2025 has been one of our busiest years ever with concerts, workshops, and contest performances across the length and breadth of the country. An added bonus has been the opportunity to showcase the incredible National Championship trophy which we won back in October 2024 to our audiences and supporters.

Our first engagement of 2025 was our annual concert at the Stroud Subscription Rooms in February. Our programme this year included our Audience Award-winning Brass in Concert programme entitled ‘Game On!’, which followed the evolution of video games through five brand new pieces we commissioned for Brass in Concert 2024. We featured 4 stellar soloists; Paul Richards (soprano) 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. This concert was a sell out, and we hope it will be again, so don’t wait to buy your tickets.

*Stroud Subscription Rooms - February 2025*

March saw us trial 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 pieces ahead of the Regionals 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 holding our second such event on Sunday 1st March 2026.

Also 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 our 2nd place result was not the win we had hoped for, 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.

*Always a fun time with Flowers! - Torquay - March 2025*

In April we joined forces with Ledbury Community Band for our second workshop day together, this time with over 75 delegates!

The participants spent the day working with tutors Paul Richards, Luke Barker, Emily Evans, Dan Thomas, Dominic Gardner, Gregor Spence and MD Paul Holland on repertoire including ‘The Journal of Phileas Fogg’ and ‘Myfanwy’. The difference this year was that we brought the full band to Ledbury, and in the evening gave a joint concert, half from the delegate band, half from Flowers. We even ended with a couple of joint items from the massed band of over 100 musicians which was something really special. It was the first time the full band has performed in Ledbury but we will be back on Saturday 21st of March 2026 for the same again!

In May, we returned to Badminton Horse Trials, which is an internationally renowned competition in the equestrian calendar. Perhaps not the most obvious location for a brass band, we are asked to play to fill a few key moments, such as welcoming in the VIP Party, removing the jumps for the laps of honour, and the announcement of the results. 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! We are delighted that we will be back at Badminton on Sunday 10th May 2026. Fingers crossed for good weather!

The Gloucestershire Brass Band Association organised our 2nd workshop day of the year, held in Gloucester in May. 45 delegates travelled from as far as Kent and Carmarthenshire to our bandroom in Gloucestershire Academy of Music 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 varied repertoire including ‘The Legend of Hans Roth’, ‘Westward Ho’ and ‘Out of Africa’ in full band and sectional rehearsals, before giving an informal run of all the music at the end of the day. Although 2026 is going to be an extremely busy year for us, we do hope to hold another workshop in Gloucester at some point next year, so keep an eye on our emails for details.

Our final event in May was an opportunity for Gloucester locals to hear the band parade through the town centre 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. We don’t often march, but with several serving British Army Musicians in the band keeping us in step, we just about managed it!

In June we made our first appearance in Cornwall in nearly three decades, with a trip to Newquay to visit our friends at St Dennis Band to perform a joint concert. St Dennis were wonderful hosts and opened the concert, with Flowers performing the second half. To conclude, both bands joined together and nearly took 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 great friend to both Flowers and St Dennis bands and is sorely missed.

Also in June, the band undertook a recording project, spending the a weekend 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 is something for everyone to enjoy! As a former member of Flowers, it was wonderful to support Brett with this project.

*Heroic Trombone Recording Session - June 2025*

We performed a summer concert at the Bacon Theatre in Cheltenham with the brilliant Beauregard Academy. They are truly such a pleasure to work with and are always a highlight at our performances.

Also in July, we made a welcome return to The Three Choirs Festival which in 2025 was held in Hereford. For the third year in a row we provided a dectet for the opening ceremony. This year, we were absolutely thrilled to also be involved in a world premiere of a new mass by renowned choral composer, Bob Chilcott. This work, “A Mass for Peace and Reconciliation” was scored for Mezzo Soprano Soloist, Organ, Choir, and Brass Quintet with Timpani. This was particularly special as the music was specifically scored for brass band instrumentation, rather than trumpets and french horns, and it was wonderful to have the Festival’s support in enabling this.

*Three Choirs Festival Opening Ceremony - July 2025*

After enjoying a summer break, our first performance of the autumn season was at Snape Maltings in Suffolk. It is an absolutely stunning venue and it was such a treat to perform there to an absolutely brilliant audience as part of the Summer at Snape Festival.

Our programme featured four fabulous soloists, Paul Richards, Emily Evans, Lauren Chinn, and Dan Thomas. We also gave a reprise of our Game On! set, along with two major works in the form of Carnival Overture by Dvorak and Kenilworth by Bliss.

Although it was a very long coach ride each way, with some band members not getting home until after 5am the next day, it was well worth the journey to perform is such beautiful surroundings.

September saw us compete at The British Open Championships at Birmingham Symphony Hall. This contest is the oldest music competition in the world, with this year’s championships being the 171th contest. The line-up of bands includes the 17 best brass bands in the UK along with the highest placed non-UK band at the European Brass Band Championships of the previous year. The set piece was ‘Star Crossed Lovers’ by Stephen Roberts, which is an arrangement of elements of Prokofiev’s ballet score of Romeo and Juliet. Whilst not overjoyed with our 9th placing, we very much enjoyed being back at the legendary contest and had a wonderful evening socialising together.

