Bon Accord Silver Band. Easter weekend tour of Orkney and Shetland
The Scottish Brass Band Association are delighted to report on the 50th Anniversary celebrations of Aberdeen's Bon Accord Silver Band. The band has recently returned from an Easter weekend tour of Orkney and Shetland. They were warmly welcomed on both sets of islands and enjoyed beautiful weather and calm seas throughout the trip, fortunately for the less enthusiastic sailors among the group!
In addition to concerts with the Kirkwall Town Band in St Magnus Cathedral and Lerwick Town Band in the impressive surroundings of the Mareel Theatre, they also performed for children at a local primary school on Orkney. The band, under the baton of Steve Malcolm, was delighted to welcome back several former players from around Scotland and the UK for the trip, as well as the Scottish Brass Band Association's Development Manager, Andrew Duncan.
Andrew Duncan commented, "It was a great opportunity for me to go with the band (playing Bb Bass at their concerts) and have meetings with our two most northerly brass bands, the Kirkwall Town Band and the Lerwick Town Bands, to introduce myself to them and to have discussions with them about how SBBA can help them develop their provision for young people to take part in their organisations. One thing people don't often realise is the enormous distances involved in Scotland. It is 450 miles between Lerwick and Stranraer, our most northern and our most southern brass bands. SBBA is now set up a new category for ‘Island Bands', to encourage our member bands on the Scottish islands to be fully part of SBBA's activities."
The roots for the Bon Accord Silver Band were laid down with the birth, in 1959, of Brass Bands in Aberdeen Schools. John Dalby, the superintendent of Schools Music was approached by the late Stewart Watson MBE, then a school brass instructor, as to the fate of the young brass players when they left school. This led in turn to the founding three years later of what became the Bon Accord Silver Band. Since then the band has gone from strength to strength, achieving qualification to the National Brass Band Championships of Great Britain some 14 times, including two performances in London's famous Royal Albert Hall. The band has also played at the Edinburgh International Festival, the Tall Ship Races in Aberdeen and Dublin, in Regensburg, Germany and in 2010 had the honour of representing Scotland at the European Brass Band Championships in Linz, Austria.
By 1980 the band was so large that a 'B' band was formed, offering the chance for younger players to develop ensemble skills before stepping up to the main band, and today boasts a membership of some seventy players across the two groups.
The 50th anniversary celebrations will be rounded off by a gala concert at Aberdeen's Ferryhill Church on Sunday 28th April at 7pm, showcasing music from the tour under the baton of Andrew Duncan, and also featuring performances from the 'B' Band. Further details and ticket information for all concerts can be obtained from the band at www.bonaccordband.org.uk.
