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Thank you to everyone who supported our charity proms concert last Friday. The audience was one of the best we have ever had and although we were beaten by the gloomy weather, there was definitely sunshine inside Combe Pafford’s Hall. The total raised was £1052.15 and this benefited a number of charities. One such charity is Operation Imprezza who benefited from £380. They had a whatsapp message from one of their workers in Kenya to say that six students were very ill with malaria and chest infections. Normally malaria treatment is free but due to a lack of drugs at the moment, they are having to pay for treatment in hospital. Two of the students have been discharged from hospital but four remain. The money which Operation Imprezza raised on Friday evening has virtually covered the medical bills. If this story has inspired you, please come along to the concert which we are doing in October to support this charity. To keep up to date, please check out our events page or have a look at Operation Imprezza’s website. https://www.operation-imprezza.org/

It was great to be back at Central Church last Wednesday evening. The Band put on a concert of a variety of music including music from shows, film music and traditional marches, finishing with Sunset (back row cornets and flugel pictured). We were joined by soprano Theresa Moorin who delighted everyone with her singing and also brought along Sally (the Little Mermaid) who gave us some Disney numbers in her own inimitable way. Our Band soloist was our solo trombone Graham Pillivant (pictured) who played a beautiful sweet rendition of Where’er You Walk. Central Church are always fantastic hosts and we were pleased to raise £480.80 for their funds. Thank you to Lesley Stuckey for the photos.

Colin Gilderthorp was voted Band Person of the year. Colin is our band librarian and also does so many jobs which might go unnoticed. He has shelved our new storage room, made cymbal stands, enlarged parts, used his van to move instruments… just to name a few things. Colin is also the only person (alongside the MD) who can get the big timp out of the cupboard! As well as all the jobs, Colin has learnt to play horn. He initially was going to buy a bugle so that he could go to Belgium and honour his Grandfather who died in the trenches during the First World War. However, after a few sessions at our alternate Wednesday group, he changed his order to a nice new sparkly horn. We’re really pleased he did and thank him for all he does.

We are looking forward to next Wednesday when we will be appearing at Central Church in Torquay. We have a great concert prepared from traditional marches to music from films and even a bit of Abba! The concert starts at 7:30pm and Central Church are always fantastic friendly hosts with plenty of parking, a great space and comfy seats. Tickets available on the door.

This might seem a bit late as we have had a couple of rehearsals already. However, we would like to wish all our friends and followers a happy new year and to thank everyone for their support last year. We are also pleased to announce that although it was a bit of a ‘comeback after covid year’, we still managed to raise £3,356.26 for a number of different charities. This brings us to a grand total of £65,084.71 since the band started. Please check out our events page and write this year’s events into your diaries or follow our facebook page for events as they are happening.

Tickets are selling fast for our Festival 2022. Always a favourite in the band’s calendar. Come along and remember those who fought and are still fighting for our freedom. This year’s event has a special focus on remembrance of the Falklands conflict which was 40 years ago. Each year, we try and raise money for different service charities. In the past, we have raised funds for the Royal British Legion, Help for Heroes, SSAFA, Service Dogs, RMA, RNA, Army Veterans amongst others and this year we will be raising money for the RAF Association.

Riviera Concert Brass are very pleased to support Torquay United Football Club at events. The MD and second horn, Garry, are avid fans. Here are two pictures of members of the band playing the national anthem at a match. Although we were unable to help for the Sunday game, Mike and Hannah will be sounding Last Post for the game on Wednesday evening.

On Saturday we joined forces with the Torbay Police and Community Choir to present a ‘Last Night of the Proms’ style event at Central Church in Torquay. The audience were fantastic and were motivated to join in by the superb Dave Easton from Shiphay Amateur Dramatic Society who had everyone ‘rolling in the aisles’ with his funny antics. Singing was as good as in the Albert Hall from the unofficial Jubilee Anthem ‘Sweet Caroline’ to t he more traditional ‘Jerusalem’ and ‘Land of Hope and Glory’. Fantasia on British Sea Songs gave the opportunity for hornpipes, and flag waving and our wonderful singer in residence, Theresa Moorin, inspired everyone to sing heartily in Rule Britannia. The Choir were in fine voice and finished with a rousing rendition of Widecombe Fair. We were also treated to Sally singing songs from Mary Poppins with Theresa. As a bonus, £540 was raised for the church roof appeal. If you missed this year’s event, we are hoping to do another proms next year so keep looking on the website as we update. Pictured are Barbara (one of our most loyal supporters and friend), our percussion section (Shirley and Roger) who went above and beyond to get into that proms spirit and the wonderful Sally.

Some members of RCB have been helping schools to celebrate the Queen’s Jubilee at their Jubilee picnics. Here are some photos of the group at All Saints Babbacombe School who had a lovely time sat in the school’s bandstand playing some patriotic music for the children and their families.