Concert band celebrating 30 years of music and family
It's been a place for people to come and play music and be part of an extended family.
Bridgtown Concert Show Band is a traditional concert band made up of musicians of all ages and abilities and has, over the last 30 years, helped many aspiring musicians to be able to learn music and play in concerts in the UK and across Europe.
Since forming from a group of scouts in 1993 as a marching band, the band have played at a number of events, including supporting Sir Cliff Richard at the Davis Cup finals at the NIA in Birmingham, performing at the International Tattoo, representing New York and Bermuda at the International Lions Club Convention and tours of countries and territories such as the Netherlands, Spain, Germany and Jersey.
It's also preparing to play its 30th anniversary show on March 16 at Staffordshire University Academy on Marston Road in Hednesford, with all funds raised going to Chase Arts for Public Spaces.
Conductor Shaun Middleton said the committee for the band had formed late in 1993 after the original founder of the band had left and spoke about how the band had been able to change and keep going as a charitable band.
He said: "It turned into a sit down concert band as the scouts and cubs got older and found they didn't much like walking and marching, while the age demographic grew from then as some of the older kids left and went off to university.
"It originally was a scout band, but after the scout leader left, we kept it going with a more family-orientated band and we ended up playing everywhere we could.
"We also gained charitable status in 1994 and we were one of the first that received an Arts Council grant through the National Lottery, which helped us to keep going as we received £48,000 and it boosted the band as we got new members and lots of kids could get instruments for free as we purchased them, so it grew from there."
Mr Middleton said the band has continued to evolve since the grant, while also keeping to its original ethos and constitution of bringing people together and provide the opportunities to learn, practice and perform music in a safe environment, bringing entertainment and music to a wider audience with a commitment to help and support others.
He also spoke about the charitable side of the band and what made it so special to people.
He said: "We are a registered charity, so we help other charitable groups to raise money by doing concerts for them free of charge and if someone is raising money for something like a church roof, then we'll go and do a concert to help with raising the funds.
"The 30th anniversary concert we're doing in March is exactly the same as we were raising money for another local group and thought we could tie it in with our 30th anniversary.
"The band is very family-orientated as you have siblings playing together with their parents and I think the special thing about it is that it gives the ability for people that probably grew up playing instruments and lost the ability to play because of life getting in the way a chance to try it again."
Other highlights for the band have included playing to hundreds of thousands of people at one of Germany's largest festivals, the Datteln Kanalfest, playing in the Singing Cavern underneath Dudley and appearing at Warwick Castle on the day of Prince William and Kate Middleton's wedding.
Mr Middleton, who has been conductor for 25 years, said the band had even thrived despite the effects of lockdown during the Covid-19 pandemic, with more people taking up instruments that ever before.
He said: "We've seen a marked increase in people who used to play instruments and then finding they'd like to try it again and have come back to playing and Covid was a big thing about that as we got a lot of players when we returned after lockdown.
"That was because people were taking up instruments that they played years ago and had time to do it at home, so we gained a lot of members who returned to music and were looking for a band to play with.
"We are also very tight-knit, friendly and social and people come here to spend two hours playing as a way of relaxing from work, so I think it's a release for people who are nurses and teachers and want to get out of that cycle of work and relax."
Mr Middleton said the biggest achievement of the band was its longevity and how it had survived things like lockdown and continued to thrive.
He said: "We've organised foreign tours and raised funds for different charities, but I think the biggest achievement is the fact that people come back to it and we provide that place each week for people to come and enjoy two hours of playing music.
"We kept the band going through Covid and have come out the other side and continued to thrive and I just think it's a fantastic band that has worked really hard over the last 30 years.
"We've got a band of old and young who just enjoy coming together each week to play and the fact that we can provide that is what keeps this band going."
To find out more about the group and to buy tickets to the anniversary concert, go to bridgtownconcertshowband@gmail.com
