THIS time next year, Vintage Brass will be celebrating its silver jubilee.

The band, which has many players on the top side of 60, is already planning how to celebrate the 25-year milestone and what would really get the anniversary off to a good start would be to have all its chairs filled.

Band secretary and euphonium player James Taylor says the band needs back-row cornet players as well as low horns.

"The trouble is, that by the time most cornet players are 60, they are playing in the front row and some wouldn't perhaps want to go on to the back row."

But James is hoping there are some players out there who don't have time to commit to a band with serious competing intentions but still enjoy the music and the camaraderie of banding that they will find in abundance with Vintage.

The band rehearses every Wednesday at Golcar Liberal Club under the watchful eye of conductor Stuart Derrick.

"Vintage brass was formed from members of the old Scapegoat Hill Band. People who were turning 60 and who were in their prime then but didn't want to contest," said James.

"They didn't want to go to a rehearsal and play 10 bars all night until they got it absolutely perfect. They wanted to play for pleasure."

In recent times, their sponsor and backer has been Syd Harris who is also the band's president.

"The players generally are over 60 but we have a number of lady players - and they are not!" said James.

"Our solo baritone for example is a lady who has a family and didn't want the extra commitment of a band that is contesting."

James, who joined about eight years ago, started his banding life as a youngster. His music took a back seat when he was in his late 20s and he only started playing again after a round of golf with Honley Band's David Toothill.

"I asked David if they had a cornet that I could borrow to have a blow and he said that I didn't want a cornet and brought me a euphonium."

These days, as well as his outings with Vintage Brass, James is involved with the Yorkshire Traction Honley Band and its junior band offshoot. In fact, some of the youngsters have been helping out, filling in some of the spare seats at Vintage Brass.

Vintage Brass may not be into contesting but they are still in demand on the concert circuit, clocking up 25 to 30 dates a year. If you'd like to join them, call Mr Taylor on 01484 662924.

IT IS a staggering 27 years since Brighouse and Rastrick Band spent six weeks at number two in the pop charts with their rendition of The Floral Dance.

It was one of the most talked about musical success stories of its time and helped put the band's name on the map worldwide.

Now members of today's championship winning band hope to see in the New Year with another chart topping success.

It's all down to the talents of the band's principal cornet player, Alan Morrison.

It was Alan who earlier this year entered a competition organised by the Foden Richardson Band aimed at encouraging people to write new pieces and arrangements for brass bands.

And it was Alan who walked away with a £1,000 prize and the thrill of knowing that he has come up with a version of Over The Rainbow which has proved a winner in the competition's new arrangement section. Now his version is due to be released as a single.

While many will associate the title with the legendary Judy Garland's version of Somewhere Over The Rainbow it was Eva Cassidy's more recent version of the song that inspired Alan.

And that connection has helped get Alan's new arrangement recorded.

His new version of the song has been going down well at B and R concerts throughout the year and so impressed someone from the recording company that made the original Eva Cassidy recording when he heard it on BBC2's Listen To The Band, that he got in touch.

Now Over the Rainbow is to be released as a CD single backed by the sort of publicity that a major recording company can generate. Soon, Alan Morrison's name and that of Brighouse and Rastrick will again be as well known as the band was in Floral Dance days.

* Hear the band in their traditional Christmas Concert on Saturday (3pm) at the Central Methodist Church, Brighouse. Tickets for the performance (3pm), which will feature young musicians from Rastrick High School, from Fawcetts Stationers, Commercial Street, Brighouse or by contacting B&R concert secretary, Mr D. Howe, telephone 01274 725332.

Tickets for the evening performance are sold out.

B&R's arrangement of The Floral Dance shot to number two in the charts 27 years ago - only Paul McCartney's Mull Of Kintyre robbed them of top slot. Prime time plays by Terry Wogan did the single no harm at all!