Boarshurst Silver Band: Sunday Brass at Boarshurst Band Club (13th November 2022)

Inspirational Boarshurst Silver Band wow audiences with sleek Remembrance Sunday concert

Boarshurst Silver Band’s remembrance of the fallen was marked by a busy schedule which included a concert on Armistice Day at the Queen Elizabeth Hall in Oldham. Yesterday afternoon, they were on Remembrance Day parade duty at Royton Park with Ryan Ashley playing The Last Post.

Autism and Coming to Terms With Accepting Praise

How I checked in to my local branch of Backslappers’ Anonymous

INT. Backslappers Anonymous, Table 64 at The Ash Tree, Ashton-under-Lyne

My name is Stuart Thomas Henderson Howard John Alexander Pfeffel Anthony Charles Lynton Vallantine, and I am a success. I have written scripts for a successful TV series, produced a long-running multi-channel interactive half hour long variety spectacular, and circumnavigated Greater Manchester by bus on numerous occasions. I can remember every single track on Supertramp’s studio albums and live albums and met my partner beside a gas holder outside the Etihad Stadium…

In Dear Old Blighty, saying to yourself “yes, I am brilliant” doesn’t seem to be the British way. As the stiff upper lip is still a thing, praise can be seen as being ‘big headed’. If we praise anything to high heaven, we could be seen as having narcissistic personality disorder. If we don’t blow our own trumpet now and again, few people might have heard of our talents.

Greenalls Band: Sunday Brass at Boarshurst Band Club, 6th November 2022

Box office thrills make for exciting movie themed concert (and why not?)

The music of John Williams, John Barry, Ron Goodwin and Hans Zimmer seem to have one thing in common. Apart from being penned by legendary composers, a lot of their music seems to have been written with brass bands in mind. Though we wish that is the case, their music transcribes well for brass bands – hence the popularity of movie themed brass band concerts.

Revealed: Northern England’s Slowest Inter-City Train Route

The North of England’s slowest inter-city train route may surprise you

Once upon a time, 33 years ago, a famous female singer made a real comeback with the song If I Can Turn Back Time. Though 1987’s I Found Someone marked her return to the singles charts, it was the former song that made a greater impact. By 1991, thanks to the film Mermaids, her cover of The Shoop Shoop Song (It’s In His Kiss), she reached the top spot.

During Cher’s rise up the singles chart, Britain’s railways was in a state of transition. British Rail swapped Robert Reid for Robert Reid (in other words, Robert Basil Reid for Bob Reid). The InterCity sector started operated without a subsidy from HM Treasury. Regional Railways became a swish new identity for BR’s Provincial Sector. Locally, Stalybridge station’s buffet bar was under threat of closure with rumours of it becoming a florist; the Stockport to Stalybridge service was cut to three return journeys a day – still an improvement on the Saturdays Only return journey we see today.

Whitworth Vale and Healey Band: Sunday Brass at the Boarshurst Band Club, 30th October 2022

Boarshurst date glorious venture for Golding and Co in smashing concert

In my last six years of making my Sunday Brass Nights a regular habit, the most surprising concerts I have found have come from lower to middle section bands. I have seen some concerts where Third and Fourth Section bands have delivered more exciting programmes than those in the Championship and First Section.

Just 120 Hours With Stu (and Kevin)

The diary of a phenomenal week, making people smile at FD

It is said that a week is a long time in politics. It is also true that a week in the Costco petrol queue’s a long time too. From my observations on Broadway, it’s a close second to Association Football as our National Game. For Stuart, the creator of this blog and his fellow colleague at Future Directions, Kevin Phoenix, it has been a week to remember.

Milnrow Band: Sunday Brass at the Boarshurst Band Club, 23rd October 2022

Magnificent Milnrow amaze audience in tightly produced concert

With UK inflation rates at double figures again, it is harder to get a proper bargain these days. For top bands at rock bottom prices, you could have looked no further than last night’s concert with The Mighty Rams of Harmony Street. Courtesy of Milnrow Band, both live and streamed audiences were treated to a great concert.

Just One Hour With Stu (and Kevin)

Or: I Could Go On Speaking

Thirteen years after the last autism lecture I was involved in, it was great to be back talking about autism spectrum conditions. My last time was a support slot in a lecture with the late great Donna Williams at Middlesbrough Learning and Training Centre. Little did I know this was her final UK tour. She was tired of the travelling, the airport terminals and the passport checks.

Meltham and Meltham Mills Band: Sunday Brass at Boarshurst Band Club (16th October 2022)

Marvellous Meltham Mills makes magical music matters in Sunday spectacular

It has been quite a long time since Meltham and Meltham Mills Band had a Sunday Brass Night at Boarshurst. It may be fair, if a little impolite even, to say our last review was chiselled onto stone tablets.

Hebden Bridge Brass Band: Sunday Brass at Boarshurst Band Club (9th October 2022)

Class act from Binns and Co.

It is said “you can please some of the people all of the time” and “all of the people some of the time”. This is true not only in politics (with the Abraham Lincoln quote, actually attributed to John Lydgate), but also in live performance.