The theme of the Verwood Concert Brass autumn concert at the Verwood Hub on 19th October was ‘Best of British’ and the music selections fitted that to a tee.

It was an awe-inspiring start to the concert with the march “Standard of St George” being played by the massed bands of Verwood Concert Brass, that being players from Verwood Concert Brass Band, Verwood Town Band and Verwood Training Band. So, there were in excess of 70 players on stage producing a huge wall of sound and a great sight too. Fantastic!

The concert continued with Verwood Training Band conducted by Mike Dunnings with a couple of movements from The Young In Heart Suit. As Mike explained to the audience this piece was to be the Training Band’s test piece in their first ever venture into competing at a full-on, grown up, brass band contest taking place at the end of November. A challenging piece but the band played well and was certainly appreciated by the audience which gave the band a big boost. The band then whisked us around the British Isle playing a compilation of short extracts from “The British Grenadiers”, “Men of Harlech”, “Blue-bells of Scotland”, “Danny Boy” and last but not least “Rule, Britannia”.

Next up were the Acorns new starter group under Bill Ferrier playing music to represent some British staples, for example Match of the Day with “Match Day”, the British weather with “Rainy Day” and for all those who were missing Strictly Come Dancing on the telly that evening, a great rendition of the theme tune leading into “Chachachacha”. Well done the Acorns.

Of course, brass bands are very British in their own right as are marches so Verwood Concert Brass Band’s first half performance, conducted by Kevin Smith, started with another march and off to Wales with “Cardiff Castle”. One of the big highlights of the concert that brought the house down was principal euphonium, Ian Harris’ solo performance of “Eire Time”. Absolutely incredible. Well done Ian. The band ended its set with an iconic Brit pop and rock piece of Queen’s “Bohemian Rhapsody” which also proved to be very popular with the audience.

This provided a neat segue into the second half of the concert with Verwood Town Band’s theme being Brit pop and rock. Which conductor Emma Button being unavailable for this concert Kevin Smith had a busy night taking on the baton waving duty. He took the band through its really lively and up-beat repertoire which included “Crocodile Rock”, “Ticket to Ride”, “Sunny Afternoon” and “Pinball Wizard” which wowed the audience.

Verwood Concert Brass Band’s closing set included the great piece “Hymn of the Highlands” which of course is associated with Scotland and who would have though you could emulate the sound of bagpipes on a flugel horn! Although this was not a Proms concert the piece chosen to close the show was “Pomp and Circumstance March No1” aka “Land of Hope and Glory” which got the audience singing along.

With the cries of “More!” and an expectation of another rendition of “Land of Hope and Glory” Kevin made an inspired alternative encore choice. It would not be regarded as the best piece of brass band music but it is certainly up there as being one of the best loved pieces by brass band audiences, and that was “The Floral Dance”. And to prove the point it certainly got everyone clapping along and put a smile on everyone’s face. A great way to end another superb concert.

Click Here to see more photos of our Best of British Concert