We’ve been put through our paces since the conclusion of the contest season, touring around Gloucestershire and beyond with a series of concerts. After two years of disrupted schedules we’ve thoroughly enjoyed playing for live audiences again, especially around Christmas as this is a typically busy season.

Our first concert, at St Mary’s Church in Bridgwater, followed shortly on from our performance at Brass in Concert. We reprised our entertainment set ‘Legend of Troy’, and also played this year’s First Section test piece ‘Trittico’, as well as a number of favourites from the film ‘Brassed Off’. It was the first time the band has ever played in Bridgwater and we were met with an exceptionally warm reception on what was a rather stormy and cold evening. It was a particularly special occasion for Lia Teague, who took on the Principal Cornet seat on her concert debut with Flowers - bravo Lia! Lia joined the band in October after moving to Cardiff to study at university and has slotted in fantastically.

Bridgwater Concert Set Up, November 2022

As we turned our calendars over to December it was time to get into the Christmas spirit. We were delighted to be invited once again to the Maggie’s Cheltenham Cancer Care annual fundraising concert.

We performed half a dozen items, including the solo, ‘Away in a Manger,’ which was beautifully performed by our flugel horn soloist Lauren Chinn, and a feature for our trombone section. Thanks to our hosts for their hospitality (the mulled cider was delicious!) and we hope you raised lots of money for an excellent cause.

Next we travelled to Number 8 Arts Centre in Pershore, under the baton of our guest conductor Steve Legge. We have played in Pershore many times in the past, but this concert broke a 4 year hiatus. The recent snowfall was an idyllic background to our programme, which was a mix of traditional Christmas songs and film music, including ‘Somewhere in My Memory’ from Home Alone, a medley of tunes from ‘The Polar Express’ and ‘Fanfare and Flying Theme’ from E.T. (Our MD, Paul Holland, insists this is a Christmas film!). It was amazing to play in such a beautiful venue, a real hidden gem, and a huge thank you to the audience for such an enthusiastic welcome. We promise it won’t be another 4 years before we’re back!

We held our final concert of the year at the Bacon Theatre in Cheltenham, joined by the wonderful Beauregard Academy Choirs.

It was great to have some audience participation during the carols, and for one young fan on sleigh bells during Leroy Anderson’s ‘Sleigh Ride’! We even managed to fulfil an audience request for a fan of the band from Canada who was visiting family in the area, which explained ‘I Will Follow Him,’ being performed by our trombones, disappointingly not wearing nun’s habits… maybe next year? The band were thrilled to welcome back Luke Barker on the end seat, who was home for Christmas from his year abroad in Switzerland. Amongst the musical items we took the opportunity to present the Flowers Band Annual Awards 2022 — Flowers Band. Congratulations to all winners!

We’re going to be expanding our concert schedule in 2023, and so keep an eye on our ‘Engagements’ page to see where we’ll be next. Some of our engagements are currently listed, with more being added to the page soon. To make sure you never miss an announcement, sign up to our mailing list which can be found on the home page of our website.

Thank you to all our supporters who have followed Flowers this year. We wish you a Happy New Year and look forward to sharing more music with you in 2023.

Flowers Festive Round Up

Flowers band

Upcoming Engagements