Band News

The Youth Band put on another spectacular performance at this year’s annual Horbury Show, captivating the audience with their eclectic and entertaining set list. From the grandeur of traditional brass band music, they soared through Prismatic Light, a vibrant piece full of energy.

The mood then shifted, delighting both young and old with a beautiful cornet solo of You Raise Me Up. The set included further solos from across the band, while the full band brought film music to life with a stirring rendition of Into the Unknown from Frozen 2. The band's ability to seamlessly blend the rich, powerful sounds of brass with the magic of film music created a dynamic experience that had the crowd cheering for more! The band certainly demonstrated why they remain a beloved part of the Horbury Show’s legacy.

It was a sunny Saturday morning for the Youth Band's annual Horbury Street Fayre performance.

The audience gathered at the steps of St Peter and St Leonard's Church Horbury to listen to the entertaining programme of pieces. The band shared the sounds of their talented soloists and full band hits such as You Can't Stop The Beat (Hairspray) and The Final Countdown.

The Senior Band delivered a memorable performance at their annual "An Evening With Horbury Victoria Brass Band" concert held at Ossett Town Hall, where both the band and the audience enjoyed a truly special night of music. Under the expert baton of conductor Duncan Beckley MBE, the band showcased a dynamic and entertaining programme that captivated listeners from start to finish.

The concert was a resounding success, filled with energy, musical excellence, comedy, and a shared sense of community spirit.

For those who missed it, check out our social pages for snippets of the evening!

Instagram: @horburyvictoriaband

Facebook: @horburyvictoria

On Tuesday 20th May a group of our Senior Band had the privilege of attending the assembly at The Mount Junior, Infant & Nursery school in Wakefield. During which they spoke to the children about their brass instruments, and played a few songs for them, including the Bluey theme tune which went down a storm!

It was a delightful and inspiring morning, the children were fantastic, listening and engaging with the band. Huge smiles all around!

Our summer combined showcase at St Mary's Church Horbury Junction was a huge success!

Learner band made their debut on stage giving a great rendition of 'If You're Happy and You Know It!' among other pieces.

Intermediate and Youth band gave fantastic performances, demonstrating their skills and progress over the season. We celebrated 6 of our Intermediate players (pictured) moving into Youth band.

Senior band provided further entertainment before all four of our Horbury Victoria bands came together for the grand finale - with a total of 62 players in stage together!

We are pleased to say the Youth Band achieved a Silver certificate in this weekend's competition. We are immensely proud of the band.

Congratulations to Shepherd Youth, Pembrokeshire Youth & St Austell Youth on their top 3 finishes.

I have a feeling our Youth band will be looking for more success in the future! If you know young brass players around grade 5 or above that don't already play with us, message now for more info!

Tonight, our Youth band players have been putting the finishing touches on their programme for the National Youth Finals in Hull, tomorrow morning.

With only 15 minutes to impress the judges, they've picked a challenging set list featuring:

Prismatic Light - a lively fanfare opener by Alan Fernie

Grandfathers Clock - a tricky Euphonium solo played by our young star Toby Garner

Abide with Me - a simple hymn tune featuring multiple solo players

Farandole - a traditional Overture that really pushes everyone in the band

It's the first time Horbury youth band has competed since 2018, so it's the first time on a competition stage for most of the players. We've got a very early start, as the band has been drawn to play 2nd out of 21 bands! Please wish us luck!

On the 2nd of March, Horbury Victoria Band will compete in the Championship Section Regionals at Huddersfield Town Hall for the second time (ever). Remaining in the top section for another year would be a huge acheivement for us, but we're relishing the challenge.

To help us to prepare, we took our test piece (Diversions for Brass Band by Derek Bourgeois) to NEMBBA contest this weekend and competed against four other bands all playing the same piece. We were happy with how we played - and we finished in a very respectable 3rd position. That gives us a great baseline, and the feedback from the adjudicator gives us some areas to work on. Over the next fortnight we'll have chance to refine the smaller details that will help us to improve our performance.

