YEARLY REVIEW
2000

Discover more about the bands history by reading our yearly reviews and delving into the Press Archive.

The big news for the band this year was that we qualified for the finals of the National Brass Band Championships of Great Britain at the Royal Albert Hall on Saturday 21st October. We won our place at the qualifying contest at the Gordon Craig Theatre Stevenage on Saturday 18th March. This is the first time in the band’s 103 year history that we have qualified to play at the Royal Albert Hall.
After qualifying for the finals of the National Brass Band Championships, we notched up one win and a second place. At the Southern Counties Entertainment contest we came second, this was the first time that we had competed against championship section bands. At the Southern Counties Spring Contest we not only won but came away with the march prize and a further three trophies. Our musical director John Williams was awarded the conductor’s trophy, John Kidby, Irene Boyle and Mary Williams won the best horn section and our bass trombonist Mike Saville walked off with the prize for the best trombonist.
We emerged as one of the top bands in our section in the country after finishing eighth in the National Brass Band Championships. The band was competing in the final against sixteen other bands that had qualified from eight different local area qualifying contests giving a total of one hundred and eleven bands across the country. Musical Director John Williams was happy with the way we played and all band members thoroughly enjoyed the fantastic experience of playing in such a famous venue. Adjudicators Alan Hope and Tony Swainson gave some very positive comments on the band’s performance, giving particular credit to John Williams for his stylistic interpretation of the set work Abstractions by the Norwegian composer Torstein Aagaard-Nilsen. Soloists within the band were also complimented and both adjudicators felt we created a good atmosphere in our performance.
Last year we spread our wings to give a concert at Rogate Village Hall to a packed crowd. This year we gave a concert at The Grange Centre Midhurst on Saturday 15th April starting at 7:30pm. At the summer Festivities Concert we featured our principal euphonium player Gordon Oakley in the veritable tour de force for euphonium, the Theme & Variations on Grandfather’s Clock. Gordon was another recent recruit to the band and in the past he has been the principal Euphonium of the Junior Guildhall School of Music Brass Band and a member of the National Youth Brass Band of Great Britain. The Training Band will also be played a set at this concert.
After a gap of several years we returned to the Alexandra Theatre in Bognor, on Saturday 16th September. This was a joint concert with Worthing Salvation Army Band and was a new venture for both groups.
We also put on two free concerts in the Autumn, one the night before our appearance at the Royal Albert Hall and in early November in Chichester Cathedral.
CCTB’s big project for this year was to raise enough money to purchase a set of 40 uniform waistcoats. The design will match the jackets worn by Chichester City Band to show that CCTB is part of the same family. The band was out in force in the precinct during the summer and Christmas periods.
CCTB lost three members at the end of the summer. Iona Brand, Catherine Jarman and Jamie Addison had exams looming and playing for both the main band and CCTB will proved too much.
Principal cornet Alf Frost gave birth to baby Jessie Alex. Alf was still playing for the band the day before she was due to give birth. Congratulations to Alf, Dad Kevin Hughes (who plays soprano cornet in the band) and older brother Charlie.
The band website was also relaunched this year appearing at the new address of www.chicityband.co.uk.