DOWNSHIRE NEWS
03 June 2008
It is with regret that Downshire announce the departure of
our Musical Director, Paul Hamilton. Paul has recently accepted a teaching post
in the Isle of Man and will be moving to the Island with wife Elaine and
daughters Sophie and Amy in time for the new school term commencing in
September.
The officers and members of Downshire would like to take this
opportunity to thank Paul for all his hard work in helping to achieve our recent
successes and to wish him and his family all the best for the future.
Downshire are therefore seeking a new Musical Director.
Please see our vacancies page for more details.
01 June 2008
Due to the number of
upcoming engagements, Downshire will only be rehearsing on
Monday evenings through the months of June and July.
Thursday rehearsals will resume in August, when we will be
working towards the Land O' Burns contest.
01 June 2008
The band have recently
entered the Land O' Burns Entertainment contest which is due
to take place on 23rd August in Troon, Scotland. This is an
invitation contest, for which there will be only 18
entrants. Downshire will contest in the 3rd Section.
The band entered this contest previously in 2001 when we
were 3rd section runners' up and overall runners' up for
dress and deportment. Hopefully we can better that result
this time round.
For more information on
the Land O' Burns contest, please visit the Dalmellington
Band website by clicking
here
12 April 2008
Downshire achieved
second place at today's Brass Band League Spring Festival in
Glengormley. Despite our best endeavours, playing Peter
Graham's "Shine As The Light", a win was not to be.
Congratulations to our Principal Cornet player David Corry
on winning the inaugural Ross Aiken Memorial Trophy for Best
Soloist. Adjudicator David Horsield described his solo as a
"Champagne Moment" during the day's proceedings.
Congratulations also to the 3rd Carrick Band on their well
deserved win.
02 February 2008
At a recent meeting of
the band committee, a date was set for the band's Annual
General Meeting. It is at this meeting that we elect
officers for the incoming year. We also take the opportunity
to discuss the band's progress over the year gone by and
also to make plans for the year ahead.
02 February 2008
The band has a busy few
weeks ahead.
On 16th February, some of our members, including our Junior
Band, will be heading for the BBL Solos and Quartets contest
in Belfast.
On 23rd February, the band are heading to Fivemiletown to
take part in an Entertainments contest. This contest will be
adjudicated by Alan Fernie who is a well known composer and
arranger in the brass band world.
Once we return, we will be knuckling down to for the BBL
Spring Festival on 12th April where we will be playing an
own-choice test piece.
02 February 2008
Kieron Ferris, one of our Bass players has had enough of the
Norn'Irn weather for a while. He is off to sunnier climes of Toulouse in France
for a couple of years to build planes (or at least to watch someone else
building them) with Bombardier. Kieron's son Patrick is currently an up and
coming star in our junior band.
The band would like to wish Kieron and family all the very best for the future
and we hope to see him back at rehearsals some time in the future.
21 December 2007
Downshire would like to wish all of their friends and
supports a Merry Christmas and a peaceful and prosperous new year.
13 December 2007
Downshire Brass entertained the masses in Malone Presbyterian
Church hall last night. Our concert was a fabulous success and certainly led to
some foot tapping by members of the audience. We would like to thank Victoria
College Junior Choir for their superb performance, it certainly set a festive
note. We would also like to thank all of our friends and supporters for coming
along and also everyone who helped to make the evening possible.
25 November 2007
Downshire members attended the annual NIBA Dinner Dance and
Prize Giving held at Millbrook Lodge Hotel, Ballynahinch on 24th November 2007.
We collected several
awards on the
evening: Second Section Champions, The Jean Savage Memorial Trophy for Best
Cornet Section, The John Beckett Memorial Trophy for Best Bass Section, and The
Herron Memorial Trophy for Winning Conductor. A superb night's craic was had by
all and our thanks go the NIBA for organising a great event. See
here for photos.
17 November 2007
Downshire Brass will be joining with Victoria College Junior
Choir and Downshire Junior Band to present "A Musical Extravaganza" on Wednesday
12th December at 7:45pm. The venue is Paton Halls @ Malone Presbyterian Church,
Lisburn Road, Belfast. Ticket prices are £7 for adults and £5 concession.
