Brassed Off!

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Andrew Owenson again took over as Resident Musical Director but he did not reign long and resigned his position for the second time just prior to the Summer Season of 1957. The band was again helped out of its difficulties by Bill Foster (by now in his Seventies) until George Thompson was persuaded to take up his old position with the band. He had been conducting a band in Cornwall but he welcomed the opportunity of returning to Yorkshire. Towards the end of the 1950’s things began to improve, mainly as a result of this appointment in 1958. Known as a fine band trainer, Thompson set new standards of musical discipline, re-established the youth band ‘nursery’, and proved to be a source of inspiration to his players throughout his long period with them. Under his leadership, the band’s record at the ‘Open’ Championship of Great Britain was First in 1967 and 1969, Second in 1963, Third in 1960, 1961, 1968 and 1971. The second outstanding performance you get in Brassed Off comes from Stephen Tomkinson, as Danny’s son, Phil. In 1917 several bandsmen working at Grimethorpe who belonged to a band at Cudworth, (the next village) which had disbanded, approached the Colliery Institute Committee with a view to starting a band at Grimethorpe. A meeting was held and the suggestion was favourably received. After lengthy discussions, a decision was made to go ahead and the Grimethorpe Colliery Band came into being in 1917. This was accomplished, chiefly with raw local lads plus men from the disbanded band at Cudworth, and a fund was started by the Carlton Main Colliery Company Limited, a sister company, the Colliery Institute Committee and supplemented by voluntary subscriptions from Colliery Officials and Workmen. The original name was the Grimethorpe Colliery Institute Band and for some years it was called the Grimethorpe Colliery Band.

Preparations started in earnest about 2 weeks before the date of the contest. However nothing could prepare us for the events that were about to unfold and as we entered the final week we were unknowingly just starting a story that would be covered worldwide and would throw our carefully planned schedule into utter chaos!

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Originally a small Hamlet – Grimms Farm – it became noteworthy at the turn of the century with the discovery of Coal and the establishment of an important colliery. And yet, Grimethorpe’s claim to fame stemmed not solely from the colliery itself, but from the brass band that bears the same name. During 1987, the band took part in the opening celebration of the 750 years anniversary of Berlin, held in the international Conference Centre of West Berlin. They also gave concert performances in the St. Magnus Festival held on the Orkney island of Kirkwall. The film also stars Ewan MacGregor who falls for the beautiful Gloria, and Stephen Tompkinson as Danny’s son Phil whose life is slowly being destroyed by the uncertainty surrounding him. A strong acting cast is, of course, augmented by the Grimethorpe Colliery RJB Band who supplied the bulk of the fictional Grimley Band as well as playing all the music. Said Mark Herman “It was interesting to blend four or five actors with a real band to the extent that people can’t see the join, which means that the band had to be as good at acting as the actors were as musicians.

As you can probably imagine, the mother of all celebrations was underway, and if any body of people know how to celebrate, Grimethorpe Colliery Band are world leaders and the evening became a blurred but very happy memory. Paul Allen adapted Mark Herman's screenplay for the stage, the production premiering at the Crucible Theatre Sheffield on 17 March 1998, with music performed by the Grimethorpe Colliery Band. The play transferred to the Royal National Theatre in June before embarking on a UK tour. [16] In 2014 a new UK tour was mounted by the Touring Consortium Theatre Company, coinciding with the thirtieth anniversary of the miners' strike. [17] In popular culture [ edit ] As ever, we were anxious to get a late draw, the television camera crews were still taking our every move and had even agreed with the organisers to set up a camera in the hall. We drew No.17, which for Ken Hirst was a major achievement. He even mumbled something about somebody pinching his no.1 ball, although he was a relieved man when they had. Such a great mix, too. From his deserved Oscar nomination for his portrayal of Giuseppe Conlon in In The Name Of The Father, through to his scene-stealing in The Usual Suspects, a bit of footie with When Saturday Comes (spoiler: Sean Bean survives that one), and dinosaur hunting in The Lost World: Jurassic Park, he felt ever-present on cinema screens for a while there. I liked that.Williams Fairey 2nd – Desford Colliery and the 1992 National Champion Band of Great Britain were announced. With 99 points the band which played number —17 Grimethorpe Colliery. Frank Renton made it plain that that was exactly what he wanted and suggested I stood as high in the RAH as possible – appropriately enough – in the Gods!!!!

