Thank you to Vallum Farm for inviting us back to play at their Xmas Market. Sadly not enough room to squeeze the band into the main marquee, but here we are all nice and warm next to the kitchens.

We kicked of our annual Xmas fundraising tour of car parks various today with a lovely set at Newcastle central Station.This being remembrance day at 11 o’clock our lead Trumpet Andrew Guerin played the ‘Last Post’ before the station observed two minutes of silence to remember all those who have died in conflict. We will remember them.Prudhoe Community Bands very own Maria Carey look-alike Joe with his haunting rendition of’All I want for Christmas’ Many thanks for Newcastle Central Station for inviting us to play again and special thanks to C.G Hudsons for providing welcome drinks to warm the band up during the interval.

In October we had a brilliant night with our friends Prudhoe Community Choir to celebrate the last night of the (Prudhoe) Proms.  This flag draping over the conductors stand saw action at Dunkirk, kindly brought along by our lead trumpeter Caroline. Prudhoe Methodist Church Hall looking splendid as an alternative to the Albert HallLand of Hope and GloryThe event was enjoyed by a very enthusiastic audience, many thanks to everyone who contributed to the success of the evening.

We were saddened to learn of the sad loss of our dear friend and talented percussionist Mark Bolderson who died in August.Mark was often involved with the band covering for our regular drummer Jack Ruddick and brought in for special percussion duties.

The Cobbles Prudhoe, on a cold and blustery day, nothing new there!

Mr ‘Spike’ Bolderson himself with the band performing ‘A Salute to Spike Jones’ in 2014

Mark is missed by us all.  In his memory his family have set up the’Mark Jon Bolderson Percussion Foundation’ which aims to encourage and support young percussionists in the region.

A tad windy but sunny. The band were bombarded by flying footballs for the duration of the Gig till we pinched the ball that is.

Here we see MD Mr Hignett trying out a Baritone Saxophone.As a brass player he is obviously perplexed by the number of keys to press, and the fact you have to use two hands at the same time.

It was all very sunny for our Gig at Daniel Farm. In fact too sunny for some! Christine on ‘Lone’ Euphonium ‘Tequila’ featuring Special Guest Star Tromboner David GrayWe need a job lot of PCB suncream for next time!

It was lovely to be invited back to entertain the crowds attending the Northumberland County Show on Monday.  Not exactly hot and balmy but at least no MUD underfoot. We have some great new tunes for our Summer Car Park Tour including an exciting medley of Doctor Who themes featuring Joe on Solo iPad Here we see the band enjoying a moment of wit from our MD Mr Dave Hignett passing comment on the incredible degree of baldness of the Baritone saxophonists pate.No birds of prey were harmed during our set though a very large Eagle did fly away.

Sadly Ridley Hall is being sold off to the highest bidder so this years rehearsal weekend was our last ever at this beautiful venue. The band have many happy memories of Ridley Hall weekends going back many years.

We had a great turnout and rehearsed music old and new in preparation for forthcoming events.

Here we see Matty our newest recruit trying out a Tuba for size!

The afternoon saw the traditional Mr Hignett team V Rest of the world football match with the inevitable victory in Mr Hignetts favour.

With ‘Cat Like Tread’ Mr H keeping goal and directing proceedings from the goalmouth

As usual there were a few misinterpretations of the rules of Association Football.

No one was seriously hurt, surprisingly!

The annual World Prudhoe Community Band Snooker championships went on till the small hours.

On paper the victory appeared to go to Chairman Dr Steve Quilliam and Joe but when the results were finally analysed in the cold light of day there appeared to be various rule discretions, use of ringers, hustlers, timing irregularities, Under 18s etc resulting in a moral victory for Dave and John crowned overall world PCB series winners.

The hardly souls who made it for the ‘Last Breakfast’

And finally, a bit of musical archeology.  On Sunday morning we were shown round the vaults of Ridley Hall where we came across a box of lost stands and various other lost items including these very early mark 1 Hignett batons, one of which has seen better days.

Times were hard in the early days of PCB and Mr Hignetii had to resort to making his own batons using cheap red wine corks and kebab sticks.

With the passage of time he can now afford to buy expensive batons, which he still breaks, and his cellar now includes some of the finest red wine money can buy.

Goodbye to Ridley Hall and thanks to all the staff who have always made us most welcome over the many years we have been going there.

We  had a very successful Xmas fundraising ‘Car Park Tour’ in the run up to Christmas with favourable weather allowing us to play at all our planned Gigs with no cancellations due to snow, hail, rain or excessive wind.

Vallum Farm Christmas FayrePrudhoe CobblesNewcastle Central StationHexham Xmas Farmers MarketGibside Xmas Farmers marketThanks to everyone for turning out in all weathers resplendent in our new ‘winter collection’ Jackets and Beanie hats and for all the generous music lovers who donated spare change into our collection buckets.

We resume rehearsals in January so keep an eye on our calender for details.

We are always keen to welcome new members so why not come along and give us a try.

Rehearsals resume again on Saturday 17th September after our summer break.  We are excited to see the newly rebuilt premises at Prudhoe Community High School and are pleased that we can continue to rehearse there in our usual Saturday morning slot from 9.45 to 11.45.

We are always keen to welcome new members so dust off those instruments and come along. There are no auditions and we are happy to accept all standards of playing.

Just a reminder to all members that the yearly donation/subscription to be a member of the band starts again in September so please see our treasurer Dave Lamb accordingly.