Tickets for the event are now available from the following
sources
Our online shop
Matchetts Music, 6 Wellington Place, Belfast
Victoria College
Any band member
For further information, please contact Gary on
07939 98 68 13
8 November 2007
Our Musical Director, Paul Hamilton likes to spend some of
his spare time composing and arranging music for brass bands. He has recently received
one of the highest accolades by having his composition entitled
"Psalm 98" selected as a test piece for the2008 Irish National Band
Championships to be held in Limerick next March. Psalm 98 will be performed by
bands competing in Section 2 Brass. Check out the
IABCB website for further
details.
Congratulations Paul!
7 November 2007
Downshire are set to entertain the masses on Wednesday 12th
December when they perform in concert at the Paton Halls, Malone Presbyterian
Church. Special guests will be the Victoria College Junior Choir and our own
Junior Band. Everyone is encouraged to come along and allow the band and guests
to entertain you with "A Musical Extravaganza". A light supper will be provided
during the interval.
Tickets will be available shortly - watch this space.
13 October 2007
What a day! Downshire travelled to Armagh to compete in the
90th NIBA Championship of Ireland and achieved a hat-trick!
Not only were we crowned second section champions, but we also retained the Jean
Savage Memorial Trophy for Best Cornet section and won the John Beckett Memorial
Trophy for Best Bass section for the first time.
The test piece was Philip Harper's "A Gallimaufry Suite".
Junior Band will be returning after their summer break on
Monday 10th September. If you would like to learn how to play a brass instrument
and are 7 years old or over, please feel free to come down so see what Junior
Band is all about.
20 August 2007
Tenor horn player Oonagh Devlin has recently returned from America having spent
the last 3 months teaching kids fencing (with swords, not barbed wire) at
summer camp.
26 July 2007
And so our numbers continue to climb. Our trombone section
received a welcome addition recently with the arrival of Renate Braunschweig.
Renate is originally from Germany but has spent the last 3 years working in
Dublin where she played with St George's Brass Band. Renate joins Graeme "who's
Russell Brand?" Erskine on Bass Trombone.
28 June 2007
The band would like to welcome our latest recruit Norman
Hamilton to our Baritone section.
Norman is the father of our conductor Paul. He has spent more years in the brass
banding scene than he dares remember. He had retired from banding (or so he
thought) a few years ago but was eventually shown the error of his ways by son
Paul and is now back in the fold.
28 June 2007
The band are pleased to announce the winners of the recent
Fireside Quiz. In 1st Place, Michelle Slane from Belfast, in 2nd Place Dawn
Murphy from Rathcoole and in 3rd place Robin Kirkpatrick from Antrim. We would
like to thank all who participated in the quiz for their continued support.
6 June 2007
The band would like to welcome Ruth Stepehenson to its ranks.
Ruth was born on 5th June 2007 and weighed 8lb 7oz. Proud parents Neil and
Sandra, and sisters Chloe and Megan are suitably delighted although Neil reckons
than he'll have no chance of getting the TV remote now that there are 4 women in
the house. On the plus side however, at least the dinner will always be on the
table when he gets home from work. Ruth cannot yet manage a chromatic scale but
I'm sure we'll soon be finding her a space in the learners' class.
12 May 2007
We are sorry to announce that the miserable weather has
finally got the better of our percussionist Cliff Morton. Cliff and Linda
have recently packed their bags, and a transit van, and headed for the sunnier
climes of Torrevieja in Spain. The band would like to wish them well for the
future. Cliff remains a member of the band, albeit that he can't make 1 or 2 of
the rehearsals. He should hopefully be joining us for the NIBA contest in
October.
26 April 2007
The band would like to announce the appointment of Paul
Hamilton as Musical Director of Downshire Brass. Paul brings many years of
banding experience and expertise and hopefully will aid the band in going from
strength to strength. More details to follow
31st
March 2007
We are proud to announce that Downshire
were Runners-Up in today's Brass Band League Spring Festival 2nd Section.
Only 1 point separated us and the winners Ballyduff Silver Band. Our selection
for the own choice contest piece was Kenneth Downie's Purcell Variations.
Congratulations to Ballyduff on a well deserved win.
28th October 2006
After a hard fought contest, Downshire
managed 2nd place in today's NIBA Championship of Ireland Intermediate Section.
Although disappointed not to achieve first place as we have done on the past two
occasions, we are however proud to have retained the "Jean Savage Memorial Cup
for Best Cornet Section".
Congratulations to 3rd Carrick on a well deserved win.
Rehearsal starts at 7pm. If you are not a
member, and would like to see what Junior Band is all about, why not come along
to a rehearsal at Malone Presbyterian Church on the Lisburn Road, Belfast.