Holden, Stephen (23 May 1997). "Brassed Off (1996) Sentimental Coal Dust With a Brass Band". The New York Times. At this point, Frank Renton swung into action. It was already 6.05 pm, we were signed on and ready to play. Frank threw the score at me and told me to write several sections of solo horn parts for 1st baritone. He was already writing out some parts for Solo Trombone, and Ray Curry, – well poor Ray looked under serious pressure. He was Grimethorpe’s 1st Horn player, and he was frantically practicing the horn solo and small cadenza which was not easy for the most rehearsed of horn players, not quite believing the predicament he had found himself in. About 4 hours later, someone burst through the doors and congratulated us on a marvellous 2nd prize and of course qualification for the National Finals at RAH in October later that year. Win this contest not just for you and Grimethorpe Colliery Band, he bellowed. Win this contest not just for the 1,500 miners at Grimethorpe and the village devastated by this announcement. But win this contest for the 33,000 miners nationwide who have just lost their jobs and may, just may, find a little comfort in the knowledge that their band has triumphed in the adversity that afflicts them all, and could just be a glimmer of hope for a very bleak looking future, whatever they do from then on.”Over the years, the band has performed at many memorial services for distinguished personalities in the country. In 1996 Grimethorpe became Yorkshire Champions once again as well as the top English band at the National Finals, thereby qualifying for the 1997 European Championships at London’s Barbican where the band gained 3rd place. Grimethorpe incidentally did not take part as Elgar Howarth was in the box with William Relton and Roy Newsome, but such was the furore that many conductors thought it “undesirable” and the following years saw the Open revert to ‘Epic Symphony’, ‘Diadem of Gold’ and ‘Benvenuto Cellini’. The main inspiration behind the band’s emergence into the new music field is Elgar Howarth, a musician with unique experience of composing, conducting and brass playing.

The passionate band conductor, Danny Ormondroyd, finds he is fighting a losing battle to keep the rest of the band members committed. His son, Phil, is badly in debt and becomes a clown for children's parties, but this fails to prevent his wife and children walking out on him. In debt, Phil votes for the redundancy money, which he becomes ashamed of. As Danny collapses in the street and is hospitalised, Phil suffers a mental breakdown while entertaining a group of children, as part of a harvest festival in a church. He refers to himself as "Coco the scab"—a name that he had been called by a debt collector who he had asked to wait until the redundancy money had come through. Eventually, he attempts suicide by trying to hang himself, but is taken to the hospital. Phil reveals to Danny that in light of the colliery's closure, the band has decided not to continue playing. This was the first tour for the band organised by International Concert Attractions Pty Ltd and the schedule was gruelling. The tour started spending 5 days in Japan and performing on 14/02 with two concerts in the Orchard Hall – Tokyo, followed on 15/02 at Kouseinenkin Kalkin – Tokyo, 16/02 Hagoyashi Koukaido Nagoya, 17/02 Festival Hall – Osaka and 18/02 Meil Parque Hall – Kukupka. In 1986 Grimethorpe (with Sunlife) were the first band to perform at the Kenwood Bowl, Conducted by Geoffrey Brand, finishing with the 1812 Overture, complete with Fireworks.

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Because of the success 2 years ago, with the popularity of the band with audiences, this tour was more relaxed with the first week being spent in the Kings Cross area of Sydney. The tour didn’t start on a good footing with all the luggage being lost on the flight over, arriving a day late, with the bands music arriving on the morning of the first concert. Apparently it had made a small detour to America. The tour started on the 25/01 at Wollongong Entertainment Centre, then 26/03 Civic Theatre – Newcastle then the main concert of the tour on 27/01 at the Concert Hall of the Sydney Opera House. This concert was a complete sell out including 200 people standing for the whole performance and we were informed that the concert could have been sold out another 2 times. Then the final concert in Australia on the 27/01 at The Hills Centre – Castle Hill before travelling onto New Zealand. Philip Wilby commented “a sure triumph of the human spirit, a sense of liberty and resurrection drawn out of sorrow and pain” In 1982, the band started a series of recordings of Music by Carl Davies for a BBC Television Series entitled “Working Lives”, these recordings continued through 1983 with the series being completed in 1984. The band supporters were ecstatic, but other bands had also played well. The reigning champions Desford Colliery had evidently played very well a few bands earlier than us. Fairey’s had also given a very worthwhile performance and these two seemed to be our main contenders. So we waited and waited for the results.