It's not just the senior players who are working towards a contest. Horbury Youth Band is currently preparing an entertainment programme for the National Youth Finals at the end of March. This will be the first time that the youth band has entered a competition since 2018, before any of the current members joined!

Both the Senior and Youth band will be previewing their pieces at an open rehearsal in Horbury next week, so watch this space!

Over the weekend, both our senior and youth bands took to the stage for their final engagements of the year.

The senior band played their big Christmas concert at the Methodist church in Horbury under the baton of musical director Duncan Beckley MBE. Featuring solos from Jess Howison, Jeff Wong, Charlie Welch, Liz Oxley, Michael Dodd, and a poignant farewell solo from departing trombonist Owen Pennicotte-Henrie, the event was a roaring success. This is one of our favourite concerts of the year, and it's always lovely to hear the audience responding to how much the band is progressing.

Then on Sunday morning the youth band (under M.D. Michael Dodd) accompanied carols at St. Mary's church service, before giving a short Christmas concert to the congregation. Faye Geary and George Garside performed solos, and got everybody into the Christmas spirit.

There is still a bit more from us - you can catch carollers from the band in Horbury tomorrow morning between 10 and 12, and there will be a team going round selected pubs on Christmas Eve! Look out for us!

We want to wish everybody who supports and follows us a wonderful Christmas and a peaceful New Year!

On Saturday night, our junior musicians took to the stage for their annual Winter Showcase, under the baton of Michael Dodd. Featuring players from absolute beginners to the Youth band, they put on a performance to remember.

The evening featured solos from three players who were accepted into the National Youth Band of Great Britain this week - Will Lord (Cornet), George Garside (Flugel) and Sam Dodd (E♭ Bass). Toby Garner (Euphonium), already a member of the National Childrens Band of Great Britain, also performed a rousing version of Grandfathers Clock.

As well as our established principal players, Jack Foulds on E♭ Bass stepped up to play his first solo. It's always a scary moment, but he really nailed his rendition of The Zik-Zak Rag.

We are delighted to announce that two of our other youth band players, Faye Geary and Felix Bagley, have also been accepted into the ranks of the National Children's Band.

The success of our young players is very exciting, and we hope that they will become our stars of the future.

Once again our senior band were out in Horbury this morning supporting the British Legion and all the local community groups in the village parade. Many hundreds of people came out to take part in the act of Remembrance. This day serves as a solemn reminder of the bravery, commitment, and resilience shown by so many who gave their lives for the freedoms we hold today. It is our privilege to mark this day with music and reverence.

Lest we forget

Over the past few weeks, our senior band has been busy rehearsing for some upcoming contests, but last night they ventured out of the bandroom, to provide the entertainment for The Mayor of Wakefield’s Charity Concert, in the grand surroundings of The Kingswood Suite at the town hall. Thank you to The Right Worshipful the Mayor of the City of Wakefield Metropolitan District (Councillor Darren Byford) for inviting us to perform, and to everyone who attended and helped make this event an enjoyable and successful one!

This morning has seen the announcement of the King's Birthday honours and we are proud to announce our Senior Band MD, Mr Duncan Beckley, has become a Member of the Order of the British Empire (MBE) for his continued and dedicated services to Music.

Duncan started his musical journey playing the Flugel Horn and progressed quickly to Tuba, playing with many brass bands, including Horbury Victoria. Music quickly became his life. He studied at Sheffield University and spent many years teaching across West Yorkshire schools. As a conductor and band trainer, he has travelled throughout Great Britain gaining many awards, trophies and contest wins (over 100 of them!) along the way, with a plethora of different bands. Having spent 27 years with Newstead Brass, he is now into his 14th year with HVB.

He recently revealed he believes his greatest achievement in banding is developing Horbury from a 3rd section standard band, up to a Championship section graded band.

We are incredibly proud of Duncan and his MBE is most deserved.

There was a big surprise for Will and Faye, our youth and intermediate band principal cornet players, when they came to rehearsals on Friday - brand new cornets!

The band recently received a bequest from the estate of one of our late supporters which enabled the purchase of these instruments. As an organisation we are extremely grateful for such kindness and generosity; it helps us continue to strengthen our provision, developing the next generation of brass players.