Interested in joining? Click
here
13th May 2006
The band is very proud to offer their congratulations to
Downshire Junior Brass for achieving 2nd Place in the under 15 ensemble section
and to Amy Doherty for achieving 2nd place in the under 15 solos section at this
year's BBL Solos and Quartets Contest.
8th April 2006
Despite our best efforts, Downshire
were pipped at the post at this year's BBL spring festival. Congratulations to
Ballyduff on their well deserved win. (1st Ballyduff 187pts, 2nd Downshire
186pts, 3rd 3rd Carrick 184pts)
16th February 2006
The
draw of completed entries for the Christmas Fireside Quiz took place on Monday
13th February 2006. The winner was Emer Owens.
11th January 2006
Pictures are now
available in our photo album of our recent engagement in the Waterfront Hall, Belfast where we helped the charity Christian Aid celebrate their 60th Birthday.
Click
here to
visit our photo album.
2nd December 2005
Downshire are winners
again. This time at the NIBA Entertainments Contest held in the Queen’s Hall,
Newtownards. The band successfully competed in the 2nd Section and
also obtained the Best March prize for their stunning performance of R.B.Hall’s
Death or Glory.
29th
October 2005
What more can we say…
Downshire have retained the 2nd Section title at 88th
NIBA Championship of Ireland. Not only were we the best band, but we were also
awarded the Jean Savage Memorial Trophy for Best Cornet Section.
For
details of all results please click
here
to visit the NIBA website.
16th September 2005
Many congratulations
go to Mark & Donna Sefton on the birth of Lana and Albert & Anne Shaw
on the birth of Hannah (6lb 10oz).
19th June 2005
Many
congratulations are due to Kathryn Stronge on the birth of Megan, who weighed
in at 6lbs 11oz. We’ll hopefully see Megan in the learners’ class soon.
16th May 2005
That’s
right, Downshire have now made it into the World Rankings! As listed on
4BarsRest, the band are
currently ranked 187th in the world. I am sure that you will agree
that this is no mean feat when you consider how many contesting bands there
are.
6th May 2005
It
would appear that band members have no luck when purchasing reliable television
sets as several have broken down within weeks of each other. This appears to
have led to much of the ‘other’ activity as they have had plenty of spare time.
We now have 3 pregnancies to contend with: Mark Sefton (& Donna), Albert
Shaw (& Anne) and Kathryn Stronge are all expecting. Our congratulations go
out to them all and we hope to see many new members in the beginners’ class
soon.
6th May 2005
The
charity Christian Aid has invited Downshire Brass to play at the prestigious
Waterfront Hall, Belfast for their annual concert in November. More details too
follow…
10th April 2005
What
more can we say…! The band competed at this year’s BBL spring festival AND WON!
We
faced stiff competition from the likes of 3rd Carrick and Ballyduff
but when push came to shove, the best band won on the day. Congratulations also
go to our conductor, Dr Windsor Hylands, on being awarding the Best Conductor’s
trophy. To see the rest of the results click
here.
4th April 2005
After
a long day travelling Belfast to Athlone and back again, the band are pleased
to announce that they were awarded a very respectable 3rd at
yesterday’s Irish National Band Championships. This was a great result for the
band and a great day’s craic was had by all.
12th March 2005
The
band are pleased to confirm that they will be competing at the 40th
IABCB National Band Championships to be held at Athlone Institute of technology
on Sunday 3rd April 2005.
6th
March 2005
Historic
NIBA and BBL contest results are now available on our webpage. Many thanks to
Cliff Morton for the many hours spent compiling this information. Click
here to see the
results.
30th October 2004
The
band are very proud to announce that they managed to secure 1st
place in this years NIBA Championship Contest held that the Ulster Hall, Belfast. They were also awarded the trophy for Best Cornet Section.
For
details of all results please click
here
to visit the NIBA website.
7th August 2004
The
band would like to congratulate Mark Sefton on his marriage to Donna and wish
them many happy years together
4th June 2004
The
band would like to wish the newly married Albert Shaw all the very best for the
future with his missus, Anne (née Thompson)
3rd April 2004
The
band are proud to announce that they were runners-up in the BBL Annual Spring
Festival in Ballygowan. They faced stiff competition in the 2nd
Section where standards are continuously on the rise and were pipped at the
post by only 1 point. The band wish to congratulate St Joseph’s Brass from
Strabane on their win.
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