Pastime with Good Company
The Vale of Glamorgan Brass Band, established in 1974, recently celebrated ‘50 years of music making in the Vale’ with a gala concert held in the beautiful Tabernacle Baptist Church in Penarth. The concert was led by Musical Director Dan Dennis, originally from County Durham, but who has been resident in Wales since 2017 whilst studying at the Royal Welsh College of Music and Drama. Since taking up the baton with the Vale of Glamorgan Brass Band in 2019, Dan has taken the band from strength to strength. His ethos of banding having a community atmosphere where people from all walks of life, both young and old, can join together to have fun and enjoy good music, shone throughout all aspects of the evening.
The programme included several popular classics including the ‘Finale’ from the ‘William Tell Overture’, ‘African Funk’, toe-tapping marches, including ‘Castell y Barri’ by the MD’s own hand, before concluding with ‘Pastime with Good Company’. The concert also featured the Vale Associated Training Brass Band, which was formed in 2022, who entertained the crowd with tunes as diverse as Robbie Williams’ ‘Let me Entertain You’, ‘Gonna Fly Now’ from the Rocky film franchise and ABBAs ‘Lay all your Love on Me’.
Perhaps one of the biggest coups of the evening was the appearance of Dr Robert Childs as guest soloist. Rolling back the years he delighted the crowd with truly spectacular renditions of euphonium favourites, ‘Grandfather’s Clock’, ‘Varied Mood’ and ‘Blaydon Races’, before being joined by the band’s solo euphonium Tony Williams for Bizet’s ‘Deep inside the Sacred Temple’. The connection became clear when Dan explained that Bob had been his teacher during his time at the RWCMD, where he graduated earlier this year with a Master’s Degree (Distinction) in conducting. Dan explained that he had always wanted to experience conducting a soloist, and credited his Grandmother’s influence of never being afraid to go for what he wants, with his approach to his ex-teacher, internationally acclaimed euphonium virtuoso, who seemed the natural choice. Bob later returned to the stage to conduct the band in a beautiful rendition of the traditional Welsh tune, ‘Ar Hyd y Nos’.
Commenting on the success of the celebratory event a spokesperson for the band stated, “What a fantastic way to celebrate 50 years of music making! Accompanying, and then being conducted by Dr Robert Childs is going to be something that stays with us forever. The Vale Associated Training Brass Band absolutely nailed their sets. We could not be more proud of the progress they are making! Once again we received incredibly humbling feedback from countless audience members saying things like ‘it’s the best the band has ever sounded’ and ‘we can’t wait to hear you in November’. Here’s to the next 50 years!”
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