We are not even at the end of November yet and I am pleased to report we have completed our first Christmas carolling engagement! Thank you to everyone who came and said “hi” while we performed at Longacres in Bagshot last Thursday.

While it is a little early for carolling (and Christmas in general!) for some, we don’t believe that in the Alexander house at all! In fact, our tree construction has begun already:

In progress…. pic.twitter.com/LjYc1uvKEY

— Chris Alexander (@Chris_Alexander) November 22, 2016

Talking of an early Christmas, I must confess in my banding experience this is not an early start. I remember playing with Martlesham Brass when I was younger at Aldeburgh for their Christmas lights switch-on – always the first weekend in November, and once on November 1st! I don’t know if you’ve been to Suffolk’s North Sea cost in early November, but I think “chilly” and “draughty” are both understatements!

Camberley has three more carolling gigs before December 25th – see if you can spot us at The Meadows on 9th December (5-9pm), The Wellington Centre on 10th December (10.30am – 12.30pm) or Hart Shopping Centre on 17th December (10.30am – 12.30pm).

It has, once again, been a busy summer for the band, with 8 bandstands / fetes / concerts performed in June – early September.

Preparing bandstand programmes is always a little tricky: you want a good balance of the fast and the slow; some traditional brass band music for the regulars and some more modern tunes for the passers-by; and something that the band enjoys too. And you have to get the right amount of music too, something I found notoriously tricky to begin with! From the first bandstand where I overcooked it and needed a couple of last-minute cuts, to the next where I way overshot on the correction and had to go folder-fishing for something else to add in… but we got there in the end.

Things quieten down a bit for the band – in terms of performances – for a couple of months now. That doesn’t mean that we won’t be keeping busy rehearsing though, as after our busy Remembrance Sunday we have a concert at High Cross Church for which we are busy preparing and rehearsing an extremely exciting programme. You can find out more about that concert here.

As you may have noticed, we have a new website up and running – so keep checking back for the latest updates. If you want to be e-mailed whenever we release new concert tickets you can sign up to our newsletter here.