Brigstowe Village Band

The BVB rehearsal with Laurel on Sunday 12 September will be at Westbury Park Church, 4, North View, Bristol BS6 7QB, from 2-4pm.

The list of tunes to be played can be found here.

Look forward to seeing lots of you there

The Playlist can be found here.

(There will not be a kitchen rehearsal for this event).

Dear BVBers,
Just to say Virge and I are really looking forward to the band coming to play for our handfasting. Some of you may know that Virge and I got married last October but couldn’t have a wedding reception, so we are now having a handfasting with celebrations. Thank you so much for your contribution to our special day – we are very grateful.

Arrangements are as follows – 

Venue – Radford Mill Farm, Mill Lane, near Timsbury, BA2 0QF  –  Saturday September 4th. 

Please can the band arrive by 12.15 to set up. Park in the parking field (entrance is via Mill Lane and not through the Farm driveway). Cross the small bridge that takes you straight into the Circle Garden where the handfasting ceremony will take place. Walk through and out of the circle garden into the rest of the Piggery area to set up in the entrance of the large marquee on the green. There will be some armless chairs! Everything is close by. If it’s raining, then the band can play just in the entrance of the marquee. Everyone is more than welcome to arrive earlier if they wish, take their lunch with them and to enjoy the surroundings – there are picnic benches on the green as well as there being strawbales on the day. Raford Mill Farm really is very lovely!  

12.40 gather by the fire pit with all other guests ready to enter and be smudged ceremonially into the Circle Garden. Please no late arrivals after 1pm as this is when the ceremony will begin, and you have to walk into the Circle Garden to enter the rest of the Piggery. If you do happen to be running late, but you get there before 1pm, then you can set up later after the ceremony as the band won’t start playing straight away.

1.00-1.45 Handfasting ceremony and blessings

Group photo approx 1.50

Approx 2.00 Everyone to lead out to take part in a (very easy and expertly led) Circle Wedding dance on the green followed by Tea and Cake.

Approx 2.45-3.45 Brigstowe Village Band :  Dance sets with caller(s).  Luna and Virge feature on one as yet unspecified tune . Briggy interlude.

At around 4, wedding guests will be sitting down for a meal. We are really sorry that we aren’t able to invite the Brigstowe Village Band to this, but we hope you’ll enjoy playing in a very lovely space for our guests, being part of the colourful festivities and adding to our special day. ❤️

Luna and Virge x

Some extra info about parking from Pat: The Station Road car park and the large shopping centre car park on Stockway South are both free. To reach the festival from them walk diagonally across the Scotch Horn car park, cross the road, Nailsea Park, to reach the school.

Here are the salient points for Saturday’s gig:

1. If you wish to play and have not notified Liz, please do so immediately by email
2. If you wish to attend the kitchen rehearsal on Friday 27th at 7 p.m., please also let Liz know.
3. We are third in the lineup.  Meeting at 1 p.m., setting up on stage from 1:15 p.m., playing from 1:30 to 2 p.m.  Venue details are on the TFC website
4. Parking is at a premium:  You can unload in the disabled car park spaces and a small number of vehicles may be able to park in the stallholders’ car park, but we are strongly discouraged from doing so by the organisers.  I researched parking:  There are 2 hours of free parking in the Clevedon Road (300 spaces) and Station Road (250 spaces) public car parks and there may be spaces on Nailsea Park further up the road.  The surrounding side streets are residential with drive ways and do not seem to lend themselves to parking.  I strongly suggest that you car share.  Personally, I am considering going by public transport:  the X9 runs half hourly from Bristol Bus Station, Bay 11, dept times on Saturday are 1145 and 1215 hours, arriving at Nailsea The Perrings, 35 minutes later.  From there it is a shortish walk of about a km to the site.  Return time from The Perrings are on 29 and 59 past the hour throughout the afternoon.
5. There is an amended playlist agreed between Liz and Laurel which is as follows. Items in square brackets may be omitted, depending on acoustics and the perceived nature of the audience.

