It was surely a record entry for the band at the Leicestershire Brass Band Association's Spring Festival on Sunday 1st April 2012, with 18 individual competitors and 23 seperate performances.

It was another busy and long day for the players and supporters alike, with several players playing several sections back to back.

The prize winners included:

Junior Slow Melody (Ages 11 - 14) - 1st Place - Harry Lear

Junior Air Varie (18 years and under) - Joint 3rd Place - Bethan Brown

Open Duets - 2nd Place - Shiela Dixon and Jo Priestley (Jo plays with the Newhall Band)

Junior Quartet Hymn Tune (14 years and Under) - 3rd Place - Leics Coop Quartet 'B' (Hannah Capstack, Frances Gallimore, Eve Gallimore, Abigail Barham)

Junior Quartet (18 years and Under) - 1st Place - Leics Coop Quartet 'A' (Harry Lear, Marina Slee, Chloe Hudson, Bethan Brown)

Open Quartet - 3rd Place - Leics Coop Quartet 'B'. (Richard Capstack, Chris Brown, Richard Shaw and Steve Barham)

A report can be viewed at 4Barsrest.

The full results can be viewed from the LBBA Website.

Saturday 10th March 2012 saw the band compete in it's inaugural First Section Midlands Area contest at the Civic Hall, Bedworth . Whilst the band played stylishly and with great confidence from 3rd in a field of 18 bands, unfortunately the adjudicators, Derek Broadbent & Peter Bassano, only placed us in 14th position.

Although the disappointment was clear to see on a lot of the players faces come the results, the fact that the band delivered the performance with minimal errors and following the requested direction orchestrated by our musical director, shows the overall improvement and can only put us in a stronger position for future competitions.

The 14th place secures First Section status for the 2013 contest season.

Good luck to our fellow Co-op sponsored band , the Ratby Co-Operative band, who came in 1st place and will represent the Midlands area at the National Finals at Cheltenham. They will also be promoted to the Championship Section in 2013.

For the 4BarsRest report see here

On Sunday 19th February the band took first prize in the NEMBBA contest in South Normanton.

This contest is organised as a run-out for the Area test piece which this year is Mountain Views by Bertrand Moren.

Although the entry is small, the band were pleased to win and hope this means they are on course for the Area in March

In addition to taking first prize, the band were also awarded four other cups for the "Best of the Day" awards for the following people and sections.

Best Euphonium - Steve Barham

Best Trombone - Liz Barham

Best Percussion - Jake, Joe and Sam

Best Basses - Brian, Ron, Steve B and Steve R

The "Best of the Day" awards are judged across all the performances of the day, not just the section in which the band were entered. Many thanks to NEMMBA for the chance to run out the test piece and to Kevin Wadsworth for some sensible advice to all the bands.

For the 4BarsRest report see here

The Annual Awards were presented at the band's 40th Birthday Celebration Dinner, held at La Torre Restuarant on Thursday 27th October 2011.

Musical Director, Graham Jacklin, awarded the accolade of most improved player to Flugel Horn star, Shiela Dixon.

In summing up the reasons for making the award, Graham commented that 'Whilst it has been clear to everyone of the improvement Shiela has made to the band since joining, the clinching factor for me was whilst listening to her recent performance at the Groby Slow Melody contest where the note production was of the highest quality.'

Well done Shiela.

The second award of the evening was for the Bandsman of the Year, as voted by the players of the band.

This year, the voting produced a tie for the award, with Iain McDonald and Steve Barham being the joint recipients.

In particular, Iain, as contest secretary (Ably assisted by his wife, Michelle) organised the finals trip expertly and all arrangements ran like clockwork, even with the exceptional No. 1 draw thrown in for good measure.

Well done Iain (and Michelle)

Whilst Steve was useful in making sure all instruments were available for all engagements throughout the year. (Ably assisted by Liz and Gary Ball + Van)

Here are some links to video clips from the 40th Celebration Concert with David Thornton.

Richard Phillip's - 'In Christ Alone'.

Peter Graham's - 'The Great Race'.

Peter Meechan's - 'Floating Dreams'.

De Vita arr. Catherall's - 'Softly As I Leave You'.

Following our recent progression in the contesting field including Midlands 2nd Section Champion Band and securing 2nd place at the National Finals this year, the band has entered the Brass Band World Rankings for the first time in it's history, ranked at 161.

The Rankings can be viewed on 4Barsrest.

A full capacity audience at the Palace Theatre in Ibstock, were treated to a fantastic concert featuring the world renowned Euphonium Soloist, David Thornton, as part of our 40 year celebrations.

A full article on the concert, held on Saturday 8th October, can be read on 4Barsrest.

A video clip of one of the pieces, Softly As I Leave You, featuring David Thornton and Steve Barham can be viewed on David Thornton's Website.

The Leicestershire Co-op Band turned out in force at the recent Leicestershire Brass Band Association Slow Melody contest on Sunday 9th October 2011, fielding 15 competitors at the competition.

A busy and full day was enjoyed by every player with numerous prize winners:

Leicestershire Junior Champion – Harry Lear

Open Quartet – 1st Place -Richard Capstack, Chris Brown, Iain McDonald, Steve Barham

Open Air Varie – 1st Place - Steve Barham

Open Air Varie – 3rd Place - Shiela Dixon

Open Duet – 1st Place - Shiela Dixon, Ben Henderson

Slow Melody Under 11 – 1st Place – Harry Lear

Junior Hymn Tune Quartet – 3rd Place - Leics Coop C – Abigail Barham, Frances Gallimore, Eve Gallimore, Hannah Capstack

Junior Hymn Tune Quartet – 2nd Place - Leics Coop A – Bethan Brown, Harry Lear, James Raine, Chloe Hudson.

The full results can be viewed on 4Barsrest.

The runners up cup for the 2nd Section national finals is now in Leicestershire.

After a nerve-wracking start which found the band drawn number 1 when they were 10 miles from the Cheltenham Racecourse with 45 minutes to the start of the competition, the band quickly recovered their composure to put in a pace-setting performance described by 4 Bars Rest as "A real marker of quality"

The test piece for the day was Portrait of a City by Philip Sparke. It was a tricky piece with quick opening and closing movements. The judges said they had felt the slower, 2nd, movement was the key to judging between the bands.

At a celebration meal at the bands hotel in the evening, Graham thanked all the bands supporters and members, not forgetting the ones who could not play because of the numbers limit.

First section here we come!

Results
1. Brunel Brass, John Winterflood, (West of England), (9)
2. Leicestershire Co-op, Graham Jacklin, (Midlands)
3. South Yorkshire Police, Leigh Baker, (Yorkshire)
4. Thundersley, Jeremy Wise, (London & Southern Counties), (4)
5. Pendennis Brass Falmouth, Steve Thomas, (West of England), (8)
6. Morecambe, Andrew Warriner, (North West) (16)

There will be much more to follow but we thought you would like to know..

The band has just been awarded second prize at the National Finals in Cheltenham.

More news, photos etc as soon as we have calmed down and got back to Leicestershire