Posted on Sunday November 29th, 2020
In case you missed it: our first gig (sort of) since March!🎶 Yesterday, we were delighted to once again be involved in the switching on of Woodley's Christmas Lights.🎄 The event naturally took a very different form this year and with the current lockdown beginning just a couple of days before we were due to record our carols in Woodley precinct, we pulled out all the stops to provide our carols virtually, with six members of our brass section recording their parts individually in their homes.
We're really pleased with the final results and we think that Woodley's lights look fantastic too - we hope that you enjoy it!🎅🎼
Posted on Friday November 27th, 2020
TOMORROW (Saturday) at 6:00pm! Join us at the link below for the (virtual) switching on of Woodley's Christmas lights!🎄🎁🎅 There'll be carols, singing, magic and sparkle✨ (though sadly no mince pies and mulled wine this year🍷)! The perfect way to start your Christmas!
Woodley Town Council Woodley Precinct
Christine Firth set a reminder 😊
Posted on Wednesday November 25th, 2020
✨Coming this Saturday...!✨ The switching on of Woodley's Christmas Lights has marked the start of WCB's festive season for more years than we care to remember!🎄 In 2020, there's no physical event taking place but Woodley Town Centre have put together a virtual switch-on with singing, community groups and carols! With the current lockdown in place, we weren't able to be present in the precinct but we've created some virtual carols which will form part of the event which will be broadcast on YouTube on Saturday (28th) at 6:00pm. Check back on Saturday for the link to watch along!
PS...thanks to Tom Neill who's doing a great job pulling the whole thing together digitally!
Posted on Sunday November 22nd, 2020
We're just over half way through our second national lockdown😷, the days are getting shorter⏱️ and the weather's still a bit miserable🌧️, so here's a little bit of Take That to make you smile😄!
There aren't many advantages to not being able to make music together physically, but one of the few that does exist is the ability to play more than one part yourself. So...here's our version of Shine, performed by Gregor, Gregor, John, John and, er John! Enjoy!🎵🎺🎵
Awesome ! Such a good sound and very clever editing 🌟🌟🌟
A tenor horn in a wind band?
👏👏👏
Well done! Love it! 🎼🎵🎶
Fab-u-lous 💞
Excellent, this definitely brought a smile to my face!
Love it! Well done both. 🎶🎶
Well done chaps, brilliant
As a Take That fan brilliant. Looking forward to WCB's concerts next year.
Awesome job All concerned. Sounds and looks great 👍
Posted on Friday November 20th, 2020
🚨Woop!🚨Woop!🚨Woop!🚨
We are extremely excited to announce that we've been selected to be a part of Reading's fantastic Digital Advent Calendar this December!🎄🎅🎁
Since a Living Advent Calendar in the streets of Reading isn't possible this year, Reading Culture Live are delivering Christmas cheer direct to everyone's homes instead with Reading’s Digital Advent Calendar, a series of 24 videos delivered throughout December. There’ll be plenty to enjoy for all the family, including music, poetry, comedy, drama, animations, things to make and do, fun for kids and lots more, all delivered by creative artists and communities from all corners of Reading, and all in support of local artists and charities.
You can find out more about the Digital Advent Calendar (plus see who else is participating) at the link below. As for what we'll be doing and on what day we'll be appearing, it's all a closely-guarded secret🤐 but we promise that it'll be lots of fun - you'll have to keep an eye on the advent calendar (oh, and we just might mention it here...)! We can't wait!
#RDGCultureLive #DigitalAdventCalendar #magicalchristmas What's On Reading
Reading's Digital Advent Calendar
whatsonreading.com
We can’t bring the Living Advent Calendar to the streets of Reading this year. So we’re delivering Christmas cheer direct to your homes instead with Reading’s Digital Advent Calendar, a series o...Posted on Sunday November 15th, 2020
It's Bake Off time!🍪 A couple of weeks ago, WCB's amazing bakers gathered again (electronically, of course) for the second round of our Great WCB Bake Off! This week's theme was biscuits and we again had an amazing array of bakes on display, from historic recipes handed down through generations, to Spanish savouries, to biscuits with healing properties!
