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World class music with a proud history and an exciting future The GUS Band World class music with a proud history and an exciting future The GUS Band World class music with a proud history and an exciting future The GUS Band World class music with a proud history and an exciting future The GUS Band

About The GUS Band

The GUS Band is a world-famous brass band, based in Northampton, England. Originally known as the Munn and Felton Works Band, it was formed by Fred Felton in 1933 in Kettering, England. Since then, the band has gone on to establish itself as one of the leading bands, with a string of titles to its name and regular appearances at the National Brass Band Championships in the Royal Albert Hall.

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Discover our newest performances and recordings

Emaneff March

T. J. Powell

Malaguena

Composed by Ernesto Lecuona, arr. Mark Freeh

Jealousy

Trumpet duet featuring James and Thomas Fountain

Composed by Jacob Grade, arr. John Iveson

To listen to more of our music and see our videos go to the Media page

Latest News

See what’s happenning in the world of GUS

Regionals Workshops for 3rd and 4th Section Bands

Following their recording of the 3rd and 4th Section Regional test pieces last year, the GUS Band were put through their paces again on Sunday 21st January when they took part in two workshops for conductors and players of bands who are going to be playing these pieces.  Facilitated by the British Bandsman and sponsored by Barnes Coaches, over eighty delegates representing bands from afar afield as Northumberland to Cornwall attended the morning or afternoon sessions at the Kings Sutton Millennium Memorial Hall near Banbury, Oxfordshire.

The test piece  to be played by 4th Section bands across the country will be Alan Fearnie’s Music of Jock Tamson, which was commissioned by the Scottish Brass Band Association in 2021.  This was the focus of the morning workshop and the title of the music refers to a Scottish phrase, which can be interpreted as “we are all God’s children” or in this case, “music for everyone!”.  The piece is in three movements: the first, “Nyay Fearties”, is based around a popular Scottish cartoon character, the second, “Inchkeith”, describes the picturesque island in the Firth of Forth while the title of the third is a shortened version of the toast, “Wha’s Like Us?”.

Chris Bond, the Band’s Musical Director, took the Band through some typical warm-up exercises including hymn tunes and a contest march, in this instance the Contestor, before focusing on the test piece.  The band played through the test piece as a performance before zoning in on particular aspects that bands could focus on and demonstrating possible pitfalls when performing the piece.

The afternoon workshop concentrated on the 3rd Section test piece, which this year is Corineus by the GUS Band’s very own Chris Bond.  Corineus was a medieval warrior and legend has it, the founder of Cornwall and the piece is based around his story.  It begins with heraldic fanfares, while the middle section is slower and reflects on Corineus’s daughter’s longing for her husband who has eyes instead for a German princess.  The final section portrays a battle and includes a reference to the Cornish national anthem, Trelawny.

The afternoon forum followed a similar format to the morning’s  and each of the workshops ended with a question and answer session, with some great observations, concerns and queries raised by the delegates for Chris to answer and advise on.  There were lots of appreciative comments from those attending and the GUS Band wishes all the bands in the 3rd and 4th section Regional contest this year the very best of luck.

Where to find us in early 2024!

WHERE TO FIND US IN 2024!

We’ve got a very busy first half of 2024, with plenty of opportunity to see us performing!

Joint concert with Corby Silver Band
🗓️ Saturday 17 February
⏰ 7:30pm
📌 Holy Trinity Church, Near Kettering, NN14 6BQ

Midland Regional Championships
🗓️ Sunday 3 March
⏰ Afternoon
📌 Corby Business Academy

Stroud Sub Rooms
🗓️ Sunday 21 April
⏰ 3pm
📌 George St, Stroud GL5 1AE

Joint concert with Northamptonshire Music and Performing Arts Trust – NMPAT
🗓️ Saturday 27 April
⏰ 6pm
📌 Spinney Theatre, Spinney Hill Road, Spinney Hill, Northampton NN3 6DG

The British Open Grand Shield
🗓️ Saturday 11th May
⏰ All day
📌 The Winter Gardens, Blackpool, FY1 1HL

Morley Town Hall, Leeds International Concert Season
🗓️ Saturday 18 May
⏰ 7:30pm
📌 Town Hall, Queen Street, Morley, Leeds LS27 9BP

 

A Peep Back Over 2023 with The GUS Band

As we approach Christmas, it seems appropriate to pause and take a look back at the year to see what the GUS Band has achieved over the past twelve months before we jingle bell our way head long into the festive season.  An Advent carol proclaims, “Hark the glad sound!” and what sounds there have been emanating from the Northampton-based band this year.

GUS went into 2023 realising that this was the band’s ninetieth year.  With a tag line “Still Mighty at Ninety”, much of the music and the concerts planned for 2023 were focused around this huge milestone.  James Screaton, the band’s principal cornet and archivist, discovered that at the Band’s inaugural rehearsal back in 1933, as the Munn and Felton’s Works band, the march ‘Naworth Castle’ by James Ord Hume was played.  The band’s library no longer had a copy but it was sourced from a band in Australia and GUS performed it again 90 years to the day the band was formed on January 20th.  Shortly after this performance, a reporter and cameraman came along to a rehearsal to film and interview players, which was then shown during the local evening ITV television news.

One thing eagerly anticipated for 2023 was the settling in of the new conducting team.  At the end of 2022, the band had been successful in securing the services of Christopher Bond and David Thornton as Resident and Professional Conductors, respectively, and the players were looking forward to working with them both.  It didn’t take long for the fruits of this new team to ripen when GUS won a convincing victory in February at the Midland Area Brass Band Championships in Corby, playing ‘Red Priest’ by Philip Wilby.

