News Archive - snippets from the past...

Page updated 1st Oct 2011

Dec 12th 2010	We had a most enjoyable concert on the 10th, and the next things to look out for will be the New Year Meal, and the start of rehearsals in January. A Merry Christmas and a Happy New Year!
Dec 5th 2010	The planned concert for Saturday 11th December at the Queen Alexandra College has been cancelled. New Year Meal -- This will be held again at the Garden House, Hagley Road, on Friday 7th January 2011 starting at 7.00 pm. Rehearsals begin on Friday 14th January 2011.
April 5th 2010	On EASTER MONDAY...as part of InterChat10 we are playing at The City Sings, 4pm, 5th April, Adrian Boult Hall Paradise Place, Birmingham B3 3HG Tickets (£3/£5) available from Birmingham Box Office at Birmingham Central Library or www.birminghamboxoffice.com or 0121 303 2323
Dec 2009	...because of the New Year meal on 8th Jan, the 1st rehearsal of 2010 will be on FRIDAY 15th JANUARY, check out the schedule for more info.
Nov 2009	The New Year meal will be held on Friday 8th January 2010 at 'The Garden House', Hagley Road, Edgbaston, 7 for 7:30
Nov 2009	All information for the upcoming concert is available in the flier
July 2009	Autumn term dates have been added to the Rehearsal Schedule page
December 2008	Spring and Summer Term Dates Available Available here, with more rehearsal details available here.
September 22nd 2008	Artsfest Report from 21st Sept After a summer of rain Artsfest was a lovely day, and most of Birmingham seemed to be out to take advantage of it. Chris and Richard set up our stall on New Street at about 10:30, next door to the stalls of several similar music groups (we were well away from the Kerrang! Stage this year!). A steady trickle of people called in and left their contact details, and with luck we will pick up some new members... Other Orchestra members were very good about keeping the stall manned, freed Chris and I up for the comeback of last year's Wind Quintet. With Tracey, Ian and Pat we had been practising hard over the summer, and felt well enough prepared for our gig at the City Inn Café. Once we got there (a long walk up from New Street through the Artsfest crowds) it turned out to be a very pleasant venue, though with access to the open air a light breeze threatened havoc with the music. We got ourselves settled, a decent audience sat round the tables, and we played our set. Everything seemed to go well, and Scott Joplin's evergreen Entertainer got a good clap at the end. We agreed it was more relaxed and enjoyable than last year. However, our day's work was not done! Pat had signed us up to play at the Botanical Gardens in the evening, as background during the drinks reception preceding the Focus charity dinner. This was fine – a nice place to play, and as no-one was really listening we could get away with murder – in the form of 'Mozart's Turkey Rock Mambo'! Failing light stopped playing, and we packed up and went home after a long day. Some Artsfest "Fotos" are available here
September 13th 2008	Artsfest 2008! Lets hope that Saturday proves dry! Harborne Orchestra has a stand at Artsfest (number 59, located down from Victoria square in New Street - the pedestrianised area), and members of the orchestra will be on the stall from 11am - 6pm. Please come along and have a chat if you have thought about joining a local orchestra in the 'new term'. The quintet ( Richard - Clarinet, Tracey - flute, Iain -Oboe, Pat Collins - French Horn, and me - bassoon) will be playing in the City Inn Cafe (Brindley Place) from 3pm -3.30pm, and in the evening at the Botanical gardens from 7pm - around 8pm for the Focus Gala Event.
September 2008	Welcome Back! We hope you enjoyed the 'summer' break and are ready and raring to get back into the Autumn (what a thought, it can't be Autumn already can it?) term programme. Harborne Orchestra return back to QAC for rehearsals on Friday 5th September. If you are looking for an orchestra to join, having thought about it over the summer holidays please do get in touch, it would be great to see you at one of the rehearsals - just come along and give it a try!
June 28th 2008	Harborne orchestra [go on tour] in aid of NORSACA Harborne have been approached to do a concert in aid of the above charity. Pat and the Committee felt it was a good idea, new territory, people etc. as the concert will be held in Nottingham and start at 7pm, probably comprising two 45min halves, with a 1/2hour break in between. It will either be held on Sunday 23/11/08 or 30/11/08. Check back here to find out the final details! A tour bus will, of course, be provided! [and only the brass will be allowed to sit at the back... some things never change!]
