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News
Leslie 'Les' Featherstone (1920 - 2012)
Mr Leslie Featherstone was born in Fangdale Beck before moving to High Ellermire Farm, Chop Gate - "his favourite place in the world". He was a true Bilsdale man and farmer, preferring the old traditional ways over modern machinery.
He was a wholehearted supporter of Bilsdale Silver Band, rarely missing a performance. The Band was pleased to have played for his 90th Birthday celebration, and was honoured to be invited to play at his funeral on 10th December 2012 at St. John's Church in Bilsdale.
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Les most generously remembered Bilsdale Silver Band with a bequest in his will to ensure its prosperity and long-term survival. Discussions are currently underway to determine how this might best be effected; the outcome will be reported here.
On behalf of all members of Bilsdale Silver Band - "Thank you, Les"
Charitable Donations
From its Trading Surplus for the year Sept 2011 - August 2012, Bilsdale Silver Band has made charitable donations totalling £530 to seven different oranisations, including The Great Northern Air Ambulance, Asthma UK, and Macmillan Cancer Support.
We are grateful to "our customers" who have engaged, booked and supported us over the year - and who have made this possible...
William George Ainsley (1929 - 2012) & Marjorie (Madge) Ainsley (née Collier, 1933 - 2013)
Bilsdale Silver Band was saddened to hear of the passing of both William George Ainsley and his wife Marjorie (Madge), with four weeks of each other...
Generations of Ainsleys have lived at Spout House - where William farmed, and was landlord of The Sun Inn. A small collection of Ainsley photographs can be seen here...
For sixty-odd years, William was also Secretary of Spout House Cricket Club - famed for its vertiginous pitch. A splendid tribute - "William draws stumps" - has appeared in The Northern Echo.
The Band has always been heartily welcomed - and enjoyed - its sessions at Spout House; a most memorable occasion - in 2007 - was the celebration of William and Madge's 50th wedding anniversary. This photo is how many of us will remember Madge and William, outside The Sun Inn...
Why not take a look at this video of Bilsdale Silver Band playing carols at Rievaulx Abbey last year! With grateful thanks to Dr Kajetan Erdinger...
The event was Number One in the Guardian list of Carol Services a few years ago...
The video is 46 minutes long - we suggest you get a beer, sit back and get singing...
Cricket Match, and Joint Concert with The Shepherd Group Concert Band
Sunday 4th July 2010 saw Bilsdale Silver Band beat The Shepherd Group Concert Band at the Cricket Match, held at The Sun Inn, Spout House, Bilsdale; no expense has been spared to bring you this report from our Cricket Correspondent:
Shepherd's travelled to Bilsdale in search of a victory to extend their unbeaten run to two games in the 'Battle of the Bands'.
A pitch inspection confirmed that Spout House continued to lived up to its reputation - a rabbit hole in the crease and an outfield with plenty of grass and evidence of sheep on it. Neil "The Boss" Robinson came back into the pavilion and declared "it could be a bit tricky to bat on out there and we should have the first use of it".
Openers Jonathan and Matthew strode out to the middle of the crease for the first battle of the day, hoping to reignite their successful opening partnership and to regain the 'Ashes'. The vision was that of a sunny afternoon at Lord's, soft and slow.
Both capitalised on some wayward bowling from the opening Shepherd bowlers and the runs started to flow. Neil and Andrew then made some key breakthroughs.
Then came the return of John "Fuzzy Whiskers" MacKay - Bilsdale's talismanic all-rounder and in a 'flick of the wrist', or was it a 'blink of the eye', and by a cruel twist of fate, the stumps flew out the ground and the umpire's crooked finger was aloft. Even before Don had chance to put on both pads, John was on his way back to the pavilion, "out by a whisker".
Half dressed for the job, Don gave his all, but succumbed to a "Yorker", and gave his wicket away with a shot that he'll still be talking about this time next year.
Bilsdale were all out for 67.
Shepherds started their reply off well with Sue "The Scorer" clocking the steady chase. The visitors were soon on track to make the total without losing a wicket.
"The Boss" knew they had to take wickets if the home team were to stand any chance of victory. Bilsdale had to remove Tom 'The Sri Lankan', sharpish, if they were to have a fighting chance.
Alison bowled manfully in her second spell which made amends for dropping a sitter in the slips. Ivan ' The Silver Fox' just failed to snare a good catch at mid-off.
Wickets started to tumble when Matthew 'Freddie Flintoff' Williams decided that his tea was getting cold and quickly upped the pace to bag a handful of wickets.
Chris said that Doug was 'magnificent behind the stumps' and my ears are still ringing with the sound of Doug's voice "pitch it up, it's starting to turn" or was it "pack it up it's starting to rain".
Sian threw one in to take a superb run out and the Shepherd's batsmen (and women) were suddenly in disarray - the last catch being taken by Andrew to seal the match.
The scenes among the Bilsdale fielders could only be described as "jubilant". The sound of "England's coming home" could be heard all the way to 'The Buck', and not a vuvuzela in sight…….
Click here to see how cricket-playing Band Members looked in 1896....
In the evening, 37 Members of the two Bands gave a lively concert, the proceeds (£67) from which went to Chop Gate Village Hall funds.
Our thanks to all our colleagues at Shepherd's - and particularly to Mike Pratt for his enthusiastic conducting!
See the article in the Darlington and Stockton Times...
Sesquicentenary of a Notable Performance by Bilsdale Band!
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It's 150 years since Bilsdale Band took part in the Lofthouse Grand Village Band Contest (t'Band was obviously formed before that date, but none of the present Members can quite remember when!).
This article, titled "Musical Prize Fight" about a brass band contest in Lofthouse, appeared in "All The Year Round" - a weekly periodical dated 12 November 1859 and edited by Charles Dickens.
It was unsigned and in the style of Dickens and people assumed it was written by the great man himself.
Click here to read the full article! |
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Welcome to The Williams Family!
Bilsdale Silver Band welcomes four members of the Williams family who live at Castleton - a village on the North York Moors located between Danby and Westerdale.
Jonathan commutes to Teesside University, and is in the second year of a Law degree. His brother Matthew travels to Whitby 6th Form College, and amongst his subjects are Law and Psychology.
Susan retired from British Telecom when the boys were born, and now works part-time in the village Co-operative store where she is the in-store baker. Andrew is a manager with Corus, and lives in Lincoln during the week.
The family has a passion for brass banding, and are established players. They enjoy the music and the new friendships found at Bilsdale, and are looking forward to supporting the Band for many years to come.
Bilsdale Silver Band Appoints Musical Director
We are pleased to announce that our new Musical Director is Damian Dunphy of the The Heavy Cavalry and Cambrai Band, Catterick.
Bilsdale Silver Band wins Grants
In December 2006, the Bilsdale Silver Band gained an Award of £10,000 from Awards for All (adminstered by the Big Lottery Fund). This Award is being used to encourage more people of all generations to play a brass instrument and to join the Band. This has involved purchasing more brass instruments, introducing a training band, and publicising the Band.
A second grant for £6,770 was received from the Local Network Fund of York and North Yorkshire Community Council (a Department of Education Grant).
In addition, in October 2006 we received an Award of £2,500 from the Ryedale Community Investment Panel to extend our activities to the local community.