Besses O’Th’ Barn Brass Band: Sunday Night at the Boarshurst Band Club, 04 June 2023

Uplifting concert rounds off Whit Week in great style

Friday night, Saturday night and Sunday night were Music Nights in our City Region/corner of the West Riding of Yorkshire. Apart from The Greatest Free Show on Earth, there was the small matter of Elton John, Coldplay and the Arctic Monkeys having concerts in Manchester. By Sunday, Glastonbury was probably nothing on Greenfield; instead of Monsters of Rock, the greatest agglomeration of heavy metal musicians were based in Saddleworth and Tameside.

Trimdon Brass: Sunday Brass at the Boarshurst Band Club (21 May 2023)

First rate performance with enjoyable programme

With only twelve days to go till Whit Friday, Trimdon Brass gave us all an enjoyable concert that got us in the mood for The Greatest Free Show on Earth. It was a most entertaining programme with a nice variety of popular music and concert classics. Like last year’s concert, there was four fabulous solo performances. 

Mossley Band: Sunday Brass at the Boarshurst Band Club (14 May 2023)

Byers and Co dazzle in most impressive concert

There is one thing you can be sure about with Mossley Band. They are a band that never do half measures. This is understandable as the competition is intense, whether vying for Best Open on Whit Friday, or rich pickings on the concert circuit. With the Saddleworth villages being a short drive or walk away, there is competition for players.

Thornton-Cleveleys Brass Band, 30 April 2023: Sunday Brass at the Boarshurst Band Club

Lively concert with enjoyable programme makes for box office hit with audience

It is fair to say that lying in the shadows of Britain’s most popular seaside resort means having to go the extra mile to entertain your paying public. That applies to anybody or any group that sets up home on the Fylde peninsula, from speciality acts to comedians and brass banding types.

Blackpool has a proud tradition of brass banding. The Winter Gardens and Opera House host the British Open Spring Festival and the North West Regional Finals of the National Brass Band Championships of Great Britain. There are numerous brass bands on the Fylde peninsula, and the best known one by far is Thornton-Cleveleys.

Dobcross Youth Band: Sunday Brass at the Boarshurst Band Club (02 April 2023)

Europe’s busiest Youth Band inspire in amazing concert

After a marathon month of concerts and contests, Dobcross Youth Band began Holy Week with a stylish concert on Palm Sunday. It was one with a likeable mix of singable tunes, a classic march, and a major work that deserves more recognition beyond Fourth Section and Youth Section bands.

Tintwistle Band: Sunday Brass at the Boarshurst Band Club (12 March 2023)

First class concert with well thought out programme

In their first concert since the Regional Finals, Tintwistle Band gave its audience a most enjoyable concert at The Mecca of Brass Banding. One with an excellent, well rounded programme with nailed-on classics and a couple of surprises.

Since Andrew Mallon became Musical Director of Tintwistle Band, the band has never failed to deliver a traditional yet engaging concert programme. Whilst being traditional, each concert has offered the listener something new for their ears.

Greater Manchester’s Railway Stations: Less Accessible Than Those in the Scottish Highlands

Twice as many potential passengers lacking step free access at local stations

Greater Manchester seems to have had a rough deal with its railways over the last five years. Over the last five decades, it has more than its fair share of broken promises, from the cancellation of The Picc-Vic Project to today’s meddling with the HS2 project. In the 1990s, we were promised Regional Eurostar trains but we thought the market wasn’t there in the late 1990s thanks to easyJet, Ryanair and Friends. In more recent times, sleepers and international services are having a bit of a revival in mainland Europe.

Today, a simple train trip from Ashton-under-Lyne to Mossley can be an ordeal. Since 2018, you have had to change at Stalybridge (and the connections are pretty tight). Even Stalybridge to Mossley can be an ordeal if you have restricted mobility or a wheelchair. You have to change at Huddersfield due to stepped access on the Yorkshire platform!

Westoe Brass Band: Sunday Brass at the Boarshurst Band Club (05 February 2023)

Classy performance by South Tyneside band in swan song for musical director

All was happy in the Chew valley last night as Westoe Brass Band gave its live and streamed audience another great concert from Boarshurst Band Club. For the regulars who braved the cold conditions on foot, the warmest of receptions could be found, to the tunes of Cole Porter, Paul Lovatt-Cooper and Lionel Richie to name a few.

Diggle Community Brass: Sunday Brass at the Boarshurst Band Club (27 November 2022)

Splendid Boarshurst debut for newly formed band

The height of the COVID pandemic was problematic for musicians of any kind of genre. Brass bands were particularly hardest hit, being as social distancing prevented full band rehearsals and concerts. Many of our existing brass bands had to temporarily downsize or use zoom for virtual 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.