Lions Junior Brass recently held a very productive workshop with the principal players from Roberts Bakery and Marsden Silver Bands in preparation for their appearance at the National Youth Championships in Manchester in April.

Tutors

The Roberts Bakery trio of Carl Gratty, Matthew Darlington and Steve Barwick were joined by Marsden's Emily Braverman and Sam Minshall, as well as Neil Twist, trombonist with the Sheffield Symphony Orchestra and talented percussionist Peter Mitchell from the RNCM.

Sectional rehearsals focused on the finale from ‘A Northumbrian Suite’ by Stuart Johnson, before the band joined together for a full rehearsal under the direction of conductor Nigel Birch.

A very productive day closed with a performance for friends and family, who were amazed at the band's progress after just two hours work on a challenging piece4BR

Productive day

A very productive day closed with a performance for friends and family, who were amazed at the band's progress after just two hours work on a challenging piece.

Musical Director Tom Hancock told 4BR: "The band has worked really hard since I took over as MD at the start of September, and players really took a lot from this workshop.

I’m hugely grateful to the team of tutors for giving up their Sunday lunch to help, and I look forward to working with them all again in the near future."