2020 turned out to be a very difficult and strange year for us and many others having to deal with the Covid-19 outbreak.
Dougie Down
2020 turned out to be a very difficult and strange year for us and many others having to deal with the Covid-19 outbreak.
After a very busy Christmas 2019 period the Band took a short break before resuming practice again. We managed to hold our Annual General Meeting on 2 February, but then had to go into total lockdown in March. This left us with no rehearsals and no indication of when we might be able to resume. We also were obliged to cancel all our bookings for the year, including Brass on Grass, Port Navas Regatta and our usual Christmas commitments for 2020.
Whilst all this was going on we had to remove all our band equipment and instruments normally stored in the Church Hall in exchange for a donation due to the Church giving up the lease on the building. This left us with a headache finding alternative temporary storage. Consequently, our equipment and instruments are currently spread all over the village! In the longer term we are hoping to replace our old rusted and leaky container with a new one so that all our stuff can be stored safely and securely in one place again.
Once again, we wish to thank the Constantine Social Club for all the help they give us over the year, for without them we would be in a very difficult place. Many thanks for all your support.
Like everyone, we wait to see what the future holds. Hopefully 2021 will be a better year for us all. In the meantime, Constantine Silver Band wishes all its supporters a happy and healthy New Year.
With 2020 on hold because of the Coronavirus pandemic, we’ve pulled the one-armed-bandit of time and come up with 2002, perhaps one of Constantine Silver Band’s finest years to look back on.
With 2020 on hold because of the Coronavirus pandemic, we’ve pulled the one-armed-bandit of time and come up with 2002, perhaps one of Constantine Silver Band’s finest years to look back on.
2002 kicked off in professional style in May with the official launch at Constantine Social Club of the Band’s first ever CD and tape cassette entitled ‘One of The Best’. Recorded by Paul Martyn of PM Sound, this wide-ranging collection of tracks from the Band’s repertoire has since found its way to appreciative audiences as far afield as New York, Sydney, Frankfurt and the Netherlands. On the evening, Band Chairman Dougie Down thanked the then Musical Director Ian Edwards for his hard work in bringing the Band up to recording standard, and Band Secretary Chris Reynolds for securing sponsorship.
Constantine Band and the Nieuwediepervisserkoor
The end of May then saw Constantine Silver Band embark on a concert tour of Holland, the result of a 30-year friendship between Band member Brian Edwards and Bart Kraak, a founder member of the 100-strong Den Helder Fishermans’ Male Voice Choir who kept asking when the Band would cross the North Sea to perform for Dutch audiences. On 28 May, 64 Band members and officers travelled to Den Helder on the northernmost tip of the Dutch mainland where they were officially welcomed by the city’s Mayor during rehearsal at their hotel.
Constantine Band at the Floriade
The Band’s first concert took place two days later at the Floriade, an international horticultural exhibition held every ten years near Amsterdam attracting over 3 million visitors between April and October. Their performance was the first by a British band at this event. Then it was off to the centre of Amsterdam to play at the Heineken Experience, then one of the city’s newest tourist attractions. Playing between the copper vats, the Band ‘refreshed the parts that other bands cannot reach’ by entertaining brewery visitors, again the first time by a British band at the Heineken Experience.
After a day’s rest, sightseeing back in Den Helder, the Band took the stage again that evening at the Nogalweidus Restaurant whose owner provided a free meal for members in appreciation of their performance, which was rounded off with a traditional sing-song.
Marching through Den Helder with standard bearers Dougie Down (Constantine Band banner), David Cotterill (Dutch flag) and Tony Waddington (St Piran’s flag)
On Day 3 of the tour, the Band were up early to play at the official opening of Den Helder’s Day of Music in the city square after which they processed through the city centre led by standard bearers Dougie Down (Constantine Silver Band banner), David Cotterill (Dutch flag) and Tony Waddington (St Piran’s flag). The entire band and supporters were then treated to a lunch at the Visserhall by the Den Helder Fisherman’s Male Voice Choir before an afternoon practice with them in readiness for the evening’s sell-out final concert also featuring the Rejoice 60-strong ladies’ choir. Each gave a 30-minute performance with the Band giving two encores, followed by a massed choir and band rendition of Glory Glory Hallelujah. Solos by Belinda Reynolds on cornet, Aly Smith on flugelhorn, Cecil Bennetts on euphonium, Greg Williams on trombone, and an unforgettable performance on bass drum by Tony Waddington were loudly applauded.
After a farewell get-together and exchange of mementos of the occasion with their Dutch counterparts, the Band returned to Constantine on Sunday 2 June but were back to engagements the very next morning at the Mabe Shindig followed by Constantine’s Jubilee celebrations in the afternoon. The Band’s hectic summer programme continued with sometimes more than one appearance each week at local venues and events including the Princess Pavilion, Constantine Agricultural Show, Poldhu Carolaire, Constantine Garden Show, Brass on Grass, Port Navas Regatta, Lizard Lifeboat Day, Constantine Carnival, Harvest Festival and many more.
But surely the Band’s crowning triumph of its 25th year was to become Fourth Section Southwest Brass Band Association Champions at the SWBBA contest in Torquay for the first time in November 2002. A fitting end to a golden year for Constantine’s Silver Band.
With 2020 on hold because of the Coronavirus pandemic, we’ve pulled the one-armed-bandit of time and come up with 2002, perhaps one of Constantine Silver Band’s finest years to look back on.
