Regent Brass celebrates 40th Anniversary
Regent Brass is celebrating its 40th Anniversary this year, having been formed from the Brent Youth Band in 1985 by Paul Fensom, a brass teacher and subsequent Head of Music Service in the area. The band has enjoyed considerable success since then; reaching the Championship Section in 1991 just six years on from its formation. The band continued to build on this success and were rewarded with a top section London & Southern Counties Regional Championship title in 1994 and again in 2013. Away from contesting, the band formed Regent Community Brass in 2012 and has continued enhance its reputation as one of UK banding's most adventurous concert performers of contemporary brass band music.
The band celebrated the milestone anniversary in style late last month with a party in Brent bringing together past and present band members to mark their achievements over four decades. A spokesperson for the band explained, “We were delighted to welcome a number of the founders of our band, and in particular to Paul Fensom, our founding conductor who made the journey to celebrate from Bergen, Norway, and Philip Doe, whose arrangements and compositions featured in the band’s performances throughout the evening.
“We also recognised a number of people who have been ‘instrumental’ in establishing and nurturing our band, saving special recognition for our amazing treasurer, David D’Costa, who has been part of the band since day one and continues play a huge part in our success, and therefore also celebrates 40 years this year with the band. To our chair, Emily Peart and our Band Manager, Ollie Pugh and everyone on the band’s committee as well as the extended support team that made it all happen, a huge thank you for your hard work putting on this event - we all had a great time!”
Amongst all the celebrating there was also time for Regent Community Brass and a special Regent Reunion Band to perform, in addition to Regent Brass’s own celebratory concert set, which included the march ‘Honest Toil’ and Philip Doe’s ‘On a Mission from God’, as well as a reprise of Philip’s beautiful euphonium duet ‘Lullaby’.
The evening concluded with a series of reflections on the history given by Paul and chairperson Emily Peart, as well as presentations given by the London & Southern Counties Brass Band Association to the band and individuals who had made an even wider contribution to the banding movement.
These included presentations to Paul Fensom, as well as long-serving founding ex-members Philip Doe, Darryl and Jeanette D'Costa. David D'Costa, a founding member who continues to play with the band was presented with a Long Service award.
