We had the benefit of playing under cover this week with a lovely gig at the beautifully refurbished Newcastle Central Station.

It was nice to see some new faces in the band as well as welcoming back some of our players back from university.

Here we see Mr Hignett with his twin brother Zelig who always seems to pop up at our fundraising Gigs.

The nights are drawing in and our thoughts turn towards our traditional tour of car parks various, and anywhere else that will have us, in an effort to play out and about the region to raise money for band funds.

We have a great selection of festive music so keep an eye on our calendar for an event near you! All donations gratefully received!

This year we are excited to have been invited to play at the Vallum Farm Xmas Fair which is a new venue for us and should be a lovely event.

We had a lovely evening last weekend at Prudhoe Methodist Church, Prudhoes answer to the Albert Hall, with our friends the Prudhoe Community Choir in an evening of ‘Last Night of the Proms Prudhoe style’ entertainment.

There was lots of opportunity for audience participation including Henry Woods ‘Fantasia on British Sea Songs’, with Bull Horn, and culminating in a mass rendition of Land Of Hope and Glory’ and ‘The Queen’ (In F)

The evening was great success and raised a substantial sum towards Church Funds.

It seems a long time since our last Gig before the summer break.

He we see Mr Hignett and his twin brother Zelig at Tesco’s Hexham.

We are always made very welcome at Tescos and managed to raise a useful sum towards band funds.

We resume our regular rehearsals at Prudhoe Community High School on the 5th September (See Calendar for details)   We are always happy to welcome new band members so if you have been wondering about joining us, the start of our new term is a great time to come along.

We will be practising hard for our contribution to the Prudhoe version of ‘Last Night of the Proms’ at Prudhoe Methodist Church on 10th October.

At this time of year we sadly have to say goodbye to several of our younger members leaving for pastures new. We wish them well in their future endeavours and thank them for their valuable contributions to the band. We will hopefully see them back from time to time.

Remember the old PCB adage, ‘You can check out any time, but you can never leave’

We are sorry but todays planned Gig for Music in the Park at Gibside has been cancelled. It has been raining torrentially overnight and the forecast is fairly grim.

Our band members turn up in most weathers from far and wide so sometimes we have to make decisions to cancel before an event so avoid unnecessary travelling.

Apologies for any inconvenience caused.

We are in the middle of our Summer tour of car parks various to raise money for band funds.

Here we see the band trying to keep warm before playing outside Marks and Spencer Hexham for the our first visit to the store.  Sadly we had a few technical problems with our generator so we were without a Bass guitar but we pressed on regardless.

The rain held off for the Northumberland County Show so last years mud had a chance to dry out . Needless to say it was cold and windy being held on a bank holiday monday but we had a lovely time nonetheless.

Keen eyed viewers may have spotted our MD Mr Hignett getting his 10 seconds of fame on Look Norths’ review of the show that evening.  Mr Hignett has it taped and watches it before retiring to bed every night.

It was touch and go at Hexham Regatta with 50mph gusts playing in a howling gale.

Luckily we found a bit of shelter behind the clubhouse.

We had some nice feedback from the organisers who appreciated our efforts.

Just a quick note to thank you and the band for playing at the Regatta.
It really adds to the event and each year we get comments on what a good idea and how lovely it is to have you there.
Although your position this year was forced by the weather conditions I think it actually works better having you just outside the clubhouse.
For all those crews waiting in line carrying a heavy boat , all stressed up with pre race nerves the band is a very relaxing and calming influence.
My daughter was delighted you played Let it Go from Frozen. It made her day!

Well pegged down!

We had a very successful fundraising tour leading up to Christmas playing out and about collecting for band funds.

To start our tour we were invited to play at Tyne Valley Garden Centre Xmas Craft Fair along with our friends Whittenstall Community Band.

Diane Mayes playing Gabriels Oboe (on Clarinet )

Here we see a lovely Reindeer having a nice rest building up his strength for the busy day ahead. (Reindeers are very gentle and not to be confused with the Tromso Moose which has a very nasty bite)

Whittenstall Community Band playing in the afternoon and looking very Christmassy 

Newcastle Central Station

Hexham Xmas Farmers Market

We had a lovely evening playing for the National Trust in the historic chapel at  Gibside for their annual Christmas concert.  It was chilly even inside but the band and audience were dressed in winter woolies.

Here we see the band performing at Eldon Square Newcastle.

Sharp eyed viewers may notice our MD Mr Hignett is seen here with his twin brother Zelig Hignett whilst visiting the UK from the USA for a Xmas break.

Zelig liked the band that much he came that he came to see us again at Tescos in Hexham for our last Gig of 2014 before jetting back to New York.

We resume rehearsals on the 10th January so if there are any musicians out there who would like to join us please feel free to come along , you will be made very welcome.

Thanks to all our stalwart band members who turned out week after week before Xmas to raise money for band funds.

The leaves are turning, the wasps are getting drowsy, the mists are misty, the fruit is fruitful etc, all of which means it s nearly time to resume rehearsals!

We had a busy summer ‘Car Park’ Tour playing at various venues around the region before taking a well earned break in July.

Brocksbushes Summer Fair

Gibside

Gabriels Clarinet featuring Diane Mayes

Many thanks to all those band members who turned out week after week to make the band sound great.

If there are any adults out there who fancy dusting off their instrument or any younger players who want the the opportunity to play in a large ensemble out of school feel free to come along to any rehearsal, you will be made very welcome.

We are in the midst of our Summer fundraising tour when we play at various events to raise money for band funds.

Luckily we managed to get most of our set played before a torrential downpour halted proceedings with a mad dash to the cars.

Keep an eye on our calendar for dates of other events through the summer before our summer break.

We start rehearsals again in September so if anyone out there fancies joining us come along with your instrument and have a go. You will be made very welcome.

Prudhoe Community Band entertained an enthusiastic audience at this years prestigious Northumberland County Show held at its new home in the grounds of Bywell Hall for the second year.

The previous two days of torrential rain made access tricky with many vehicles getting stuck in the mud early in the day. Luckily the majority of farmers in Northumberland, some with very large tractors indeed were on site to pull everyone out.

We were situated between the funfair and the Cumberland Wrestling ring on a small oasis of dry ground surrounded by mud, and the weather held fair for the day.

Thanks to Gaynor Shotton, Secretary of Tynedale Agricultural Society for inviting us, we had a lovely day.