It was a fiercely fought competition and in the end, the judging panel decided that four people should share second prize - 🥈Gemma with her Nutella-stuffed therapy cookies, 🥈Kath with her biscuits formerly known as Gypsy Creams, 🥈Ursula with her Christmassy Speculoos Biscuits and 🥈Cath with her Chorizo and Manchega Cheese Biscuits - but the overall winner (and this round's star baker🌟) was Katie with her Halloween-themed Skeleton Gingerbread Biscuits - well done Katie!🏆
Well done to all of our bakers!✨Take a look at the photos for all of the entries, plus some of the brilliant stories behind the biscuits!🍪
Well done Katie!! 👍🥳👌👏
Very well done Katie, some “stiff” competition there !
Can’t believe I missed this...🙄 Well done bakers! 👏🏻😃
Posted on Wednesday November 4th, 2020
In case you missed it, Making Music UK put on a cracking virtual concert last night with loads of great music including Eric Whitacre's beautiful Seal Lullaby (which we've performed in the past). If you fancy a musical interlude, you can watch the 40 minute concert at the link below - Assistant MD Owen even dusted off his WCB uniform to introduce our contribution!
youtu.be/-LuAxD89HuI
Posted on Tuesday November 3rd, 2020
Don't forget! Join us at 7pm for the latest Making Music UK virtual concert featuring some great music from all sorts of great ensembles, including WCB! See you there!
Thank you for the music, great performance as always.🎼🎺🎷🎼
Posted on Monday November 2nd, 2020
⚡NEWSFLASH⚡ We're excited to announce that our performance of Thank You For The Music has been selected to be included in the latest Making Music UK virtual concert, taking place at 7:00pm tomorrow night (Tuesday 3rd) over on their facebook page (click their name above) or YouTube channel (www.youtube.com/c/makingmusic/videos - if you hit subscribe and click the bell, you'll be notified when the concert starts).
Making Music is a membership organisation for leisure-time music-making organisations around the UK, with a membership of over 3,700 groups representing around 200,000 music makers. They've been hosting virtual concerts throughout the Coronavirus lockdown, providing an opportunity for groups whose usual performance outlets have vanished. We're really proud to be included in the latest event and hope you'll come along to enjoy the show! 🎶
Posted on Sunday November 1st, 2020
Well, it’s been a pretty wet and miserable start to November🌧️ and with impending lockdown restrictions, it seems likely that we won’t be getting back to rehearsals any time soon either. So…what we all need at this point is a dose of cheerfulness, happiness and positivity, and fortunately, we’ve got just the thing for you! Here’s our virtual performance of Candy Man🍬 from 1971 hit film Willy Wonka & the Chocolate Factory🍫 (starring Gene Wilder). Recorded in our homes over the last couple of months, we hope that this brightens your day and raises a smile! Enjoy!☀️🎼🎷
Another triumph! Well done guys!
Excellent! Enjoyed that 😁👍
Brilliant x
Great entertainment 👍
Top job everyone!
Cheered me up Thanks
Thankyou WCB just what we needed today brightened up the start of our day
Superb! Well done all musicians and Gemma for putting it all together.
👏👏👏👏
Fab as always WCB 😊
Lovely 😊
Lovely to hear, thank you.
Brilliant
Posted on Sunday October 25th, 2020
With no imminent prospect of a return to concerts or any physical band socials, we thought we’d remind ourselves of better times with a look back to one of the biggest socials we’ve ever had! Just over 6 years ago, in 2014, the band celebrated its 40th birthday with a special concert (with the mayor!) and, just as importantly, a massive party!🎉 We had balloons,🎈 a bar,🥂 a massive buffet,🧀 a barn dance,🕺💃 approximately 80 people and, of course, a birthday cake🎂!
