Hull in print

There's something about those coal-hard names that makes the East Yorkshire Motor Services Band sound as if it might be motoring in a different lane. But, if its title carries a little less oomph, when it comes to oompah-pahs, the Hull-based EYMS Band is right up there with the top brass.

Emily, 19, blows the second horn.

In October its 28 members again got a ticket to ride to London to compete in the National Brass Band Championships. This alone meant they had won through a regional contest which already put them among the country's 20 leading bands. They didn't expect to gain the number one spot, not competing against mighty West Riding rivals who can mine a wealth of homegrown talent. Not, of course, that the EYMS Band accepts any passengers. It's just that Hull's maritime culture has never been so in tune with grit and polish, resulting in fewer local brass players.

Some of their more famous rivals also have the advantage of receiving enough in income and sponsorship to hire professionals. The EYMS musicians are amateurs, supported by the local bus company with free coach journeys and expenses.

But despite performing airs on a shoestring, they aimed to get back into the top 10. In 1996 after being promoted to the Championship Section, the equivalent of football's Premier League, they came eighth, their highest ranking to date. Mind you, anything might happen this year.

"You can never guess what the adjudicators will be looking for," said chairman Tony Newiss. "The test piece, Masquerade, is supposedly the hardest ever written for the brass band. It's horrendous to listen to, there isn't a tune in it."

Hull in print took a sounding at the Cottingham Civic Hall where the band rehearsed for the big day following a charity concert. They undertake many fund-raisers, especially for Dove House Hospice and the NSPCC. Their recent schedule also included performing a new work entitled The Deep, which was commissioned with financial assistance from the City Council's Live Music Fund, at the opening of the submarium in March.

With contemporary themes and dramatic crescendos, Masquerade seemed as similar to the Hovis advert as the Cottingham Civic Hall is to the Royal Albert Hall, the Championships' venue.

"It's not be, be, be, be but ba, ba, be, ba," said conductor Gareth Pritchard, indicating the tempo. Appointed musical director after the departure of Robert Childs who co-founded the organisation as the City of Hull Band in 1989, Welsh-born Pritchard proved himself a stern task-master.

It was quite a change from his genial front-man act during the concert. Then he had explained to the audience why the band's personnel made worthwhile the twice weekly 220-mile round trip from his home in Stockport for rehearsals at St John's Ambulance in Popple Street, Hull.

Trombonist Mark Unsworth hitting the right notes.

Among them are four couples, including Tony, a policeman, who plays cornet alongside his wife, Kathy. Brass bands are no longer a bastion for boozy males. One of the eight female members is the band's "baby", 17-year-old Rosie Nicol, a pupil at St Mary's College, Hull. She plays second trombone while her 19-year-old sister, Emily, blows second horn.

And two unborn babies were accompanying the band to the Championships. Cornet player Kirsty Fox who met her husband, David, when he joined the tuba section 12 years ago, was planning to take part despite expecting twins in January. She agreed Masquerade was not the usual style of soothing music played to babies in the womb.

"They kick a lot when I play it. I don't know if that means they like it or not," said Kirsty, an auditor with an accountancy firm.

A joy of musical groups is that they bring together people of different ages from different backgrounds who strive together to create art and entertainment. Mark Unsworth, former principal trombone in the band of The Kings Own Border Regiment, is the self-styled joker in this pack. During the mixed programme of classics, jazz and hymns came a piece called The Joker when Mark strode through the audience dressed in belled cap and colourful stripes. He took aim with the slide of his trombone, narrowly missing ears. One happy victim was Brenda Eastwood who attends most of the band's concerts.

"It's a wonderful band. I was brought up with brass bands. My father, William Corlass, used to play tuba with the Salvation Army at Great Thornton Street," she said.

17-year-old Rosie Nicol, a pupil at St Mary's College, Hull. Playing the second trombone.

Mark, now a driver living in Sutton, progressed through Hull's local education authority bands and orchestras before joining the Army. Percussionist and founder member Dean Addinell likewise developed his talent thanks to the council. He took up drums as a 10-year-old at Wolds Road School, continued at Sydney Smith and later played in various youth orchestras.

"It keeps me sane, the band and the music. Everyone is very supportive of each other," said Dean who works in sales order processing at Kingston Communications.

"There's also the prestige of being in a top band. This is the sixth time in seven years that we've played at the Royal Albert Hall and the buzz you get there is fantastic."

So whatever the end result, that buzz alone would ensure the EYMS Band was not brassed off on the bus home.


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