INFORMATION ON THE BAND
The Band’s History
Craghead Colliery Band
The Band was formed in 1910 as the Craghead Colliery Band to provide recreational activity for the miners in the village of Craghead, County Durham. In the early early 1950's a young gentleman named Eric Cunningham became resident conductor of the band. Eric had started to get the urge to conduct and his first appointment was as Bandmaster of the Craghead Colliery Band at the tender age of 29. At this time Craghead were experiencing a few problems but with Eric at the helm the band began to climb the sections and qualified for the 1953 second section finals in London. The steady progress continued seeing the band compete at London in five second section finals in six years. 1958 saw the band promoted to the Championship Section and after a settling in period the band qualified for the National Finals for the first time in 1963.
1968 saw Craghead Colliery to be one of the first North East Coal Mines to close, sadly there are no working Coal Mines in the North East. Much of the workforce found employment at the newly opened Ever Ready Batteries and Electronics factory in the nearby village of Tanfield Lea.
The Ever Ready Band
By the end of 1968, Ever Ready had taken over sponsorship of the band and given the band a new home. The band became known as The Ever Ready Band. This was a golden period for all concerned including eleven consecutive regional championship wins between 1972 and 1982 which included five hat tricks. Other highlights also included winning the title of BBC Band of the Year in 1974 and gaining 4th prize at The British Open in 1987. At this time, The Ever Ready Band totally dominated North East brass band competitions and the band became well known for their high standards of musicianship. The now famous scarlet tunics were seen at major concert venues throughout the United Kingdom. All good things come to an end and sadly like Craghead Colliery had in 1968, the Ever Ready factory closed in 1992. The Band became entirely self-supporting, whilst retaining the famous Ever Ready name in token only. The high standards of musicianship were maintained despite a lack of sponsorship which placed a financial burden on both the players and officials. The Band did find a new permanent home not far from its original roots of Craghead Village, in the centre of Stanley, County Durham, where through fundraising and financial help from the players, the band were able to purchase an old Salvation Army Hall.
The Reg Vardy Band
During March 2003, the band signed a sponsorship deal with the then motor retailer, The Reg Vardy Group. This helped to ensure the financial security of the band so after 36 years, the band changed their name to The Reg Vardy Band. The partnership with Reg Vardy has helped the band through another period of success. This has included seven Northern Area titles, third place, two fourth placings, fifth and a sixth place finish at Brass In Concert, a third place and a sixth place at The International Masters and three consecutive top ten finishes at the British Open. The band's greatest achievement so far was gaining third prize at the National Finals at the Royal Albert Hall in October 2004. This lead to the band being invited to represent England in the 2005 World Championships held in Kerkrade, Holland where the band claimed fifth prize.
In January 2006, The Reg Vardy Group was sold to Pendragon. Sir Peter Vardy has always taken a great interest in the band's progress and development and maintained strong links with the management committee. Because of this, the band's sponsorship continues through The Vardy Foundation with the band maintaining the name of Sir Peter's father, Reg Vardy who was a supporter of the Ever Ready Band some years ago. Our links with Sir Peter have allowed the band to become involved with the Emmanuel Schools Foundation where the band regularly perform concerts at the four schools in Gateshead, Blyth, Middlesbrough and Thorne near Doncaster. The band also provide master classes with young brass players from the schools helping them to develop into what we hope will be brass players of the future. This is a project the band hope to nurture over the coming years.
The band appear in major concert venues throughout the UK and have recorded 4 major CD's including the top selling, highly popular and innovative release -'Cool'.
The Reg Vardy Band strives on innovation and has formed a formidable partnership with renowned conductor Ray Farr who is Conductor in Residence at Durham University. This partnership has seen the band become Durham University's Brass Band in residence. With this involvement, the band have performed at many pioneering concerts with famous names such as Elgar Howarth, Roy Newsome and Dr John Pickard. The Band are also pleased to support Ray with conducting master classes as he trains a new generation of conductors from around the UK and Europe.
The Conductor - Ray Farr
Ray Farr was brought up in a musical family in Hereford, England. He started playing the cornet at the age of 6, and studied at the Birmingham School of Music (with John Lamb) and at the Royal Academy of Music (with William Overton), where he played 1st trumpet in the academy's orchestra. During this period he was frequently featured as a soloist with different brass bands, wind bands and orchestras.
