Ye Faithful to name but a few). We only just reached the end of the carol book and were able to repeat a few of our favourites.

Donations were collected for our charity; this carol set was supporting BLISS: for babies born premature or sick (https://www.bliss.org.uk/).

Some of the band even wore festive jumpers or Christmas hats to mark the occasion and all were in festive spirit. If you missed us, please pop by on Sunday 22nd December when we will be playing in the afternoon.

A brilliant last of the summer concert season at John Coles Park, Chippenham; the sun shone as if it was the height of summer! There was a brilliant turn out of visitors to the park and the bandstand itself was filled nearly to bursting.

We played a variety of tunes, concentrating on the more well known big band and theme music – definitely putting our newest members through their paces as there were a few pieces they hadn’t rehearsed yet! Everyone played really well – more than deserving of ice-cream in the interval.

Hopefully when we start the summer season next year in May we will have some new songs in our repertoire. (We use the winter season to practice new tunes as well as maintaining the old ones).

What an incredibly hot day! We played two sets in the school yard under an unrelenting sun; thankfully the applause from the audience was a worthy reward for our trials. Many a fetching hat was worn, much sun cream applied and lots of water was drunk. Ice lollies were enjoyed in the interval too.

The fair was exceptionally popular and other local events caused quite some traffic build-up which meant that I and a few others were slightly delayed – thankfully this didn’t cause any disruption to the music.

We played a mix of music from Basin Street, Locomotion and Take the “A” Train to medleys including Disco Lives, Beach Boys and Ellington. Even our very worn copies of the Teddy Bear’s Picnic saw play (such a delightful tune). Tequila was another fun one played. We finished with We Will Meet Again; there were quite a few friendly faces in the audience – hopefully some of those we’ll see at our next event, John Coles Park on 15th September.

It was our first time to play in the Swindon Town Gardens bandstand; quite a stunning park (particularly the rose garden). Unfortunately there was a slight mix-up which meant the bandstand was double-booked so we were only able to play for the second half of the time.

We took shelter from the rain as we waited to be able to play, listening to the latin style music.

The other group were very helpful in packing up quickly for the changeover. We got through as many pieces as we could in our 45 minute set, all of us keen to play what we’ve been rehearsing.

The weather eventually cleared up and there were quite a few visitors to the park who listened to both bands. Definitely weather for a cup of tea instead of ice-cream despite it being August!

A delightful summer concert in the park, with lots of visitors listening to our tunes.