York Carol Concert

It wouldn’t be Christmas without York’s Annual Community Carol Concert, for 65 years the concert has marked the start of the festive season and we are back at York Barbican with a bang (and maybe some snow too) to celebrate 65 years of festive fun and all your favourite Christmas carols and songs.

Join Shepherd Group Youth Band, Badger Hill School Choir, Track 29 Ladies Harmony Chorus, York Stage School and Steve Cassidy for a Christmas sing along under the baton of Musical Director Mike Pratt. Carol concert favourites Adam Tomlinson and Rev Andrew Foster return to keep you entertained, be ready for laughs and maybe some festive surprises…

Proceeds from this year’s concert will go to the Lord Mayor and Sheriff of York’s Christmas Cheer Fund and the Press nominated charity. Help us make a difference to the lives of people in our community this Christmas.

Grace Pratt Memorial Concert

As many followers of the bands will be aware, Grace Pratt passed away earleier this year.

Grace is Mikes mother and banding was in her blood from an early age. Grace was a very talented cornet player herself and after marrying Ted Pratt her family could not fail to become brass players themselves.

The whole Shepherd Group Brass Band organisation wanted to pay their own tribute to Grace, someone who supported us through the years and who was a face we all looked out for in our concerts. The best tribute we can think of is to play the music she loved while raising fund for York Against Cancer, her chosen charity.

The concert will take place at 7:30 pm on September 29th 2023 at York Salvation Army Citadel and will feature the Shepherd Group Concert Band conducted of course by her son Mike and the Shepherd Group Senior Band. The music will be a celebration of Grace’s life and a reflection on the lives of those we have lost in recent years.

Tickets for this concert are avaialble via our Eventbrite page.

York Against Cancer with Grimethorpe Colliery Band

Shepherd Group Brass Band will join forces with the World Famous Grimethorpe Colliery Band in what promises to be a phenomenal collaboration in aid of York Against Cancer.

Ticket information will be released later.

 

Christmas Concert 22nd December

The annual Christmas Gala Concerts take place on December 22nd and 23rd at the Joseph Rowntree Theatre, York.

We look forward to seeing you at this most popular event.

Tickets are available from the Joseph Rowntree Theatre Box Office priced at £15.00. We will keep you posted on when these are released, don’t miss out, these concerts are always sold out.

An evening with Cory Band

On October 28th, we see our friends from Wales, the Cory Band, returning to York for our very popular joint concerts. They have decided not to attend Brass In Concert this year but the event with us is one they were not prepared to miss.

The concert takes place in the Jack Lyons Concert Hall at York University and tickets will be available from 1st August through the York University online ticket system. Tickets are £21 for a standard ticket, £19 for concessions and £7 for students.

The concert starts at 7:00 pm, but for band enthusiasts, we are also offering an upgrade ticket, where for an additional £10, you will have a meet and greet session before the concert with Philip Harper and some of the soloists from Cory Band, a signed programme and a goody bag. The meet and greet will be a Q&A session and we will be providing tea and coffee on your arrival.

 

The Grace Pratt Memorial Concert

Sadly in 2023, we lost a great friend of the band and of course Mike, the MD of our Concert Band and a log standing stalwart of the band on Euphonium lost his mum. We thought it only right that we celebrate Grace’s life in the only way we can, with a concert.

Please join us at York Salvation Army Citadel for what is going to be a wonderful celebration of a real part of our band family.

Tickets will be available on Eventbrite from July 1st priced at £7.50

https://www.eventbrite.co.uk/e/grace-pratt-memorial-concert-tickets-646420750867

Christmas Concert Success

Once again, all the bands came together over 2 nights to entertain packed audiences in the Joseph Rowntree Theatre. Both evenings were started off by Brass Roots who once again impressed everyone with their playing and showed the audience how well they are coming along as new players.

The Academy Band were next perform followed by the Youth Band. Both performances demonstrate that the future of the band is safe and that there is a wealth of musical talent coming along through our ranks.

Next up were the Concert Band, although Mike was not at the helm this time. Everyone will know Mike had a heart attack earlier this year and had to go up to Middlesborough for bypass surgery. He is now well on the road to recovery and we are assured his jokes will be be back and will be as bad as ever. One of the highlights of the Concert Band set had to be the superb solo played by Emerson Hampshire, they really did nail their version of Peter Grahams Away in A Manger.

The second half of the concert was over to the Senior Band and they provided an upbeat version of Christmas with a a funky big band take of God Rest Ye Merry Gentlemen. Our new Principal Cornet, Sean Chandler, gave a brilliant rendition of Santa Claus is Coming to Town and the set was concluded with a finale recounting the story of the Christmas 1914 truce where Mike Pratt starred as the narrator, he really can’t stay away.

The finale saw all bands back on stage where we invoked the spirit of Christmas and Pantomime with “If I were not in Shepherds Band” arranged by the Concert Band Soprano Cornet player James McFadyen. I’m sure everyone who saw the finale will have loved the dancers who performed.

The Christmas concert is one of the highlights of the year and it was so good to have all bands back on stage together. We now look forward to 2023 and what it brings for us all. The band would like to wish all our friends and followers a Merry Christmas and a very Happy New Year.

Concert Band at Huntington Club

The concert band will be playing at Huntington Working Mens Club on October 29th 2022. Don’t miss your chance to see what is going to be a very entertaining evening led by the inimitable Mike Pratt.

Tickets are available direct from the club of from Tommy Aylett by calling 07507 058371