Belle Vue Band: Sunday Brass at the Boarshurst Band Club (28 May 2017)

A good programme, plus a tribute to the people we lost at the Manchester Arena

Yesterday [28 May], Belle Vue Brass Band gave us a good concert at the Boarshurst Band Club. A little shorter than the previous year’s engagement, it was also marked with a dedication to the 22 people who lost their lives at the Manchester Arena after last Monday’s Ariana Grande concert. This included a minute’s silence, which followed Amanda Greaves’ recital of Tony Walsh’s poem This Is The Place.

Belle Vue Band: Sunday Brass at the Boarshurst Band Club

An entertaining concert with a well rounded programme

For brass band fanatics of a certain age, Belle Vue means The Showground of the World. It conjures up images of the zoological gardens, its fairground, and the King’s Hall. Which, thanks to John Henry Iles, set the foundation for the National Brass Band Contests.

In Search of Today’s Belle Vue

Which part of Greater Manchester best assumes the guise as a worthy successor to Belle Vue?

Almost 35 years ago, the 11 September saw the closure of part of Manchester’s most noted attractions. Between 1836 and 1977, Belle Vue Zoological Gardens attracted numerous visitors to see the likes of Rita the Tigon, ride the Bobs roller coaster or take in a speedway match. It was – quite rightly referred to – as The Showground of the North. The closure of the zoo had an adverse affect on the park with reduced footfall to its attractions (some assumed that the whole park – fairground, speedway stadium and King’s Hall closed the same year).

Lost Roller Coasters of the North West: The Not So Perfect Ten

A toast to absent gravity rides hitherto based in North West England

If you have children, no term time holiday is complete without the odd trip to a theme park or fairground. Sometimes we are likely to drive to Alton Towers or board a coach trip to Blackpool Pleasure Beach. Sometimes, a travelling fairground may be erected closer to home for a week, with one example over the Easter Holidays being the Good Friday fair at Daisy Nook, between Ashton and Failsworth (buses: 168, 169 and 231 from Ashton-under-Lyne to Newmarket Road then a short walk down Stannybrook Road).