Welcome to our video pages!
Want to wallow in nostalgia? Want to show the family some of your favourite Youth Brass Moments? Maybe you are thinking of joining the band and would like to see what we have been up to?
Below are a selection of classic clips from Youth Brass 2000 tours, concerts and contests from before 2013. We expect to add to this collection as we find more material. Please do get in touch if you have some vintage Youth Brass 2000 clips!
First we take a look back to the classic 2009 tour to Italy...
Here's day 2 of our Italian tour - a trip to Florence, a rehearsal, and a great evening concert! Look out for the dep conductor!
Here's day 3 - no concert today, but a trip to see the leaning tower. Minuano gets the treatment in rehearsal later!
Now a couple of clips from our 2010 tour to France and Belgium...
This is day 2 of our tour - rehearsal as ever, then a performance at the Cloth Hall, Ypres, and a very memorable and dignified short performance in support of the Last Post Ceremony at the Menin Gate
This is the last day of our tour - and what a place to finish off with!
Here are some clips to bring back memories! Let's go all the way back to our 2007 tour to France and Belgium...
During this tour, we performed in the centre of the city of Brugge. A typical Belgian city square, surrounded by wonderful old buildings. Here we are playing Fanfare and Flourishes - in front of a very large audience! If you are wondering who the conductor is, that's Peter, Don Collins' eldest son. He's an amazing trumpet player, and used to be our Resident Conductor.
Each year during our tour we try to take in a theme park. This year had an excursion to the Walibi theme park, where probably the biggest rollercoaster in the word lives! In this clip we have a trip on the log flume - then hit the big one - "Goliath"! Very scary indeed according to those brave enough to try it!
One of the concerts on this tour took place in a little church in the village of Wirwignes. The church was filled with a hugely enthusiastic audience. They wouldn't let us off the stage until we had performed three encores! In this clip we perform Reunion and Finale from the film Gettysburg. A wonderful piece of music, but a real lip-wrecker for the cornets, especially at the end of a concert!
Here's a little gem from the last day of our tour. We were due to perform in a park in Calais, but the weather was terrible. We drove into Calais and spotted this café with a huge awning outside. Don jumped off the coach and asked the café proprietor "would you like a short performance?". Amazingly the owner said "yes please"! We moved all the chairs around and created a space, and performed several pieces, but probably the most memorable was this one - complete with actions! It was a brilliant impromptu concert, with quite a large audience at the end!
In 2009 we won the National Entertainment Championships, a contest we had last won in 2001...
Procession of the Tartars started us off, with Chris Brice in full military uniform!
Next in the programme was Gypsy Dream - opened with a fine horn solo by Kirsten Belford, then followed by some superb ensemble items.
Cossack Fire Dance showcased our outstanding soloists and longstanding band members: Matt Letts (trumpet), Ed Bennetts (trombone), Sarah Lenton (euphonium), Richard Baker (cornet), Liam Halloran (xylophone).
The pace slows down now, with Lament, a very emotive piece, showcasing our fine young flugel player, Alice Norman.
Here's our finale - Cossack Wedding Dance and what a number to finish on! Watch out for the Cossack dancers toward the end!
And the winner is......... A fantastic moment for our band - all that hard work in rehearsal paid off! As the last time we won Blackpool was back in 2001, this was a first for all the players as none of them were in the band back then. This was the culmination of a near decade of work for a generation of players. A truly memorable moment!
Let's go right back to 2006 now, to another "best tour ever"! This year it was Germany, with a trip to Holland.
Here we are just outside Koblenz in Germany - we're boarding the coach for our first concert. A few shots of the river Rhine etc first to set the scene!
So who said Youth Brass tours were all playing and rehearsing? Maybe this clip proves there are other things that occupy our time as well! This is our visit to the famous "Six Flags" rollercoaster park in Holland. Some of these rides are certainly not for the faint-hearted!