In 1969 Ray was appointed co-principal trumpet with the, now defunct, BBC Midland Light Orchestra in Birmingham and was often used as extra player in the City of Birmingham Symphony Orchestra. He was also appointed as Trumpet Professor at his former Conservatory, the Birmingham School of Music. As a teacher Ray has given lectures on conducting, arranging and brass band contest adjudicating at Leeds College of Music, Huddersfield College, Salford College, Newcastle College, Cardiff College, Durham University and the Music Conservatories of Stavanger, Bergen, Trondheim, Malmø, Gothenburg and Stockholm.
Ray left Birmingham in 1973 to join the BBC Radio Orchestra in London as co-principal trumpet. In the years that followed he also worked with other top London orchestras for concerts, film sessions, TV and records. This was also the time he started conducting.
In 1979 he accepted a full time position as Resident Conductor with Grimethorpe Colliery Band, the band featured in the movie "Brassed Off". During the five years he was with Grimethorpe the band won many contests and gave hundreds of concert in Britain, France, Austria, Germany, Norway, Sweden, Denmark, Switzerland, Holland, Finland and Belgium. During this time there were many special occasions, notably Leeds Music Festival, Harrogate Contemporary Music Festival, Aldeburgh Festival, Cheltenham Festival, Litchfield Festival and the concert tour of Australia, which climaxed in a performance of "Pictures from an Exhibition" in the Sydney Opera House.
During this time Ray was also encouraged by Elgar Howarth, to start writing music. One of his first arrangements was "Star Wars", by John Williams, which soon led to a string of successful and popular arrangements. Early on, BBC`s Frank Renton called him: "Ray of the magic pen", and now, after hundreds of successes, bands and orchestras regularly play his pieces which range in style from Stravinsky's "Firebird" to Zappa's "Dog Breath Variations".
In 1984 Ray took up a freelancing career, having developed a reputation as a stylish conductor and a planner of interesting concert programmes ranging from light music to "avant-garde". During this time he appeared as a guest conductor all over Europe, working with the National Youth Bands of England and Switzerland and several European Gala concerts.
In 1988 Ray won a special Arts Council Award to study contemporary music with Edward Gregson and Jorma Panula, Professor of Orchestral Conducting at Helsinki's Sibelius Academy. In 1990 he moved to Stavanger, Norway to accept a conducting position with the city music school's Youth Orchestra where he was able to combine regular conducting positions with guest conducting invitations. During this time he worked with the National Youth Bands of Norway and Eikanger Bjørsvik Musikklag , who flew him to Bergen twice a week for rehearsals and concerts. He became involved with wind bands and was appointed Chief Conductor with the Trondheim Military Band and conductor of the National Youth Wind band of Norway.
The Sandnes Symphony Orchestra ( Norway) appointed Ray as Chief Conductor in 1992. Ray took the opportunity to develop in the fields of opera, ballet and oratorio which opened the doors to the bigger orchestral world and guest conducting with the Norwegian Radio Orchestra, Stavanger Symphony Orchestra and Kristiansand Symphony Orchestra ( Norway).
In 1995 his affection for Eikanger Bjørsvik Musikklag caused him to move to Bergen, where he accepted a position as their Musical Director. With them he has given many innovative performances of a wide variety of music on stage, TV, radio, and CD – most notably the "Best by Farr" series. During this time he maintained his freelance conducting career and travelled the world visiting the National Youth Brass Band of New Zealand and working in Japan, Australia and America.
In 2003 Ray moved to Durham, England to accept a position as Conductor in Residence at Durham University. The University's Music Department has successfully established a unique Centre for Brass Band Studies, to which students from all over the world come to study conducting and arranging at MA and PhD level. Ray is promoting an annual concert series with the University Brass Band in Residence.
In 2004, Ray was invited by The Sage Gateshead to direct a concert series featuring brass music. The series is now an annual event with three concerts each year featuring local and international artists.
Ray has worked closely with Northern Sinfonia and the British Arts Council to realise the first ever Durham International Brass Soloist Competition (DIBSC®) which commenced in June 2007.
In 2009 he was appointed Musical Director/Principal Conductor of the Sunderland Symphony Orchestra. A position he combines with conducting and teaching duties at Durham University
Alongside his research for a PhD in music, Ray has recently written a book on conducting and is very much in demand as a guest conductor throughout the world.
Much more information is available at www.regvardyband.co.uk
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