THE PHOENIX WINDBAND: ANNUAL REPORT 2004-05 The Phoenix Windband was formed by members of the SCOLA Friday evening wind and brass band in 1999. The initial motivation was to obtain some lottery funding to purchase music (in the early days we were always short of music) and fund the first Wychcroft week-end. We could not do this as an evening class without forming ourselves into an organisation. We were successful in these efforts and obtained several thousand pounds worth of lottery grants. Performing as the Phoenix Windband, in the first few years we played at a number of exciting locations - including at the Dome and at a garden fete in Windsor Great Park attended by the Queen Mother. In the last year we have held a couple of pleasant social events (a garden party last summer, not blessed with such good weather as the year before, and a Christmas concert for friends and family), and another brilliant and successful Wychcroft week-end. I would like to record everyone's thanks to Howard and Neil for the organisation, and to Paul for the musical input, which was fantastic. We have performed a number of times - for the SCOLA summer concert at the end of the last summer term, at the fete in Chipstead last summer, carols in Sutton town centre last Christmas, and in support of the town fete at Ashtead (one of our best performances musically). There was unfortunately the other event that we played at, for SCOLA, in the town square in Sutton when we were blasted out by the tuneless din from the rock band playing nearby. The decision to simply call the performance off was undoubtedly right. While band members were sorry to lose Lorraine, our long-time bandleader, we have been privileged to have Paul as our new bandleader. We have benefited from Paul's immense experience and knowledge, and there is no doubt he has brought a greater discipline, organisation and sharpness to the band. The standard continues to improve and the evening class is over-subscribed. We have this year, for the first time, had a regular drummer of a very high standard, in Miranda, and that has given us an extra lift. Looking to the future, we have an innovation - the "Summer Wychcroft", which has turned out to be in place of our normal summer garden party (perhaps due to too many things being on in the summer for both events to be squeezed in). We already have some performances in the diary next year, but we are likely to continue to be limited by the extent to which people are prepared to make the commitment of time needed if we are to regularly perform. The ultimate objective of all this practice is to perform music well at community events, and as the class is over-subscribed I suggest those who join the class should try to make time to play at the concerts. The committee continues to consist of me (chair), Howard King (secretary) and Neil Jordan (treasurer), and this year we have benefited from Ray Skingley joining the committee and playing a very active part in organising events. Thank you Ray. We are also grateful to Roger Morton for organising the website. We continue to look for people to join the committee or take over. In the early days we performed as the Phoenix Windband rather than as the SCOLA Wind and Brass Band as the college seemed not to want us to organise our own performances and events like Wychcroft. This no longer seems to be the case, so a question is whether we should simply use the Phoenix Windband as a vehicle for financial transactions and perform as the SCOLA Wind and Brass Band. I would like to thank Paul, my fellow committee members and everyone who makes Friday evening so immensely enjoyable. RICHARD CLIFTON Chair - The Phoenix Windband 26 June 2005