January to June 2025 - Our 6 month round-up
Thank you for checking out our Blog to follow along with everything we’re up to here at Flowers! It’s been a while since our last post and we have lots to share with you, so grab yourself a cuppa and continue reading…
We have been delighted to perform to multiple local audiences around Gloucestershire this spring-summer, kicking off with our annual visit to the Stroud Sub Rooms in February. Our programme this year included our Audience Award-winning Brass in Concert programme entitled ‘Game On!’, which follows the evolution of video games through five brand new pieces, and includes a feature for our super soprano Paul Richards. This was complemented with a classic of the brass band repertoire, ‘Carnival Overture’, as well as solos for Emily Evans (horn), Chris Thomas (trombone) and Dan Thomas (euphonium). We always enjoy playing at this venue, and we will be back on Sunday 15th February 2026.
A packed house at The Sub Rooms - February 2025
On Sunday 2nd March we trialled a new kind of event at The Bacon Theatre. We ran our first ever West of England Regional Championships Preview Event. The idea came from the fact that we have so many brilliant bands in Gloucestershire, but we do not often get the opportunity to collaborate.
This event saw one band from each of the five sections come together to perform their respective test piece for the contest, along with a couple of lighter concert items. The event was well attended and all of the five bands had a brilliant time, and we are planning to hold another preview event in 2026!
The participating bands were:
4th Section - Cheltenham Silver Academy Band
3rd Section - Cheltenham Silver Band
2nd Section - Nailsworth Silver Band
1st Section - Lydbrook Band
Championship Section - Flowers Band
Contest Preview Event - March 2025
In March we made our annual trip to sunny Torquay to compete at The West of England Regional Championships. The set piece for the Championship Section was ‘Diversions’ by Derek Bourgeois.
Whilst we may have been slightly disappointed with our 2nd place result, we were pleased with the performance we gave and it was brilliant to see the hall fill up for us as we came onto the stage. The band had a wonderful evening socialising together following the contest and it was great to all spend time together.
Smiles all round on contest morning! - March 2025
In April we joined forces with Ledbury Community Band for a workshop day with over 75 delegates. The participants spent the day working with tutors Paul Richards, Luke Barker, Emily Evans, Dan Thomas, Dom Gardner, Gregor Spence and MD Paul Holland on repertoire including ‘The Journal of Phileas Fogg’ and ‘’Myfanwy. In the evening we gave a joint concert, half from the delegate band, half from Flowers, with a couple of joint items from the massed band of over 100 musicians to conclude. It was the first time Flowers has performed in Ledbury but we will definitely be back in the future.
The massed bands - April 2025
In May, we returned to Badminton Horse Trials, which is an internationally renowned competition in the equestrian calendar. We were treated to mostly glorious sunny weather this year (a relief after the continuous downpours of 2023!) entertaining the fans in the show jumping arena with crowd-favourites from ABBA and Queen.
Our second set of the day featured the more traditional elements of the day, including serenading the parade of the Duke of Beaufort’s Hounds and performing the national anthem of this year’s winner, Ros Canter of Great Britain. The rain held off until right at the end of our final slot, so we did get a little damp, but it could have been worse!
Spring showers - May 2025
The Gloucestershire Brass Band Association organised another fantastic workshop day in Gloucester in May, where 45 delegates travelled from as far as Kent and Carmarthenshire to learn from Paul Holland and the team of tutors (Luke Barker, Emily Evans, Dan Thomas, Coco Chan and Gregor Spence). During the day we worked on repertoire ‘The Legend of Hans Roth’, ‘Westward Ho’ and ‘Out of Africa’ in full band and sectional rehearsals, before giving an informal concert at the end of the day. Our congratulations and thanks to both Ledbury Community Band and GBBA for running such smooth and successful days, which we thoroughly enjoyed being part of.
Our bandroom fit to bursting - May 2025
Also at our base at the Gloucestershire Academy of Music, we were thrilled to be part of a very special reception with honoured guest The Duchess of Gloucester, to celebrate GAM’s successful fundraising efforts that have allowed them to purchase the building from the local council. This is a huge milestone for GAM, providing continuity of this space for music education for years to come. Our percussionist Coco Chan represented the band and spoke with The Duchess about our recent success at the National Finals and how proud we are to be representing Gloucestershire and England on the international stage next year. Read more about the visit.
The Duchess of Gloucester and Coco courtesy of photographer Anna Lythgoe - May 2025
Gloucester locals also had a chance to hear the band parade through the town centre in May as we supported the Crown Christian Heritage Trust’s Sunday School Parade. This event has a deep association with the city of Gloucester as the founder of the Sunday School movement, Robert Raikes, was born and raised here.
Leading the Parade - May 2025
In amongst all this we also squeezed in a trip to Newquay to visit our friends at St Dennis Band and perform a joint concert. This year is a special year for both bands as we head to the Royal Albert Hall in October as two of the three representatives for the West of England. St Dennis gave the first half of the concert and Flowers the second, before nearly taking the roof off the church with two massed items! One of those massed items, ‘I’ll Walk with God’, was dedicated to Robert Ernest who tragically died in November 2024. Robert was a friend to both Flowers and St Dennis bands and is sorely missed.
St Dennis and Flowers in joint concert - June 2025
Flowers on the airwaves
Listeners to the new BBC Radio 3 programme ‘Brass Banding with Hannah Peel’ will have heard the band featured on multiple episodes, and you can listen back on BBC Sounds. There is one final episode at 8pm on Sunday 29th June in which our Band Manager, Gregor Spence, will be featured talking about his role and Flowers. Our winning performance of ‘Harrison’s Dream’ will also be played on the episode so make sure you tune in!
There will be more recorded music coming your way later this year, as we spent a weekend in June accompanying a new album ‘The Heroic Trombone’ with Brett Baker. Brett chose an eclectic mix of music from Ray Steadman-Allen to Brenton Broadstock, and Gordon Jacob to Friedrich August Belke - there will be something for everyone to enjoy!
Brett Baker and Flowers Band - June 2025
Next for us
On Sunday 13th July we will be performing in concert with our special guests, The Beauregard Academy at The Bacon Theatre.
This concert will be a brilliant mix of repertoire including pieces from two local composers, Liz Lane and Gavin Higgins, along with our award-winning Brass in Concert Programme, ‘Game On!’ Soloists include Dan Thomas on Euphonium, Chris Thomas on Trombone, and Paul Richards on Soprano. Don’t miss out and get your tickets now.
Thank you for all of your support in the first half of 2025, and we look forward to keeping you updated as we prepare for the Autumn contest season and many exciting concerts still to come.