Sale Brass: Sunday Brass at the Boarshurst Band Club, 07 May 2023

A most enjoyable concert for the Coronation Bank Holiday weekend

In the space of 31 hours, Boarshurst Band Club moved from Hail To The King to Hail To The Sale with a most enjoyable concert. For the second Bank Holiday Weekend in a row, its live and streamed audience were treated to a concert that was high on entertainment, and easy going on the technical side.

Elland Silver Band: Sunday Brass at the Boarshurst Band Club (23 April 2023)

Outstanding concert with great entertainment value and excellent solos

1995 was a pivotal moment in football history and brass banding history. Firstly, a certain ex-Liverpool player said you couldn’t win anything with kids. Back then, Newcastle United under Kevin Keegan was wowing home fans and neutrals with their swashbuckling play – even with the sale of Andy Cole to Manchester United. In the end, that very Kids Team went on to win a double and more trophies afterwards.

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!

The Trans-Pennine Ten Pound Challenge

Can you cross the Pennines by bus for a tenner?

With the £2.00 single fare in full swing on our buses, we have a once-in-a-lifetime opportunity to go to some weird and wonderful places for the price of a red top tabloid’s holiday offer. As well as offering great savings on a bog-standard journey from Preston to Walton-le-Dale, it offers potential for lengthier trips if you don’t mind travelling at a more leisurely pace.

Terrific Two Quid Bus Trip Tips

Scenic single journeys on a £2.00 single ticket

Three months on from the start of Greater Manchester’s £2.00 fare scheme, the Department for Transport began a similar scheme at the start of this month. In many parts of the UK, a £2.00 bus trip typically covers six stops. Outside Greater London, a five mile journey could be as high as £4.70 one way, encouraging many passengers to plump for the operator’s day rover tickets or season tickets.

Littleborough Band: Sunday Brass at the Boarshurst Band Club (11th December 2022)

Enjoyable concert sees Littleborough Band turn the Christmas spirit up to eleven

A brass band is for life, not just for Christmas. Many people associate brass bands with Christmas, whether occasional concerts or supermarket jobs. As well as giving the band a high public profile, it is good for their finances. It allows them to keep going all year round, enables them to be part of the community and enter regional and national contests.

Marsden Silver Prize Band: Sunday Brass at the Boarshurst Band Club (4th December 2022)

Lofty and Co. lifts audience with polished performance

Christmas is getting closer now. As you would expect, brass bands the world over would be polishing their festive programme. It is a busy time for many bands, whether private functions, live concerts or supermarket gigs. For many people, seeing their local brass band is a part of their Christmas as much as turkey and stuffing or falling asleep in front of the latest James Bond movie.

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.

Phoenix Brass Ensemble: Sunday Brass at the Boarshurst Band Club (2nd October 2022)

Classy ensemble kicks off Poppy Appeal in style

Since moving to its present-day premises in 1979, Boarshurst Band Club has played host to the finest bands and some of the finest players in the brass banding world. Getting the pick of each band’s finest players together in the same room is easier said than done.