An online copy of Harmony, the newsletter of the Oxford and District Band Association will be posted here shortly.
7th October 2007.
On 7th October, ODBBA held its annual Entertainments Contest. Five bands took part in two sections. The Association would like to thank everybody involved in helping to create such a successful day; the adjudicators (Mr Alan Mossford and Mr Philip Burditt), the contest stewards, Nicola Solesbury and her team of caterers, Wheatley Primary School, the British Federation of Brass Bands (for kindly allowing use of the registration cards), Aldbrickham Music for sponsoring the day's prizes and last - but certainly not least - all the bands who gave us all a great day of outstanding entertainment. We hope you all enjoyed your day as much as the ODBBA committee did, and we look forward to welcoming you all to our future events. As always, please feel free to contact members of the committee with any feedback you may have.
29th April 2007.
On April 29th, ODBBA held its popular Brass Festival contest for the 60th consecutive year. Over 100 entries were received which, while down slightly on last year, still gave plenty of opportunity for the talented musicians of the Oxfordshire area to show off their impressive skills. ODBBA were especially pleased to welcome entrants from outside of the Association, with entries from as far afield as Gloucestershire, Northamptonshire, Lincolnshire and London. The adjudicators - the ever popular Mr. Nigel Horne and Mr. Dougall Prophet - remarked on the improvement of many players since last year. An extremely high standard of playing was the order of the day, which meant that the adjudicators had a very difficult job. It is especially heartening that such a wide age-range of players (from 8 years old to considerably more mature!!) took part, with - as always at this event - the vast majority of entrants being under 19 years old. The Association would like to thank all of the competitors who took part for making the day such a resounding success, and we very much hope to see you all again next year. Full results will be posted in the Results Archive shortly.
The next Oxfordshire and District Brass Band Association event will be the Lord Mayor of Oxford's Parade which will involve the ODBBA Massed Band. This will take place on May 12th, 2007.
25th November 2006.
On November 25th, the ODBBA Massed Band took part in the Oxford Festive Parade. With 39 members from 11 local bands (including a substantial number of players from the recently-formed Oxford University Band), the Massed Band played a couple of pieces in the Castle Square which got the crowd clapping after marching through the City as part of the parade. This is the second parade the Band has taken part in this year, and the City have already booked the band for the same event next year. The Association would like to thank all the players who took part on the day, and to ODBBA President Ron Sudworth for acting as Bandmaster. Thanks are also due in particular to Association secretary Dennis Barlow for organising everyone and liaising with the City to ensure that the day went smoothly.