As the GUS Band prepares to take its summer break, we thought it would be a good time to take a look back at the year so far and see what the band has achieved over the past seven months.
Our public performances in 2025 began with the Regionals Test Piece Workshop held in Oxford in February, where the band worked through the Lower Section Test Pieces in an open rehearsal format. This was closely followed by a concert in Crawley at The Hawth, a lovely venue to perform in and one that the band has performed at many times now.
With a fantastic Midland Area Championship win in March, ensuring that GUS once again represents the Midlands at the National Finals at the Royal Albert Hall this year, we moved into April and a visit to the Kettering Arts Centre with a Night at the Movies and Musicals. There was also a visit to St Peter’s Church in Oundle for another highly enjoyable concert.
The month of May saw the band travel north to the Grand Shield competition at the Blackpool Winter Gardens and there were also concerts at Oakham School and at the Stowe School’s annual Speech Day. Then there was the Wallace and Gromit: The Wrong Trousers live performance last month at the Royal Theatre in Northampton, which was a great success and enjoyably different from our usual concert format. Finally, just before we broke for the summer, the band went back into the recording studio with the World of Sound; more on this to come soon.
We sadly had to say goodbye to Noah Blythe on Third Cornet but we wish him lots of success in his new position as Principal Cornet of the Newstead Band. We were very excited though to welcome into the world our Principal Baritone, Sarah Lenton’s new baby daughter, Iris.
Once the GUS Band returns after our well-earned break, we will be straight into a busy schedule with a Last Night of the Proms concert back at the Kettering Arts Centre on 30th August. There’s also a joint concert with Brackley Band at St Peter’s Church, Brackley on 26th September. We’ll then be off to London again in October for the National Finals in London and then a long journey up to The Glass House in Gateshead in November to compete in the Brass In Concert Championships.
As usual, to all our loyal supporters we say thank you for continuing to come and listen to us and please keep an eye out for our forthcoming concert dates and get them in the diary. We’ll see you there!