With over 100 tickets sold in support of Lancaster Men’s Hub, there was a lot of excitement leading up to our Charity Christmas Concert on Wednesday 11th December, as well as a few healthy nerves in anticipation!

With the audience settled at King’s Community Church, the band made their entrance down the aisle, ready for their opening number, Pioneers March, a jaunty Salvation Army march which kicked off the concert.

The first half took the audience on a journey through music from the movies, with Mary Poppins, Those Magnificent Men In Their Flying Machines and a magical rendition of music from John William’s score of Harry Potter and the Philosophers Stone.

A good sprinkling of Christmas classics delighted the audience, with Sarah Chaloner on Cornet playing a beautiful solo of Away in a Manger. The band swayed along to Schneewalzer (not necessarily all in the same direction!), and kept the energy up with the Reindeer Express, before finishing off with crowd (and Terry Wogan) favourite Floral Dance.

It was then time for cups of tea and mince pies during the interval, while the band mingled with friends and family, and people took the opportunity to chat to Lancaster Men’s Hub about their work.

The second half saw a rousing kick off with Abba Gold, which the band had played at Kirkby Lonsdale Contest 6 months earlier, winning Most Entertaining Band, just one of three trophies bought home that day and all three were proudly displayed through the whole evening’s performance The audience were well warmed up by this point, singing Mamma Mia at the top of their voices!

An alternative version of Jingle Bells was next, with Feliz Navidad being an unexpected latin twist to the Christmas tunes.

Debbie Taylor then played the solo on How Great Thou Art, another piece that won an award at Kirkby in summer.

Sleigh ride bought us back into December, with a lovely arrangement of Candlelight Carol before we heard from Mark Reynolds from Lancaster Men’s Hub, thanking the band and audience for their efforts.

It was then into a very jolly last two pieces, with A Christmas Pop Selection featuring Wham, Band Aid, John and Yoko and Boney M, and Christmastime, which had been arranged by the bands previous Musical Director, Laurie Johnstone featuring some classic carols.

Raucous applause came from the audience, and the answer to ‘Do you want one more piece?’ was met with a resounding yes! So it was time for a very strong finish with Slade’s Merry Christmas Everybody, again with plenty of audience participation!

The audience were brilliant, the band worked hard, and on top of it all, over £1000 was raised for Lancaster Men’s Hub! We’re really looking forward to hearing how the money is spent over the next year.

Thank you so much to everyone who bought a ticket, helped out on the door and with refreshments, the players that came along from neighbouring bands to help us out, King’s Community Church for hosting, and many more!

From all at Lancaster City Brass, we wish you a Merry Christmas and a Happy New Year.