Strata Brass recently held their annual christmas concert & awards night.

• Bandperson of the year: Joanne Darwin (Cornet)

• Most improved player: Matthew Wilkinson (Eb Bass)

Congratulations to both!

Strata Brass are delighted to welcome back Flugel player Maria Beazer after her recent operation and would like to thank Richard Ellis for deputising on this position in her absence.

The band would like to pass on their condolences to Bass Trombone player Dave Smith whose father passed away recently.

Strata Brass took part in the 2009 Leamington Spa contest last weekend and were awarded 3rd place

Maria Beazer (Flugel Horn) will be taking a break from playing due to illness - Strata Brass would like to wish her a speedy recovery. In addition, the band would like to offer their congratulations to Maria on the birth of her son, Alfie.

Strata Brass would like to thank Rob & Rachel Straw for their help over the last few weeks.

Finally, the band wishes Sam Pearson every success in her studies at Huddersfield University.

The contests results page has been updated to include the recent win at Wychavon and last weekends 2nd place at the Bolsover Entertainment contest

Strata Brass are pleased to announce the successful defence of their title at the Wychavon Festival of Brass last weekend, once again winning first prize in the second section.

Congratulations also to Rob Hardy and his section for winning best (loudest?) percussion.

As always, any pictures from this event would be much appreciated! 

Strata Brass are catching back up on their sleep after a very busy weekend in Durham recently.

On Friday, July 10th, we all met at the bandroom for a 3:30pm departure in order to get to Durham in time for our evening concert. We arrived at our hotel with just enough time to check in, then it was over to Washington. The concert started at 8pm and it was a packed house to see what the Strata lads & lasses could do. After a very good traditional first half (including Liberty Fanfare, William Tell, Orange Juice and others) we then set up for the second half in big band formation. This went down extremely well, with many of the audience really getting into the swing of things. The concert finished up at 11pm then it was back to the hotel for a quick drink!

Saturday morning 6.20am - Back over to Washington to pack down and prepare for our first march of the day at 7.40am. This went really well and the sun was just beginning to show its appreciation. Then it was on to the centre of Durham for the main march. This was the main reason for the band being there; to proudly take part in the 125th Miners Gala.

During the day the band played a selection of well known marche and an enjoyable performance of Mack The Knife to a very appreciative crowd. After all this we go for a well deserved pint (or two...)

The playing finishd at around 7pm, allowing time for another drink before heading back to the hotel to catch our breath! We certainly showed Durham how we can enjoy ourselves in the evening (Pictures to follow so you can see how well we danced and how hard the percussion section worked)

Strata Brass would like to say a big thank you (and well done!) to Andy Smith for organising the whole weekend and to everyone else involved who made the weekend such a success.

We are delighted to have been invited back to do it all again next year!

Finally, special thanks goes to the bass section for their version of Valero

Photographs have now been added from the recent weekend in Durham

Click me!

If you have any other photos that could be added please let me know

Strata Brass are delighted to announce the arrival of Libbyrose Faith Hardy. Born 18th May 2009 at 7:01pm, weighing 8lb 5oz. Both mum (Lisa Hardy) and Libby are doing well; dad (Robert Hardy) is absolutely shattered!

Best wishes to all from the band, and everyone is looking forward to Lisa returning in the future.

The members page has been amended to include changes in player positions in the band.

Strata Brass would also like to welcome Glen Turner to the band, who has accepted the position of Solo Euphonium.