After much planning and preparation, the band finally found themselves in Youghal, Co. Cork to give a concert supporting of Cancer Research. This had been a dream of Denis Desmond, Deputy Principal Cornet, who not only masterminded the whole trip, but was also the Musical Director and Compère for the concert itself.
The concert took place in St. Mary’s Collegiate Church, a fine structure dating back to the 13th Century, and by 7.30pm on the night of the concert it was standing room only as the band entered to perform their first item, ‘Fanfares and Flourishes for a Festive Occasion’ by James Curnow, who used a part of 'Charpentier’s Te Deum' to base his own work on. This features the cornets and trombones as fanfare instruments, and once they had finished and taken their places back in the band it was time for the more contemplative ‘Simple Gifts’, an American shaker song written in 1848 by Joseph Brackett and arranged for band by Goff Richards, a composer and arranger whose work featured heavily in this particular concert programme.
There then followed the first solo item of the evening - Principal Euphonium Sarah Bell performing ‘Benedictus’ from ‘The Armed Man’, a modern Mass for Peace composed by Karl Jenkins and arranged for band by Tony Small.
The next Goff Richards piece followed - ‘A Special Place’, highly appropriate for this concert, as it was written in 2003 to help raise funds for the South West Children’s Hospice.
The band then took a short rest whilst the audience were entertained by the Killeagh Choir, conducted by Mary Pedder-Daly. Following this, two of the choir soloists, Angela Davis and Theresa O’Sullivan remained behind to perform, accompained by the band, César Franck’s version of Panis Angelicus (arr. Frank Wright) which originally formed part of the Sacris Solemnis written by St. Thomas Aquinas.
More Goff Richards followed this, with the upbeat ‘Confection for Brass’, written for the centenary celebration of the Rowntree factory in York.
This was in turn followed by a complete contrast in John Williams’ ‘Hymn to the Fallen’ featuring Principal Percussion, Daniel Andrews. This is an arrangement by Klass van der Woude of a well known piece of music from the film 'Saving Private Ryan'.
The first half closed with ‘Gaelforce’, written by Peter Graham, a well known Salvationist composer, which featured not only Elaine Laurence as flugel soloist, but also introduced a local musician, Bodhran player Tom McCarthy who joined with the band in this collection of three traditional Irish folk tunes - The Rocky Road to Dublin, the Minstrel Boy and Tossing the Feathers.
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The second part of the concert started following a no-nonsense raffle draw courtesy of Denis’s sisters - They are welcome to come and show us how it’s done more often, as I have never seen such a slick performance….