June 20th 2008	Summer Concert information and Autumn Term dates added
January 11th 2008	New Year - New Term The rehearsal schedule is now updated. Please make every effort to attend each rehearsal as it is such a short term.
January 4th 2008	New Year Meal 29 members of the orchestra, along with some partners, went to Valentino's in Harborne for a 'New Year Meal' on 4th January. It was a lovely evening and great to catch up with a large number of the orchestra in advance of the start of the new term. Special thanks go to Chris Quince for organising a very enjoyable night.
December 10th 2007	Spring Term off to a Flier... We hope you enjoy the Christmas break and are looking foward to starting afresh in the New Year. A small flier with the details of the first rehearsal of 2008 and the orchestra's New Year meal is available here.
November 22nd 2007	Winter Concert Please come and join us for our Winter Concert on Friday 7th December at St. Mary's Harborne.
Sept 28th 2007	The Chairman's Report The 2007 Chairman's report highlights the 3 key areas the orchestra has put its energy into this year. Performing concerts at three venues Moving to a new rehearsal venue, Queen Alexandra College Representing ourselves at Birmingham Artsfest by manning a stall and performing The full report can be found here.(23kb )
Sept 17th 2007	ArtsFest Report Thanks mainly to the dynamism of Treasurer Chris, the Harborne Orchestra was represented at Artsfest ('The UK's biggest free arts festival'). The orchestra had a stall and a wind quintet had volunteered for some late summer rehearsals in order to give a 30 min. performance. On the day the first job was to set up (after first finding) the stall. The location was very central, right opposite the Council House, but also right in the blast zone of the Kerrang stage!! Steady interest was shown throughout the day, when we weren't being deafened, and a goodly number of contact details were collected. With luck these will generate some new members, and just our existence was registered by many more. A nervous quintet met up at the Water Hall and got warmed up – though a few punters wandered upstairs thinking these marvellous sounds were the performance! Down in the Hall itself we played through our programme – miscellaneous dances, two movements from Handel's Water Music and a Mozart Divertimento – to a reasonably sizeable and apparently appreciative audience. The setting was very nice, apart from the incredibly gloomy paintings behind us – part of a Jane Eyre exhibition. After the performance it remained only to return to the stall, endure the final Kerrang band, then pack up. Thanks very much Chris for being the driving force behind it all!
Sept 14th 2007	Harborne Orchestra at Birmingham ArtsFest Saturday 15th September We are participating in ArtsFest this year, in order to raise the profile of the orchestra and attract new members. Our participation consists of a stall and a performance (a condition of getting a stall). The performance will be a wind quintet, performing in the Water Hall from 4:30 to 5:00 – Mozart, Handel and some dances (maybe a string ensemble next year?). The 'AskIt!' stall is number 46 in the upper half of New Street. Get your ArtsFest flier here... (102kb pdf )
Sept 7th 2007	New Term! The new year starts on Friday 7th! We look forward to seeing all the existing members back, and if you are thinking about joining an orchestra please do come along and have a play with Harborne Orchestra - there is no obligation to come again, but hopefully you'll enjoy it and want to!! That's what happened to me 4 years ago... Get your New Term Flier, here (or as a pdf ).
July 13th 2007	Summer Concert Review! We played our Summer Concert at Saint Mary's Church, Bearwood, and were made very welcome as usual. In the rehearsal we made a serious effort to generate photography of the orchestra in action, the fruits of which may be seen elsewhere on the website. The evening of the concert itself was typical of much of the early 'summer', with pouring rain. A good audience turned up, however, and the atmosphere was very warm. The programme opened with an old favourite, Rossini's overture to The Barber of Seville, and continued the recent Gilbert and Sullivan theme with a selection from The Pirates of Penzance. Sadly, Catriona's plan to entertain us with a movement from Brahms' second clarinet sonata were thwarted by her accompanist having to pull out. However, we are all looking forward to her playing the Mozart Concerto with us next term. The evening finished with a performance of Beethoven's First Symphony. We had all enjoyed rehearsing this marvellous music and felt well prepared. On the night everything seemed to go well and there were complimentary comments from an appreciative audience afterwards. These great classical symphonies seem to bring out the best in us, and we look forward to Haydn's Clock next term.
