Thurcroft Welfare Band is celebrating after receiving a four figure Arts Council grant for the commission of two new pieces of work designed to celebrate 100 years of mining heritage in their village.

Funding

The Arts Council funding has enabled the band to commission Darrol Barry to produce the works following a series of events in the village in 2009 to celebrate the centenary.

These pieces will be of tremendous long term benefit to the band, and we are very much looking forward to recording the CDThurcroft Welfare

100 not out!

Darrol has written, 'Thurcroft Centenary March', as well as a piece called '100 Not Out!', a celebratory piece for Thurcroft's Training Band. Both bands are working on the pieces with a view to giving world premieres in the New Year.

The Arts Council funding also enables the band to record the pieces on a CD as part of the celebrations.

Positive

A spokesman told 4BR: "We wrote to a number of eminent composers and wanted the pieces to be celebratory in nature, and capable of being played both by Senior and Training Band. We received numerous responses, but Darrol’s was really positive. He showed immediate interest in the project — especially as it involved young people to develop brass skills, and it was his suggestion that the Training Band piece should be a separate musical piece in its own right."

They concluded: "These pieces will be of tremendous long term benefit to the band, and we are very much looking forward to recording the CD."