What an experience to walk out on the Huddersfield stage as a Championship Section band!

We're so proud of what we've done over the last ten years, with mostly the same group of players around the stands. As recently as 2015 we were competing in the 3rd Section. A massive thanks to Duncan Beckley who has guided us up the banding pyramid to the highest level.

On the day we finished in 11th place, with some really positive feedback from the banding publications in the hall. Our bass player, Sam Dodd, was also the youngest player in the top section. Anybody who knows Variations on an Enigma will know what an achievement it was for him to tackle the solos in the E♭ Bass part at 15 years old!

Congratulations to the winners, Black Dyke, along with Brighouse & Rastrick and Carlton Main who will be representing Yorkshire in the National finals.

Excitingly, our result was enough to secure us another year in the Championship Section, so we'll be doing it all again next March!

The big day has finally arrived. The band take to the stage this afternoon to compete in their historic first Championship section regionals at Huddersfield Town Hall.

We've worked so hard in the last two months to learn Philip Sparke's challenging piece of music, "Variations on an Enigma". We're really proud of how well we can play it, so now it's time to show the big boys what we can do!

Today is about putting on a show that we can be proud of. We're up against the very best, so the band deserve to go out there and enjoy this momentous occasion!

Wish us luck!

This weekend the band competed in the Championship section for the very first time, at the NEMBBA contest.

The contest featured 3 bands and we placed 2nd. Our solo Euphonium Michael Dodd also won the best Euphonium prize.

Most importantly we had a great day out and gained valuable stage time in our run up to the Yorkshire Regionals in just two weeks.

Congratulations to Newstead Brass on their victory!

This weekend, the band took part in the NEMBBA brass band contest in Derbyshire, competing against other first section bands.

We elected to play our national finals test piece again. The band played really well and we are delighted to have won the competition. This is our second NEMBBA contest victory of 2023.

Our soprano player, Charlie Welch, received the best instrumentalist prize on the day - his second individual win of the year.

The contest marked the final performance with HVB for cornet player Luke Briggs, who we wish all the best in his future endeavours. It also marked a first contest performance for Will Lord - long may he continue!

Huge thanks to our local councillors who have helped us to secure a £5000 grant to fund young player development.

The money has been invested in a selection of new instruments which will help us to teach the stars of the future.

It's finally here! We're heading down to Cheltenham later today, and over the weekend Horbury Victoria Band will compete in the 1st Section National Finals for the first time ever.

We've put in a lot of work over the last 3 months and the band is sounding better than ever. We're ready to represent Horbury and Yorkshire!

An enormous thanks to everybody who has helped us to get to the contest - to families of the players for their patience and to anybody who has attended our concerts and fundraisers over the summer.

Wish us luck!

A massive thanks to our friends at the West Riding Masonic Community fund who have provided us with a generous instrument grant to help us grow.

We used the funds to purchase a B♭ Bass, allowing us to transfer the existing instrument into the youth setup and continue the cycle of development.

We couldn't do what we do without the generous support of our local community, and we are extremely grateful!

Congratulations to the band!

Taking part at the Yorkshire Regional competition in Huddersfield on March 4th, we put in an excellent showing on the assigned test piece "A Day in the Life of a Knight" by Phil Lawrence.

The adjudicators praised our performance and awarded us the 2nd place trophy, from a field of 13 competitors. This earned us a place to compete at the National Finals in September, representing the Yorkshire Region.

Special mention needs to be made to Charlie Welch, who tackled the challenging soprano cornet part in a test piece written by a former soprano player! He knocked it out of the park and received his own award for being the best soprano player in the section.

The band is going from strength to strength. Second place in the first section represents the band's highest ever position in a grading competition, and our first ever qualification for the National Finals in this section of banding.

Most excitingly, combined with our solid performances in 2020 and 2022, this result promotes us into the Championship section from 2024. This is the top level of banding, alongside the likes of Black Dyke, Grimethorpe and Brighouse & Rastrick!

In its 157 year history Horbury Victoria has never reached this level of competition!