Rainford Band Celebrates 50th Anniversary with Summer Pops Concert Series

Rainford Band at 50: Celebrating the Past and Looking to the Future

We kicked off our 50th anniversary celebrations in style with our annual Summer Pops concert series. We were thrilled to perform to a packed out crowd at Rainford Village Hall, across the three nights. The three concerts featured a different programme, each paying homage to our musical past and looking forward to our exciting future.

Music For Youth

As always we were delighted to share the stage with the fantastic St Helens Youth Band. With many of our current line-up being alumni of the St Helens Youth Band, we thoroughly enjoyed watching them perform. The Youth Band performed a vibrant and versatile programme that included movie favourites, such as The Incredibles and Imperial March. Needless to say, with these young stars in our community, the future of brass banding is bright. They performed a vibrant and versatile programme that included movie favourites, such as The Incredibles and Imperial March. 

We offered our programme in the second half which featured Demelza performed by our Solo Horn, Danny Taylor, and Saint-Saëns’ energetic, Bacchanale from Samson and Delilah. St Helens Youth Band then joined us on stage for a powerhouse finale that included Circle of Life from The Lion King, California Dreaming arranged by Rainford Band’s Musical Director, Adam Taylor and the anthem for the Youth Band’s hometown of St Helens: O When the Saints.

A Tale of Two Halves

For the remainder of our Summer Pops concerts we performed a concert that offered two distinctly different halves. The first celebrated our musical past with a range of classic repertoire, hymns and songs that are well known within the brass band sphere and loved by brass band fans. Throughout the programme, our MD, Adam, shared excerpts from our history, including key milestones and stories. 

Our second half explored some of the more modern brass band repertoire and featured vibrant latin beats, contemporary pop arrangements and soulful ballads. Our audiences were treated to a range of solo offerings from the band’s principal players including Tango, a fiery, passionate work performed by our outstanding Principal Cornet, Adam Case. Our Solo Baritone, Matthew Hurst, fresh from his trip representing the National Youth Brass Band of Great Britain in Switzerland performed Evelyn Glennie’s beautiful A Little Prayer. Our Flugelhorn, Liv Richardson, rounded off the solos with a premiere performance of Bruno Mars’ Risk It All, a romantic ballad with a latin flair, arranged by Adam Taylor. 

Annual Awards

Every year we assign a portion of our Saturday performance to our annual awards ceremony that celebrates those who have gone above and beyond for the band, both on and off the stage. The first award to be presented was the Players’ Player Award, which is voted for by members of the band. This year it was our Principal Cornet, Adam Case, who earned this title. Next up was the Best Section Award, which was won by our Bass Section. The Musical Director’s Award was presented to our Second Baritone, Adrian Fitch. Finally, the Ray Walkden trophy was presented to our Treasurer, Paul Rigby for his outstanding efforts in supporting the running of the band.