If there are any aspiring percussionists out there, please come along on Saturday mornings from 9.45 at Highfield Middle School, Prudhoe, to join the percussion ensemble under the guidance of Mark Edwards.

You will have the opportunity to learn to pay tuned percussion such as xylophone and glockenspiel, timpani, cymbals, hand percussion as well as drums!

It is completely free thanks to the generous support of the wonderful Mark Jon Bolderson Percussion Foundation who sponsor the percussion section of the band .You will gain also the invaluable experience of playing with a large music ensemble! 

All you have to do is turn up! 

We had a lovely sunny day for our first gig in nearly two years playing for the Sele First School PTA Carnival who made us very welcome. The was even a special place in the skipping ring for our MD Mr Dave Hignett.

They have some very big cats with blue feet in Hexham!

The band sounded great playing all our old favourites including Sesame Street.

Sharp eyed viewers will have noticed that we have a new drummer , John Bradford, who replaces Jack Ruddick.Jack has recently retired after many stalwart years, playing since the band started. We wish him many happy years of retirement .

Its been a difficult time for everyone during the Covid 19 pandemic but we are now in a position to resume rehearsals following relaxation of national Covid restrictions. We hope everyone has remained well during this time. Many thanks to everyone who donated towards our Xmas video and for everyone using our webshop. This has meant that we have had some income to keep us afloat and enable us to restart.

We are therefore planning to meet on 11th September at our usual venue, Highfield Middle School Baton down 9.45 am!

We will still follow a degree of social distancing and hygiene measures to minimise any risk of Covid19 transmission.

We are always happy to welcome new members as this is the start of our band year so it is a good time to come along.

There was a glimmer of hope that we might have been able to get back to playing together again but the recent extension of Covid restrictions due to the so called ‘3rd Wave’ takes us into our usual summer break. We are hopeful that things may be getting back to normality to aim at resuming rehearsals and events in September but this obviously depends on guidance at that time.

Keep an eye on the calendar in the meantime.

We would usually be out and about playing all our favourite Xmas tunes and raising money for band funds at this time of year. Sadly the Covid-19 pandemic has curtailed all such activity so we decided to try and do something virtually and get together over the ether to produce our very own Xmas Video ‘A Fairytale of New York’

Our chief ‘Herder of Cats’, Caroline Guirr, has spent the last few weeks putting everything together and the resulting video is brilliant. Many thanks to Caroline and Mr D O’Hignorhan for the lovely arrangement of the Kirsty McColl and the Pogues classic.

If you would like to support the band with a donation you can now do so through the PayPal link below. You can do this even without a PayPal account.

We do appreciate any donations and hope you enjoy the video.

Happy Xmas and best wishes for 2021 from Prudhoe Community Band.

Keen eyed readers will have noted that our calendar of events has dwindled due to the current Covid-19 pandemic. We are all socially distancing and keeping our heads down until it all blows over.

We will be following guidance regarding when we might be able to resume rehearsals and gigs so watch this space.

Hope everyone keeps safe and well and see you in happier times

We are currently in the middle of our pre Xmas fundraising tour to try and raise money for band funds. Many thanks to everyone who has been kind enough to donate something in our charity buckets.

We have had some nice dry inside venues for a change and would like to thank Tanfield Railway, Newcastle United F.C. Prudhoe Co-op and Newcastle Central Station for making us so welcome.

Newcastle United Xmas Fayre at St James Park

Nest week we will be at Hexham Xmas Market before our final Gig at Newcastle Central station to round off the term.

Happy Christmas and best wishes for 2020 from Prudhoe Community Band.