After the long journey to Snape Maltings in the previous month, you may think we would have stuck to performing closer to home for a little while - but no! In late September we travelled ‘up north’, all the way to Ripon. Ripon International Festival is an annual event and programmes a wonderful range of ensembles and styles of music.

We were thrilled to perform there, with a similar programme to Snape including a range of original works for band to classic arrangements. Again, well worth the journey for such a warm welcome.

In October, we set our sights on The National Finals at The Royal Albert Hall. The set piece was ‘A Symphony in Two Movements’ by Edward Gregson. Having been crowned as National Champions in 2024, we certainly felt an added element of pressure and expectation when taking to the stage.

We were really pleased to be awarded 3rd place, which is our second best result ever at the contest! This sees us prequalify for the 2026 National Finals and once again ensures that there will be a third representative at the National Finals from the West of England Region.

We love performing in Pershore, and in October made an appearance at Number 8 Arts Centre, with guest conductor Mareika Gray. The programme had a bit of something for everyone with film music, popular arrangements, to original music written for us.

In 2024 we sent a tutor team to work with the wonderful Devon County Youth Brass Band, and we were delighted to be asked back this year! Luke Barker, Lauren Chinn, Elliot Harrington, and Gregor Spence made the journey down to Exeter to work with over 70 young musicians across 3 bands of different standards. It was a brilliant day, and wonderful to see how many new starters the band has since we last visited. Luke performed a solo with the youth band which was so inspiring for the young players, and the band worked through a range of repertoire in sectionals and full band rehearsals. Click the button below to see a video of some of the sharing performances from the day.

Video

The first weekend of November was a double header of workshops, one in Lyme Regis, and one in Wantage.

On Saturday 1st of November, a tutor team (Paul Richards, Emily Evans, Dan Thomas, and Gregor Spence) headed down to the Jurassic Coast to deliver a workshop day hosted by Lyme Regis Town Band. With 50 attendees from 15 bands across the region, it was wonderful to reconnect with so many people having delivered a similar event in 2023. The conductor for the day was Kevin Smith, former Bass Trombonist of the Bournemouth Symphony Orchestra. The music ranged from ‘The Legend of Hans Roth’, to a real favourite of ours - Bright Lights, Big City. Paul Richards performed a solo version of Greensleeves with the band too, which was a real hit with the players.

The second workshop of the weekend was hosted by Oxford and District Brass Band Association at Wantage Bandroom, specifically aimed at young people from across the county. The day was wonderfully well attended and the tutor team of Luke Barker, Lauren Chinn, Dan Thomas, Gregor Spence, and Nabil El Bark has such a great time. Days like this give so much hope for the future of the brass banding world, when seeing so many talented young people enjoying their music making together. Again, Luke performed a solo with the band, inspiring the next generation. As a youngster, Luke was a regular fixture at ODBBA solo competitions and events, so now returning to give back to the association at this event feels very much like a full circle moment.

The contest season is a relentless schedule, and in November we were back on the road again for the Brass in Concert Championships in Gateshead. This innovative contest requires bands to present a 25 minute programme of their choosing. We commissioned five new works from an exciting group of international composers and themed our programme around a daring heist. From assembling the crew, to experiencing the doubts of the newest member of the team, to stealing the legendary pink diamond and escaping to Cuba, the programme was a true musical journey. A real highlight was our principal cornet, Luke Barker, performing the solo of our set, his soloist debut at the contest. We were placed in the middle of the table, achieving 6th place. However, we still came home with a large selection of silverware having won several individual prizes. Congratulations to:

Chris Thomas - Best Trombone
Elliot Harrington - Best Baritone
Paul Richards - Best Soprano
Coco Chan, Jamie Nuss, Nabil El Bark, Alec Banner - Best Percussion

In December, we were delighted to perform to three brilliant audiences - at the Maggie’s Cancer Care annual fundraising concert in Cheltenham, the Bacon Theatre in Cheltenham, and Number 8 Arts Centre Pershore. All three audiences were so warm, welcoming, and well humoured. We hope that they all left our performances feeling as festive as we did!

At our final concert of the year our MD Paul Holland presented our annual awards:

Section of the Year - Trombones - Chris Thomas, Dominic Gardner, Pete Richards
Player of the Year - Kelvin Retallack
Player of the Year - Luke Barker
Bandsman of the Year - Gregor Spence
Dave Lee Memorial Award - Alec Banner

WhatsApp Image 2025-12-30 at 15.56.50 (2).jpeg

WhatsApp Image 2025-12-30 at 15.56.50 (1).jpeg

WhatsApp Image 2025-12-30 at 15.56.50 (3).jpeg

WhatsApp Image 2025-12-30 at 15.56.50.jpeg

2025 has been a really busy year and we have had a great time performing across the country.

2026 will be all the more memorable with our appearances at The European Brass Band Championships and The World Music Contest, alongside a packed schedule of concerts.

Thank you to everyone for your support this year!

2025 in Review

Flowers band

News

2025 in Review

January to June 2025 - Our 6 month round-up

Flowers band

News