Petworth Town Band round off great year with Christmas concert

For bandmaster Martyn Streeter and his musicians, it brings to an end a very strong 2022 with the band positively thriving post-pandemic: “During the pandemic we put on Zoom meetings throughout the whole lockdown periods and also including Christmas and we had a very good attendance at those meetings and the result was that when we started up again, we had not lost any members at all. We had quizzes; we did different things; and we found out what each other did in their spare time and we learnt a huge amount each other as people during the pandemic. And I think that has made a big difference. I think it did us all a lot of good apart from keeping us together, and following on from that we've very quickly gained several new and experienced musicians which was very strange. It's usually very difficult to get new people to come along but for various reasons we have gained four or five very good people which has really strengthened the band's capabilities no end. Historically we've always been a bit short on the key areas like solo cornets and trombones, and now we've gained people there that have very good experience and it's been very, very valuable to the whole band because it's lifted everyone just trying to keep up with them! Everyone has upped their game which is great.

“We played quite a lot of engagements throughout the summer culminating in a very successful autumn concert which was based on the theme of theatre and musicals. We had a very good audience. We had a lot of people that we had not seen before. We've got a Facebook page and somebody looks after our social media so we do a lot in that respect as well. So it has been a really good year and that's the big thing. The band has not only kept going but it is growing significantly and now we're working towards our Christmas concert at Tillington. Doors open at 7pm and tickets will be available on the door or via our website. The theme is obviously Christmas music but it's not just carols. There are some Christmas arrangements of music you associate with Michael Bublé and Cliff Richard and some of the pop songs but also a real mixture of things and we've got some of our standards that we're putting in just for good measure. We are also hoping to have a sing-along with the audience.” Martyn is keen to recruit as we go into 2023: “We are still wanting woodwind or brass or any concert band instruments.” Anyone interested should email Martyn on [email protected]. “We're also thinking about inviting anybody to come along, whether they are a musician or not, just to come and sit in on our rehearsals and see what we do and perhaps they might discover an interest in joining!” Again email Martyn if you want to do so.