1. Summer (Opera ) Hats AA BB x3 Intro: Clarinet
2. [Liz: Welcome]
3. Fred Pigeon ‘s Triumph x3: Intro 8 bars . Brass / Guitar Liz or another
4. [The perils of dancing: William Prynne, 1633]
5. Oats & Beans x 4 bar intro (accordions?) 
6. Captain Money /Wednesday Night. AABB x4 Intro: Clarinet
7. Washing Day: 1,2,Alt Bx4; Build: 1,2. Lyn counts Straight in
8. [Liz: Link The difference between country dances and the other sort ..]
9. [Colin: The evils of the waltz]
10. WW Waltz AB x 4 ; Intro: Fiddles / Boxes
11. Up in the morning AABB / Captain Dyke /AABC x3 Intro: Lyn/ Tony 8 beats
12. Band and Singers: Let Union Be: Liz counts: Singers a capella .

Reserve:
Long Ashton Schottische x 3 Intro: Autoharp
Bath Carnival x4: Intro: concertinas 4 bars
Banbury Bill x3 plus coda: Intro: accordions 2 bars

See you on Saturday

The BVB rehearsal with Laurel on Sunday 8 July will be at Long Ashton Village Hall from 2-4pm

We will be preparing for the Stoke Gifford gig on Sunday 15 August. Laurel has put the list of tunes to be played here.

The draft setlist for Stoke Gifford can be found here.

Unfortunately Steve Rowley has had to postpone his presentation on Saturday 24 July because of concerns about travelling and Covid. Liz has assured him that everyone would understand and we look forward to seeing him some time in the future ……

Steve Rowley, an expert on the history, construction and handling of Hobby Horses, and a very interesting and entertaining speaker, will be giving a talk in Liz’s kitchen on Saturday 24 July. (Time to be confirmed but will be late afternoon / early evening).

Numbers will be limited so please email Liz (elizabethnewman@live.com) if you would like to attend.

It should be a lot of fun.

Dear Brigstowe Village Band, Here is version 2 of the playlist for Wednesday. Our first playlist since the start of COVID. It has been ‘tweeked’ (introductions / times through etc) as a result of members availability and the rehearsal with Laurel on Friday 16th and will be ‘Tweeked ‘ again (so version 3) after Tuesday 20th rehearsal. Please let me know if you are coming and have not done so. After that it will be pretty much the playlist that we use for all our summer gigs up until the Harvest Festival at St Marys, West Kington on October 3rd. All looking good. Best wishes, Liz

Playlist for Clifton Serenade Version 2:

The Clifton Summer serenades will be on Wednesday 21 July, Mall Gardens, West Mall / Caledonia Place, Clifton. BS8 4BH.

Please arrive for 6.15pm, ready for a short run through at 6.30pm and to play at 7pm (2 x 25min sets with a 15 min break in between).

If the event is cancelled due to bad weather: – the day before – a message will go on website, if on the day a phone number to call will be provided nearer the time.

It will be possible to unload cars at the gardens but parking is resident only. Suggest parking on Downs, or Clifton Park Road, College Road or Canynge Road (resident parking ends at 5pm in these streets). Please car share if possible.

Belongings can be left (at owners risk) in a garage on Zion Hill (at the end of the Mall Gardens) belonging to a friend of Ed. Ed will be there to supervise.

Please bring your own chair if you need to sit down. Chairs will not be provided.

People will be picnicking and listening in the park. There will be a bagpipe flourish to start proceedings and BVB will play at 7pm.

Wear summer hats and bright flowers.

The setlist will go on the website on Wednesday 14 July.

There will be practices in Liz’s Kitchen (23, The Crescent, Henleaze, Bristol, BS9 4RP) on Friday 16 July, 7-9pm and on Tuesday 20 July 7-9pm.

The BVB rehearsal on Sunday 11 July will be at Long Ashton Village Hall from 2 – 4pm.

Look forward to seeing lots of you there.

Please click on the link above for information for band members, singers, readers and Briggy about the summer and Autumn BVB gigs.