The start of 2026 was spent focusing on the Test Piece for the Yorkshire Area Finals held in Huddersfield on the 7th of March. This year the piece was Three Haworth Impressions by Gordon Langford written in 1979. As you may recognise by the name, it was inspired by the Bronte sisters with three distinct movements covering various styles. Whilst Lofthouse enjoyed practicing and performing this one, as is generally the case after months of practice we looked forward to the finals and widening our repertoire once again. Unfortunately we didn’t get the results on the day we were reaching for (in somewhat controversial circumstances!) but the band gave it everything and had a really solid performance.
A couple of weeks later the band held their awards evening with highlights being our MD taking the lead at Karaoke, our fantastic soprano player Mark Moorhouse winning our MD’s player of the year, Katie Wilson our principle cornet won player’s player, and finally percussion won section of the year (not horns for a change!). Well done to everyone who received awards and our deps who have helped throughout the year.
Also worth calling out, the band were recorded last year by sounds of brass and this has now been published on their website. You can listen to the Lofthouse recording here
Now the sun’s coming out we’re back rehearsing a wide range of music as we prepare for upcoming gigs. Keep an eye on our events page but as we stand the first of the year will be at Oxenhope on the KWVR railway. We hope to see you soon.
Happy Christmas from Lofthouse!