The now annual JIB highland camping trip has been a wonderful success.
The coastal retreat of Arisaig (North of Glasgow, turn left at Fort William) was host to a substantial brass ensemble as the JIB sported their knotted hankies, deck chairs and trumpets.
At this time of year the band takes a few weeks break as many members book well deserved holidays. What better way to spend the glorious weather we have experienced this year than playing together on a hot summers night as the sun sets over the Atlantic ocean on Scotlands beautiful west coast!
Famous for the films 'Local Hero', 'Whiskey Galore' and 'Ring of bright water' this area of Scotland is probably the most beautiful stretch of coastline anywhere in the UK,
and once a year..,
for a few days..,
we provide the live soundtrack
Roll on Arisaig 07 !
Concert Thanks
A great start to our Spring and Summer calendar.
Our recent concert at Jedburgh town hall once more a resounding success.
In a change to our usual concert format we allowed our juniors to open the show, bandmaster Cameron Mabon and Jedburgh's own Scottish Champions 'Abbey Brass'. An astonishing quality performance equaling (and possibly surpassing) the standard of our main band less than a decade ago.
The J.I.B. took to the stage for the second half with a program selected as always to please the audience and also challenge our players technically, followed by some encores.
The band would firstly like to take the opportunity to once more thank our musical director Alan Fernie and bandmaster Cameron Mabon for continually elevating our standard. We can all sense a collective rise in ability which is certainly credited to musical direction.
The band would also like to take the opportunity to thank our many supporters. We are very lucky to have such a large fan base which is a luxury for any brass band. We will be taking some time to further develop our concert presentation for future productions.
Not least our dedicated fundraisers and helpers. Many thanks, without you the J.I.B. and Abbey Brass would not be the coveted organization it is today.
Death of respected bandsman
That well-known Scottish bandsman, Cyril MacLaren, died on the 27th April. Aged 81, he had been playing since he was 7 and had received his SBBA 50-year medal twenty three years ago. Cyril had played with every band in the Scottish Borders and many in other areas. When a young man, he was approached by several Championship bands to sign (including twice by Scottish CWS – on Bass Trombone and Eb Bass), but Cyril preferred to stay in his native Borderland. Over his many years of service to banding, Cyril never turned down a request to help out, and he trained hundreds of young people.
Cyril was last signed with Jedforest Instrumental, and gave up playing only 2 years ago because of failing eyesight. His last banding event was to attend as a guest the recent opening by Princess Anne of Jedforest’s new bandstand and park, which he greatly enjoyed.
Cyril - bottom left
At Cyril’s funeral, a representative band with players from the three bands he played with over the past twenty years (St Ronans Silver, St Boswells Concert, and Jedforest Instrumental) played a selection of his favourite hymns. A generous donation from Cyril’s widow will be used for the benefit of young players in the Borders.
JIB Bandstand opening
It was pouring with rain at 8am on Wednesday 26th April when we were setting up the arena for this second visit in 5 years by HRH The Princess Royal. However, the sun started to shine at 11am and continued to do so for the rest of the day (we also had a duplicate set up in the adjacent Town Hall, just in case).
On cue, the helicopter carrying HRH The Princess Royal landed in The Glebe about 200 yards away from the Bandstand. By this time, there were hundreds of people in and surrounding the park, stewarded by the Committee members under the direction of Joyce Lightbody.
Met by John Young (President) and George Burt (Secretary), Princess Anne was then escorted to the Bandstand and introduced to Alan Fernie (Musical Director), Cameron Mabon (Bandmaster), Marion MacAfee (our longest serving player), Eilidh Dickson (representing our young players), David Sutherland (Pricipal Cornet, and designer and Project Manager for the Bandstand), Kenny Crookston (editor of British Bandsman, and representing SBBA) and Jedburgh’s Provost Len Wyse.
George Miller (Vice President) made a short speech of welcome, explaining how the new Commemorative Park and Bandstand was created by Jedforest Instrumental Band to celebrate its 150th anniversary, and in order to create something permanent and for the benefit of our community, and to thank local people for their superb support for the band over the years.
HRH then enjoyed concerts by Abbey Brass Jedforest (our “junior” band – a 4th Section contesting band in its own right with many prizes to its credit) under Cameron Mabon, and Jedforest Instrumental under the baton of Alan Fernie.
After unveiling a plaque to mark the occasion, Princess Anne made a short speech to the audience of hundreds, praising the work of the band and complimenting it on creating this wonderful asset for the historic Royal and Ancient Burgh of Jedburgh. Presented with a CD made by the band, on her walk out of the park, she talked to several of the audience encouraging them to continue supporting the band and to buy the CD!
All in all, a very successful day, with no hitches. The turf was laid only 2 weeks ago, mainly by Alan Currie (Percussionist) but stood up to its first test, and final painting of the gold leaf highlights was only completed the day before by David Lightbody (Soprano). Our thanks to all those who helped – funders, band “labourers”, and our loyal supporters. Especial congratulations go to Principal Cornet David Sutherland, a Chartered Surveyor, who designed and oversaw the project (and did a lot of the physical work) and whose life has been taken over by it over the past few months.
Scottish Result 2006
Success
and disappointment for Border Bands.
Not a bad result ! Our highest contest placing in the bands history.
Results
1) City of Discovery Brass
2) Barrhead Burgh
3) Selkirk Silver
4) Jedforest Instrumental
.
.
12)
Both the JIB and Selkirk Silver were disappointed not to have claimed the first or second places at this years regional grading competition. First or second place would have secured promotion to the 1st section. However, our result of 4th place out of 12 is an improvement on last years result (6th)..... whilst Selkirk must be very pleased with a 3rd placing having just been re-promoted to the 2nd section.
This result is great for our local banding movement with 2 neighbouring
borders
bands performing so well in the national competition.
What the experts said As reported by the topical 4Bars-rest information site:-
"Adjudicator Colin Hardy, summing up on behalf of both judges (John Maines had an important engagement with a bacon butty at this stage, being back in the box for the Third Section immediately after the results) avoided being drawn into the debate over the merits of choosing 'Images' as the test-piece.
He did however consider it to be a very difficult piece of music to perform at any level of banding, but felt that several bands had more than risen to the challenge to put in strong performances. The judges had been highly impressed by some super band playing and in particular by some superb soprano cornet playing. They were in complete agreement over the results."
Many thanks go to the repiano cornet player Rachel MacDonald from Barhead Burgh who stepped in at the last minute to help us out. Performing her part extreemly well for us after playing for her own band moments before.
Please visit the Barhead Band site Here. Our own rep had fallen ill days before the competition.
Man of the match from our own band was David Plummer.
David has overcome many technical challenges throughout rehersals, an example to us all. His dedication and positive attitude to be commended.
David Plummer Eb Bass
It was widely expected that the JIB could not survive in the second section but we are still here two years later and continue to climb. Due to many player changes over the past two years we feel we have not been at full stregnth, however the forthcomming year promises to be a good one for the JIB as our confidence and skills grow yet again.
was host to a substantial brass ensemble as the JIB sported their knotted hankies, deck chairs and trumpets. 
