Thurrock Marching Brass Shine At DCUK Essex
After many months of planning, and for the first time in more than 25 years, Thurrock Marching Brass delivered an elite marching band competition and full day’s entertainment with style at the Aveley Football Club on Sunday 7 September 2014.
The line-up consisted of eight Open class competing bands, three Junior class competitors (including our own Thurrock Marching Brass), three exhibition performances including a traditional marching band, a mini-corps and even a big band plus the spectacle of a World Record Attempt for the longest line of Fanfare Trumpeters! Something for everyone.
With a bumper attendance of an official 1,358 there to enjoy all that is good about youth and marching music the DCUK Essex show certainly stamped its mark on the community. VIP guests included Deputy Mayor Cllr Sue Gray and Thurrock Marching Brass’ founder David Loader’s children John and Christine among others and all enjoyed the performances.
Thurrock Marching Brass’ chairman, Paul Morgan, who was also responsible for organising the world record attempt comments “Wow!! What a day. Our contest Director, Steve Hall has not only planned an event to be proud of but he and his amazing team have delivered above expectations as well. A huge well done for all the hard work that went into making DCUK such a success. And to see Thurrock Marching Brass take top honours and continue their undefeated season in the junior class was just magical. Full credit for their amazing achievements must go to Thurrock Marching Brass Corps Director Joanna Crisp, her Assistant Director and Head of Winter, Ken Mansfield and their incredible staff and helpers. They work tirelessly every week to give the youngsters of Thurrock the opportunity to achieve great and varied things which they will remember for many years to come. Today’s performance was simply brilliant and I cannot praise them enough. I would also like to thank Craig Johnson and everyone at Aveley Football club for their help and support.”
Thurrock Marching Brass continue their next chapter in their re-launch history by travelling to Widnes for the 2014 Drum Corps United Kingdom British Championships, where they will attempt to complete their undefeated season and do their best against the very best junior class bands in the country. News of this can be followed through the web site and facebook pages listed below.
To close off the day, Paul also organised something unique and over the past year has been working across the UK to bring together musicians from all types of backgrounds and all ages to see if the World Record for the longest Fanfare Line of Trumpeters could be broken. This was set at Horse Gates Parade in 2012 by a conglomeration of military units, where they amassed no less than 91 fanfare trumpeters and so the target was set at 92 to break the World Record. The only time that the entire fanfare line would be able to play alongside each other given their spread across the UK was when the attempt itself was being made. Paul commissioned a piece to be composed just for the attempt, which he handed to a brilliantly talented young composer, Reece Crisp, who also happens to be Thurrock Marching Brass’ Director of Music. Reece composed Fanfare Steadfast, and Paul set about bringing that composition to life through the attempt.
Paul also called on the talents of Paul Binder, bandmaster of the Romford Drum & Trumpet Corps to act as Principal Conductor for the day. Mr Binder was accompanied by Emma Stillwell, Laura Pickton and our youngest (and certainly shortest) drum major ever at Thurrock Marching Brass, Sophie Corcoran at just 12 years of age but incredibly capable of commanding such an impressive line-up under Paul Binder’s direction.
As per Guinness World Record rules and regulations, three independent stewards and two independent witnesses were present to verify the total number of participants and to assess and observe if they were all contributing to the fanfare. Any who were deemed not to be doing so would have been eliminated from the final count.
The fanfare line was set up and filled the stadium from end to end and as Paul Binder brought everyone to their ready position, you could hear a pin drop as he brought the timpani players in for the start of the fanfare itself. Any nerves or concerns about how it would all sound or work given that this was the first time it had been played by the entire line were diminished after that first bar of music played. It was a spectacular sight and spectacular sound and the audience made clear what they thought with a thunderous applause. To ensure that the attempt was captured correctly on video and photographically, Mr Binder took the line through a second run, which was even better than the first.
After consultation the stewards and witnesses confirmed the number of participants at 105 with zero exclusions! A new World Record for the longest line of fanfare trumpeters using valved instrumentation.
A delighted Paul, Morgan, who also played in the line himself added “To see the performance of the Thurrock Marching Brass members today, and to host such a brilliant event for everyone here in Essex was more than I had hoped for in the day, but to complete a year long effort and to provide all types of musicians from across the country the opportunity to break a prestigious world record at
the same event just adds icing to the cake doesn’t it. Guinness still have to verify this world record and paperwork and evidence has already started to be presented, so until they conclude that effort we are in pending official status, but just to take part in such a spectacle was a magnificent achievement and I am very confident based on the initial responses I have already received from Guinness post the attempt that they will verify it quickly. It was a pleasure for me to present my Herald Fanfare Trumpet to someone that all of us look up to in the marching and performing arts world for achieving 60 years in scouting, Mr John Swindells from Kidsgrove in Staffordshire, who was also our oldest participant at 69 years of age. A small token of thanks for all his efforts and dedication, but my thanks also go out to John Butler, creator of the Marching Band Activity UK Facebook page, who has worked with me tirelessly over the year to prepare and deliver this spectacle. Thank you to all participants, and in fact to everyone for supporting the entire day. It wouldn’t have been a success without you all.”
Thurrock Marching Brass is proud to perform as much as they can within the community and you can keep up to date with all their engagements on our website below or by following them on Facebook.
