The bands 125 year anniversary celebration concert was held at 19.30 on Saturday 10 September 2005 at St. George's Church, Gravesend. Most of the proceeds from the tickets, priced at £6 or £5 for concessions, went to a local charity "Arrow Riding Centre for the disabled". We would like to thank Rev. Rock Sturt for the use of the church for the event, and for members of the church for the refreshments during the interval. The deputy mayor Councillor Harry Smith attended on behalf of Gravesham Council.
The concert depicted the types of music the band would have played over its lifetime. It also involved our training band, and a saxophone quartet all of whom are band members.
The weather was very hot and humid at the start of the concert, and much of the music played early on in the concert was demanding on the musicians stamina. By the time the interval arrived many felt as if they were wilting. Thankfully during the interval the weather broke, the light rain that fell caused the temperature and humidity to drop a little, reviving the musicians for the second half.
One of the tunes played in the second half was the march "Ubique" dedicated to the band on its 125th anniversary by its composer Bob Grimes, who is one of our trombonists.
| Category | Title | Composer | Arranger |
|---|---|---|---|
| March | RADETZKY MARCH | Strauss | T.L.Sharpe |
| Overture | LUSTSPIEL | K.Bela | |
| Waltz | THE GRENADIERS WALTZ | E.Waldteufel | |
| Descriptive | EARLY ONE MORNING | R.B.Bashford | |
| Selection | THE LATE TWENTIES | T.L.Sharpe | |
| Contest Overture | THE ADVENTURERS | A.W.Ketelby | |
| Selection | ME & MY GIRL | Noel Gay | T.L.Sharpe |
| JUNIOR BAND (Baton : Beverley Prankard) | |||
| March | THE TWO RG's | R.Grimes LRAM ARCM | |
| Selection | DISNEY BLOCKBUSTERS | John Higgins | |
| Misc. | BANDSTAND RAGTIME | Stuart Johnson | |
| INTERVAL |
|||
| March | THE DAM BUSTERS | Eric Coates | W.J.Duthoit |
| SAXOPHONE QUARTET | |||
| Misc. | DON'T SIT UNDER THE APPLE TREE | ||
| Misc. | CHATTANOOGA CHOO CHOO | ||
| Selection | OKLAHOMA | R.Rodgers | D.G.Lawrence |
| Selection | TRIBUTE TO GLENN MILLER | H.Gass | |
| Trumpet Solo | THE LAZY TRUMPETER (Soloist: Graeme Couves) |
E.Siebert | |
| Misc. | TANGO FOR BAND | Glenn Osser | |
| Selection | MARY POPPINS | R&R Sherman | A.Rood |
| March | UBIQUE | R.Grimes LRAM ARCM | |
| Finale Selection | HOOTENANNY | Harold L.Walters | |
| NATIONAL ANTHEM | |||
In all the concert went of very well. The sense of occasion, and the large responsive audience, lifted the bands performance to a high. We would like to thank our friends from other local bands who came and played alongside us for the evening to swell our numbers and our sound, and also our compere for the evening Mr. Robert Hardy.
Our main conductor for the evening was Colin Brown BEM who has directed the band for much of the past 25 years.
Tribute to Glenn Miller and The Lazy Trumpeter were conducted by Dennis Gabbitus who has been one of our deputy conductors for over 25 years.
We have a number of photos of the concerts courtesy of Celia Bullen of the Arrow Riding Centre.