In May, off an early draw at the British Open Grand Shield in Blackpool, the band managed gave a performance that exuded confidence and came away with a respectable 6th place playing “The World Rejoicing”, by Edward Gregson.  A matter of weeks later, the band had great success when it took part in the Whit Friday March contests for the first time in many years.  On a glorious evening, (very unusual for this contest) and despite limping around the Pennines villages in a coach with engine problems, GUS collected three 4ths, a 5th, and a 6th place, and even a ‘Best Euphonium’ prize at the infamous Delph village on the famous contest march by George Allen, ‘Knight Templar’, placing 7th overall.  Not bad from a field of over 120 bands!

Not to be too disappointed at not qualifying for the British Open it was decided that the band should still work up the Open test piece ‘Sand and Stars’ and perform it at the Dr Martin Trust Contest in Yarm, in September. Described throughout the banding world as “exceptionally difficult”, the test piece by Thierry Deleruyelle really tested the band, but GUS rose to the challenge, led on this occasion by Christopher Bond, and put on an amazing performance. Together with a march and a fantastic solo from Rob Fleming, the band’s solo horn player, the band walked away with 1st place, a great contest win.

Then, the National Finals of Great Britain came round in October, where the test piece, to be performed at the famous Royal Albert Hall was “Of Men and Mountains”, by Edward Gregson.  It is such an honour to represent the Midland area at this iconic venue and prestigious event and GUS achieved a highly commendable 8th place, a reflection on the hard work put in by both Christopher and David in preparing the test piece.  As a result of these contest successes, the band has moved up to 11th place in the World Brass Band rankings, a fantastic achievement for this year.

It wasn’t just the conducting team that was new for 2023.  Several new players have joined the GUS ranks over the past twelve months.  On percussion, Marcus, a young and talented player joined the band, who is already making his mark with the team.  Jake, the assistant principal cornet, who has begun his studies at the Royal College of Music, has moved onto the soprano cornet chair.  Chelsea joined the ranks on 1st Horn and we said hello to James, who has joined the band on bass trombone.

Contests provide the band with goals to aim for throughout a year but a lot of the enjoyment comes from performing in concerts.  2023 has been a very busy year and the concert season kicked off in February in a romantic mood at Rothwell’s Holy Trinity church and a concert entitled ‘From Rothwell with Love’.  In April, the band joined forces with the Corby Silver Band at St Peter and St Paul in Kettering and then performed at the Headmaster’s Day at Stowe School in May.  The Party in the Park at Northampton University in July was an extremely wet picnic but at least the band was in the dry at St Mary’s, Titchmarsh for the joint concert with the Thrapston Town band later that month.

The culmination of the Band’s 90th celebrations came in form of a Reunion Concert in September at the Northampton High School.  Following a superb reunion dinner the night before, the band were joined by many former players plus soloists James and Thomas Fountain, Jordan Ashman, and David Thornton who joined the band’s principal euphonium, George Bruce for a rousing duet of Stanley Boddington’s “Endearing Young Charms”.  In total, five GUS conductors (John Berryman, Christopher Bond, Chris Jeans, David Thornton, and Melvin White) of past and present conducted the current GUS band and reunion bands through the concert. Other former players also joined the celebrations in the audience including the eminent euphonium player,  Trevor Groom.  What a fantastic day this was and a fitting way to celebrate the GUS Band’s 90th year.

October saw the band play at beautiful St Peter’s Church, Oundle in a film and musicals themed concert followed by a return to Holy Trinity in Rothwell in November to commemorate Armistice Day.

Well, having taken stock of our achievements this year, there’s little time to pause before the run up to Christmas and the end of this year includes the annual Christmas Spectacular at St Peter and St Paul, Kettering with the Belcanto and Masquerade Choirs.  This is never a concert to miss and this will be proceeded the following week by two days of live performances of the film, ‘The Snowman’ in Barton Seagrave and Brackley.

And for the New Year; what is 2024 going to hold for the Band?  A strong team now looks forward to competing to retain our title at the  Midland championships in March and going North with the aim of conquering Blackpool and qualifying for the British Open in September, and the Band’s diary is already filling up with some exciting concerts planned for the year.

In looking back over the past year, the commitment of the band’s players has been amazing and the time put into rehearsals is immense, let alone the personal practice that is put in at home. The group of players who form the GUS committee also show incredible dedication to running and promoting the band, on top of their playing responsibilities.  With that in mind, the band would like to say a huge thank you for the support of the family and friends of our players too.  Also, there would be no concerts without our loyal following of fans and we want to thank our audiences for your the continued support, and wish you all a Happy Christmas. We look forward to seeing you all again in 2024.

See our latest video

We have managed to stay active over lockdown, and had a lot of fun making several new videos for you to enjoy. To see more of our music videos go to the Media page

The GUS Band, we love to hear from you, whether you’re a supporter of the band, a member of our community, a local arts organisation interested in working with us, or a business who sees the value in partnering with an elite group with deep roots in your community. So please go ahead and drop us a line – we promise you a warm welcome!

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enquiries@gus.band

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    MISSION STATEMENT

    The GUS band — creating world class music with a proud history and an exciting future. Serving our community,
    promoting music education and partnering with local businesses and Arts organisations for the benefit of all.

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