Riviera Concert Brass

Last Wednesday, we played at St Michael’s Church in Teignmouth to raise funds for the charity Operation Imprezza. Despite the England World Cup semi-final, we had a great audience and raised £700 for the charity. This will fund two weeks running costs for their school in Kenya and also add money to their general fund. Below are two links to ‘highlights’ from our concert. The first is a general taste of what we do and the second is a compilation of bits from our Last Night of the Proms style finale, which was very fitting as the Proms season started this week. If you like these videos, make sure you have a look at our events page to see our next concerts or send us a message and we’ll add you to our mailing list and send you details of our next engagements.

Check out the poster for our next concert. The Band will be in Teignmouth supporting the Operation Imprezza Charity. We have a fantastic programme planned with a lot of fun music and then a Proms style second half. Bring along your flags; all parts of the British Isles will be included. Theresa Moorin will be leading the singing and we will have a surprise guest too…watch this space!

Two very late photos from our “Youth Showcase” concert at Central Church. This has had some great feedback so we are hoping to keep this event in the calendar and to feature some of the talented young people local to the area. This year we had Flo playing grade 5 clarinet, our very own solo cornet Bert with grade 6 trumpet and (as pictured) Sophie who played some of the pieces from her recent grade 8 exam which she passed with a high distinction.

Next Wednesday, see us performing at Central Church in Torquay. We have a special treat lined up, as we are showcasing some of the youth who are associated with our Band as our soloists for this event. Tickets £10. We look forward to seeing you.

St Marychurch is always such a great venue and it was a fantastic venue to hear these big brass movie themes. The Band started with Star Wars and we tried to include music from most of the major film composers; John Williams, Hans Zimmer, John Barry, Ron Goodwin. We were joined by Lesley Stuckey (cello) and Theresa Moorin (Voice) and we even managed to feature the cello in solo with the Band in the Ashokan Farewell. We are always grateful to people to send us photos and videos from their phones of our performances and here is a little compilation of some of their favourite moments.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=5xs2QmxKKVg

We had our first rehearsal back yesterday evening and have started to prepare for our first concert in March. This will be a Movies concert and will feature music from all the best film composers: John Williams, Maurice Jarre, John Barry, Hans Zimmer… need I go on! To convert that into movies… Star Wars, Dr Zhivago, Avatar, Pirates of the Carribbean, James Bond and lots more. What’s not to like? You can check out our events page to see dates for the year or sign up to be a friend of the band by dropping us an email with your email address. There is no charge for this and no expectations. We will just keep you updated with events and news. Happy New Year everyone!

We had a great time at Combe Pafford School getting people into a festive mood as we started the month of December. We tried to get in all the popular carols and Christmas songs and there was plenty of opportunity for people to join in with some singing. Theresa and Sally were joined by Constance in the first half to sing ‘Do You Want to Build a Snowman’ from ‘Frozen’ in the style of the three Anna’s. In the second half they were joined by Max for the Twelve Days of Christmas. Samson made a great entrance in ‘Don’t Stop the Cavalry’ with an arrow through his neck (only pretend of course) and the audience were given instructions on how to stay safe at Christmas from our very own ‘Elf’ and ‘Safety’. If you weren’t there this year, make sure you look out for our Christmas concert next year.

We would like to take this opportunity to wish all our friends and audience members a Happy Christmas. Please look out for our events in the New Year.

Our annual Festival of Remembrance was a huge success and allowed the people of Torbay to come together to remember. Mike was once again at the helm and provided a programme which focused on VE Day 80 and remembrance of the Holocaust. The Torbay Police and Community Choir sang songs from South Pacific to remember the end of the war for those in the Far East and Theresa read letters and sang songs which allowed us to think of the Battle of Britain Pilots. Sergeant Dave Tribble brought everyone in line and Father Peter March conducted the service part of the evening. Members of the 1st St Marychurch Brownies represented the children of Torbay and put poppies onto the drum head. It was fantastic to have such strong representation from our cadets who, even after an incredibly busy weekend, turned out and helped in every way they could. Their youthful presence is so important in keeping remembrance happening into the future and they all looked so smart.

The evening raised over £873 for the Torbay Branch of the Royal British Legion. Our concert at Paignton Parish Church in October raised £540 for the Paignton Branch of the Royal British Legion. That means we have raised well over £1400 for the British Legion’s local branches this year. We’d like to thank Central Church, everyone involved in the Festival and the audience for their generosity.

The Band are busy preparing for the next few months. We have some great new music including an arrangement of music from the film Avatar, a new selection of music from the Phantom of the Opera and a bit of rock! Of course, we still have all the favourite marches and toe tappers.

Our first concert is is aid of Operation Imprezza. https://operation-imprezza.org/ which is a fantastic charity. All the details are on the flyer below.

We then have a concert on Saturday the 18th of October at Paignton Parish Church to support the Royal British Legion Paignton Branch in their launch of the 2025 Poppy Appeal. We have done this concert for a few years now with the Torbay Police and Community Choir and it has always been a lovely atmosphere and great evening. Again, details are in the flyer below.

Then on the 11th of November, we shall be holding our Annual Festival of Remembrance at Central Church Torquay in aid of the Royal British Legion Torquay Branch. More details of this event will follow.

Finally, on the 3rd December, we are going to have a Christmas Extravaganza at Combe Pafford School in Torquay to support the School. It promises to be a lively evening with singing, entertainment. We won’t let anyone go away without a ‘Christmassy’ feeling. Again, more details to follow.

If you want any more details or would like to join our Friends of the Band for updates to your inbox (no charge for Friends of the Band) just send us an email or contact us on our facebook page.

We are always really proud of the young people in our Band and have more congratulations this month. Samson has passed his grade 4 tuned percussion on the xylophone with a high distinction mark. He also found out that he had passed his first trombone grade in the same week. Well done Samson!