March 18th 2007	We are changing our rehearsal venue! From the 20th April 2007 we will be rehearsing at the Queen Alexandra College for the Blind on Court Oak Road. More information, links to maps and transport information is available here.
June 3rd 2006	Harborne Orchestra Plays at Winterbourne Gardens Edwardian Fete The Harborne Orchestra gathered at the Winterbourne Botanic Gardens of the University of Birmingham, having been invited to play a 45 minute set as part of the annual Edwardian Fete. Although the Chairman and several other members had sworn never to play outside again, the occasion went off very happily. The weather was gorgeous, but a huge tree provided ample shade for everybody. The chairs sank a little into the soft ground, and music had to be well pegged to the stands to prevent it blowing away, but the setting made the effort worthwhile. An appreciative audience heard us play an appropriately light programme whose main pieces were Vaughan Williams' Suite on English Folk Songs and Mozart's Eine Kleine Nachtmusik. Everybody enjoyed themselves and we hope to be asked again next year. (see some photos of this concert)
October 7th 2005	Sue Swims the Channel Trumpeter Sue Bibby made it into the Evening Mail as she completed her cross-channel swim at Cocks Moors Woods pool this week and amazingly after all the exertion Sue still had enough energy to play at this week's rehearsal. The full article can be read here. Well done Sue - great achievement!
October 1st 2005	Hold the front page - 'Trombones accused of playing too quietly!' The trombones were accused of being quieter than the clarinets (even the oboe!) on Friday, but rose to the insult with a fine chorale that really showed Pat not to push his luck with them in future. How could he possibly question the power of the trombone player's diaphragms??
September 16th 2005	AGM The AGM was held on 16th Sept, the minutes and financial report are now available.
September 2005	Congratulations! To Jo and Jill, both of whom have given birth to twins in recent weeks, from all at the orchestra! Rumour has it that they are already being lined up to contribute to the viola and cello sections - is there any truth in this? What's wrong with a wind instrument I hear you ask?
July 2005	The Summer Concert The summer concert at St Mary's, Bearwood was really well supported and received with a programme focusing on some popular advert themes in the first half followed by Schubert's Unfinished Symphony in the second. There were some lovely solos including a beautiful display of Oboe playing by Ian Roe and it was great to finish a positive year for the orchestra on a high!
March 18th 2005	The Spring Concert As well as featuring soloist Eleanor Robson playing a lovely recital of Mendelssohn’s Violin Concerto the concert also included a guest appearance by the Birmingham Bassoon Choir. It's not often that you get to hear a 12 piece bassoon choir before the interval and a violin concerto afterwards, but both performances, as well as that of the orchestra, were excellent and provided a lot of enjoyment to the audience.
January 17th 2005	Christmas concert photos added, see them here...
December 10th 2004	Christmas concert! The concert was held at St Mary's Church Harborne and featured some performances in conjunction with the Harborne Primary School choir as part of a varied programme. The choir performed fantastically which really inspired the orchestra to give their best performance of the term. The mixed programme attracted a good audience and the orchestra is now looking forward to entertaining as many people at the spring concert on 18th March 2005.
September 2004	New website launched! September saw the publication of this new website. Its aim is to provide information to current members - rehearsal schedules, concert programmes and photo galleries for example, as well as being an advertising mechanism for the orchestra as a whole, publicising what we do and attracting new members. If you have content that you would like to contribute please get in contact.
September 2004	Start of Autumn Term 10th September saw the start of the Autumn term. We were pleased to see some new members join and hope that they enjoy playing with the orchestra.
July 2004	Annual committee meeting The annual committee meeting was held at the Martineau Centre. The chairman's statement was presented and the accounts for the year detailed. Minutes will be published here in due course.
July 2004	Summer Concert The summer concert took place at Selly Oak Methodist Church. The programme featured a performance by the Clarinet choir and brass quintet made its debut performance!
October 2003	Harborne Orchestra call in the Marines Harborne Orchestra appointed former Royal Marines Bandmaster Patrick Ryan as their Conductor. Read more...