Bellshill Festival in Motherwell

On 28 February 2009, the Bellshill Band (Bandmaster Ian Dickie) had its first festival of the year with a trip to the nearby Motherwell Salvation Army.

The program included several items which will be included on the band’s next recording, “Diversity”. Sessions for this recording are scheduled in March. Several of the items were played “out” for the first time at this concert. These included The Lion King (featuring a variety of themes from the musical of the same name), Gabriel’s Oboe from “The Message”, and the flügelhorn solo Through It All, written for Bellshill soloist Lynn Shanks by Andrew Blyth, featuring the melodies “Through It All” and “Shenandoah”.

Other solo items for the evening included Rhapsody for Cornet and Band (Ray Bowes), soloist Yvonne Ferguson; The Rose, sung by Gemma Gunn; and Chris Shanks playing the euphonium solo The Song of the Brother (Erik Leidzén).

The Motherwell and Bellshill bands combined for the march New Zealand Warriors, conducted by the bandmaster from Motherwell. Bandmaster Dickie presented the Motherwell bandmaster with £120 for Motherwell’s band instrument fund. This amount was raised by members of the Bellshill band who paid their own entrance fees for the concert.