A group of players from GUS plus some friends of the Band came together to provide an evening of brass entertainment at St Peters, Gaulby in Leicestershire, on 27th October 2021.
The 16th century church isn’t large enough to host a full brass band and the St Peter’s audience are more used to hearing performances by smaller groups including flute, harp and cello. So this was a unique opportunity to hear brass music played in the church and the ten piece got together to perform a varied programme including several classic pieces by Charpentier, Lerner and Lowe, Premru and Jim Carter arranged for brass ensemble.
Food and drink was provided by ‘The Table’ before the audience sat down to enjoy the evening’s musical feast. The church, unaccustomed to the sounds of brass, cleared itself of a resident bat and provided a wonderful acoustic for the ten players, James Screaton, Gary Sherlock, Marcus Pain and John Pacey on trumpet, Simon Smith, (horn) Alex Hewins, Savannah Bone, Paul Yarrow and Alex Crutchley on trombones and Jen McCausland on tuba.
The concert also included Beethoven’s Three Equali for four trombones, a lively rendition of Tico Tico given on trumpet by James, (who knew until explained during the concert that a Tico Tico is a sparrow?) and a classy rendition of A Londonderry Air provided by Alex Hewins on trombone. Finally, the evening was rounded off by a rousing rendition of Chris Hazell’s Kraken.
As well as being brass band enthusiasts, Mark and Mel are huge rugby fans, so much so that the pair were due to attend the 2021 British and Irish Lions Rugby tour in South Africa this year as part of their honeymoon.