East Steel, Oulton Bands, Sparrows at Rothwell Festival

It's Friday evening, March 23rd, and we are on the road to Rothwell, to the Blackburn Hall to be precise. Wanda has organised for the steelband section to take its place for the first time ever at Rothwell Festival, and here we are in this lovely Victorian concert hall.



The Federation of Festivals doesn't allow photography at its festivals. This doesn't usually deter our parents but it does stop us getting some good action shots. We got special permission for this posed joint band picture at the end, and we invited this lovely adjudicator to join us.

At the end of the Friday school day it seemed a massive effort to get to Rothwell, but really it is only what the Oulton parents do every Tuesday to get their Sparrows to Sparrows, if you see what I mean.

In the event, the event was totally worth it. All the bands sounded great and Wanda's effort to arrange this totally paid off. Here are some pictures of the bands in rehearsal or gigging elsewhere.

Leeds Silver Steel Sparrows, Stanningley and Oulton Steelbands play the Wharfedale Festival

It's Thursday 18th May, and three sets of steelbands are converging on Ilkley Kings Hall. Wanda is bringing Oulton Year Five, Oulton Year Six, and Oulton Fledglings. Bex and I are bringing Sparrows, and Carole and I are bringing Stanningley year Five Steel.

We played all the usual tunes, and Sparrows featured songs this year were Symphony Number 40 [Mozart arranged VJ], Wings of a Dove [Prince Buster arranged DG] and Rockabye [Sean Paul and Clean Bandit arranged BA]

Stanningley played Come and Sing Together and Russian Folk Song Sledging, both originally arranged by myself and then arranged further by Year Five themselves.

Oulton Year Five played Merrily, Skip to my Lou, Liza Jane and Frere Jacques

Oulton Year Six played Scale Song, Jamaica Farewell and Egyptian Reggae,

Oulton Fledglings played Mad World, Next to Me , Lazy Coconut and one Wanda can't remember [!]

Before we started I discussed the question of smiling with the Wharfedale Committee members. This is a thorny point for us [from the Foxwood Panyard].

At the beginning of their gigging careers our children are getting used to concentrating, performing on stage, not being nervous, being confident - all the things that go with public performance.

They are also expressing themselves through their own playing and interacting with others in a deepest ensemble. If they want to move, tap their feet or smile we think it should be natural and spontaneous and grow out of their feelings for the performance.

I know that other steelbands train their players to do [sort of] synchronised jumps and dance moves, but personally I find these unnatural and somewhat disconcerting. Our players will move when they are ready. I did discuss this with the committee The wonderful adjudicator took all my comments on board, and picked out how the players were involved in their music-making in all the other subtle ways. We were all really pleased.

Fledglings at Trinity

It's Sunday 6 November and there's a steelband playing at the Trinity Centre, and all I have to do is take photos. Yippee! Well done Wanda. This is Wanda's up and coming satellite Sparrows. The Silver Fledglings.

These players are a combo of present and ex-Oulton Primary School players, and very fine they are too.





They were collecting for St George's Crypt who support the homeless in Leeds.

To do this one hour performance for charity Wanda drives across Leeds a couple or six times to deliver pans, collect players, all that stuff, so, as we all now one hour's plating usually occupies most of a day, and the Friday before loading, and the Monday after unloading.

Always good with some good parents, and there are plenty of those. Sorry not to write more but, not being on the inside I just see the show. Yay!