Euphonium Soloist Bert Sullivan one of the greats
I RECENTLY saw an interesting description of the great Euphonium Soloist Bert Sullivan by Charles Brighton, who is himself a fine euphonium player, on Facebook.
I remember very clearly Bert Sullivan playing with Munn and Felton when I joined Fisher & Ludlow Works band in 1961.
I had heard Munn & Felton in the bandstand in Tredegar Park, Newport, in the mid1950s when my father and I cycled from Skewen to Cardiff and then caught a bus to Newport.
However, at that concert the player I would remember was not Bert Sullivan, but James Scott, who played a cornet solo Macushla, which has forever been my favourite solo since hearing him play.
Sullivan was a great player and in 1960 the band won the British National Championships with the Munn and Felton name for the last time.
In 1964 and 1966 the band won the British title with the name of GUS under the baton of Stanley Boddington.
A very good friend of mine, Ken Lewis, who played on the back row at GUS spoke very highly of the musicianship of both Bert Sullivan and Trevor Groom and was uncertain of whom he thought was the better player.
Bert was presented with the Insignia of Honour by the Mayor of Kettering at the Royal Albert Hall in the1960s.
There was a Welsh connection with Bert as he joined Gwaun Cae Gurwen Band in1924 who, at that time, was considered one of the best in Wales.
In 1932 he was touring America with Besses O’ Th’ Barn and in 1933 he joined Munn & Felton where he stayed as Principal Euphonium for the next 35 years.
DESPITE what is happening to the country, and the NHS in particular, because of the coronavirus, a group of brass band players from Ayrshire and Arran, Greater Glasgow and Clyde and Dumfries area districts, who all work with the NHS, decided to take a leaf out of the Cory book by playing a tune as Cory did, in their own homes and putting it all together and getting it played on YouTube.
They were all missing the opportunity that band practice gives them to wind down after the stressful working conditions they experience during their day’s work.
The decided to do this to try to keep their lips in practice so they had this idea and decided to play the Proclaimers’ song I’m Gonna Be (500 miles) as it represented the lengths everyone in the NHS is going in trying to beat this evil virus.
Well done, all! Everyone is appreciative of the efforts of the NHS staff.
It appears that brass bands are going viral on modern technology.
Andrew Jones had originally called a meeting with the aim of making a start on organising a body in Wales for brass bands similar to that of the role of Brass Band England, which represents the majority of brass bands in England.
The meeting was cancelled so Andrew decided that the meeting would still take place with all invited members getting in to conference online.
Similarly the Wantage Band, in the south west area of England, decided that the training band would continue rehearsing using the Zoom video app.