This is a good time to catch both the Training Band and senior band playing together so please come down to support us. Once you’ve heard us play Deck The Halls and the like there’s a cornucopia of Christmassy activities to enjoy, including ice skating and a Christmas Market.

There will also be further performances at Lakeside on the 14th, 21st and 22nd December at the same time. Please come down to Lakeside Tower and enjoy some of the excellent food available at this stylish venue while some of Nottinghamshire’s finest musicians provide the musical entertainment.

Thursday 4th December saw the band performing at Southwell Minster. This was the annual MacMillan Christmas concert that we’ve been able to support as an organisation for the past seven years. It’s a favourite of ours in the banding calender as it’s a great charity and a wonderful venue for a concert.

Joining us at the Minster were Carlton Male Voice Choir, who were in excellent voice, and the rather wonderful Lace City Chorus who just seem to get better and better every year. The Minster was packed to the rafters with an audience that enjoyed an evening of Christmas-themed music.

The highlight of the concert, at least for the ladies in Lace City Chorus, was the band’s rendition of the old classic Hello Dolly. This was specially requested for the evening and the band were pleased to include it. The band’s hearty singing certainly had enthusiasm but perhaps didn’t come up to the same standard as the proper choirs!

The band’s MD, Walter Richie, had managed to find some excellent music for the band for the Christmas season, including a wonderful arrangement of Who Is He? This is described as a “Christmas Meditation” and it’s a lovely piece that brought special praise from the audience. Also featured was a BBb Bass solo called Marley’s Ghost and played by the talented Mick Graham.

Thursday’s program was expanded for Saturday night’s concert at St Paul’s Church in Carlton. This was a shared concert with Carlton Male Voice Choir and showcased the musical talent available in our part of Nottingham. Once again there were no empty seats and the audience enjoyed a number of carols and Christmas-themed music aplenty.

Walter had added some lovely Salvation Army Christmas music to the programme which featured a beautiful Euphonium solo called Infant Holy, performed by Barry Tupper. St Paul’s is a lovely church to play in, especially as the acoustics assist in giving the band an even richer, warmer sound. The concert went well with both the choir and band in good form and everybody left feeling more Christmassy.

Carlton Brass with be performing carols out and about over the next few weeks including a number of appearances at Lakeside. The Training Band are putting in a lot of effort by playing carols at Sainsbury’s in Arnold, among other locations, and the main band will also be joining them where we can. We’re trying to raise funds for new instruments so please support the players when you see them so that we can continue providing our wonderful music in future years.

To all those that have come to our recent concerts or donated to our carollers – thank you!

Carlton Brass has had a very enjoyable and busy schedule this Christmas.

I would like to thank all members for their hard work and attendance during the build up to Christmas and the commitment given at this busy time.  We’ve had some really prestigious concerts, playing to capacity audiences who have been very appreciative. The band has put on some excellent performances at these events and we should feel proud in what we have achieved.

We are still planning to have some fun on Christmas Eve as we do our pub run in some outrageous outfits – no change there then!

Our thoughts are with Michelle, Martin and Kimberley, especially at this time. We all miss our Hayley but she will always be with us in our hearts!

I hope you all have a great Christmas and New Year.

We look forward to 2006 with anticipation and great expectations.