It was fantastic to see so many people there including band members past and present, partners, children and members of the band’s Friends scheme. There was much reminiscing, a lot of eating, and a fair bit of dancing too – all in all, it was a great evening!✨ We’re really proud of the community that is Woodley Concert Band and whilst we’re enjoying doing our best to socialise online at the moment, we can’t wait to be able to meet up properly again – here’s to the next 46 years!
Posted on Sunday October 18th, 2020
Another never-before-seen video released from our archives today!🎬 Venture into the murky yet weirdly toe-tapping world of Dickensian London with our medley from smash hit musical Oliver!🎵 Consider yourself entertained!😉
Love this. It’s nice to hear the whole band rather than just what I can hear from my seat!
The band sounds great.
Posted on Sunday October 11th, 2020
Huge congratulations to WCB flautist Cath who last week completed the virtual London Marathon around the streets of Woodley, Reading and Twyford!🏃♀️ Despite some fairly unpleasant weather🌧️, Cath completed her 26.2 miles in 5½ hours and has raised over £2,000 for the Trussell Trust, Crisis and the Woodland Trust, in Cath's words: "all charities which do great work to help ensure that everyone has access to the things that 2020 has shown us we all need and value: somewhere safe to call home, enough food and essentials, and open spaces to exercise, meet friends and escape the stresses of life." A few other members of the band joined Cath (socially distanced, naturally!) for sections of her run, to provide some moral support.
Well done from all of us to Cath for her amazing achievement, and if you'd like to sponsor Cath, it's not too late - you can find her fundraising page here:
uk.virginmoneygiving.com/CatherinePiper1
Great job !
Such an amazing achievement Cath. 👏🏻👏🏻🏅
Well done!
Posted on Sunday October 4th, 2020
Welcome to...The Great WCB Bake Off!🍰 This week saw the first round of WCB's latest socially distanced social - our very own baking competition! With this round's challenge being cakes, we had a wide variety of bakes (including no less than two Pineapple Upside Down Cakes!), all showcased in our online competition. There were marks on offer for creativity, impressiveness, appearance/finish and the cake's back story, and three highly experienced judges (well...eaters of cake).
It was a closely fought competition but in the end, the judges awarded star baker🌟 to Sally for her magnificent carrot cake with cinnamon salted caramel walnuts, whilst the winner of the popular vote (and a special commendation from the judges) was Brian's very impressive and oustandingly-titled Baton-berg cake!
Check out the photos for all of the entries, plus some of the amazing backgrounds to why the bakers made the cakes that they did!
Posted on Sunday September 27th, 2020
4 months in the making, 33 players, 39 video feeds and 579 individual video clips - we're really excited to reveal our second whole-band collaboration!🎉 We're still missing being able to make music together - recent changes in Coronavirus legislation have enabled us to start exploring how we might get together again physically in the not-too-distant future (hopefully!) but in the meantime, here's our version of ABBA's pop classic Thank You For The Music, recorded in our homes over the last few months - we hope you enjoy it!🎺🎵🎷
Sounds great!
Sue Foyle watch this it’s AMAZING😍 Catherine Piper I LOVE that pic part!! This is so so good xx
Well done all, that is just great 😃
Awesome, thank you all for the music, amazing editing too! What an uplifting Sunday morning treat 🙂
Love it!! Great playing and brilliant editing Owen!
Lovely. Great pic part Cath.
Brilliant. Awesome percussion section! 🙂
Well done everyone. What a mammoth task. Sounds great xx
Totally loved it! Everyone was amazing, loved looking for Annie West! Xx
Sounding good. Keep it up. There are still some members there who I remember.
Amazing guys! Miss you all and glad to see the music is still flowing 😍
WCB thankyou for the music that was amazing, truly impressive.
Very nice 👌