The Friezland Band has recently its first anniversary of its musical partnership with conductor Max Stannard at the helm.

The Saddleworth band, which faced the possibility of folding before Max took up the role, has since enjoyed a successful 12 months under his baton, which has seen them able to compete on the Whit Friday circuit for the first time in a number of years, and treble in size from 8 to 24 players.

Take us forward

Friezland Chairman, David Barker told 4BR: "Straight away we realised that Max was the man to take us forward.

Over the last year his musical knowledge and encouraging and undemanding approach to rehearsals has created a great atmosphere across resulting in some of our best performances in years. It has also led to several players enthusiastically joining the band."

It's been fantastic to see the band develop over the past year. I would like to thank all of the players for their hard work and commitmentMax Stannard

Fantastic

Reflecting on his first 12 months himself, Max added: "It's been fantastic to see the band develop over the past year. I would like to thank all of the players for their hard work and commitment.

I'm very proud of the progress we have made and look forward to our future projects together."