For more years than he cares to remember, David Hoyle has had a seat in the balcony as a paying customer at the Huddersfield Town Hall at Honley Male Voice Choir’s Christmas concert.
But at this year’s Christmas with Honley on Saturday, December 14, he will be on stage compering the show which features, for the ninth successive year, the world famous Cory Band.
David, who has been involved in the brass band world since he was a child, has followed the fortunes of the choir for more than 25 years. When he worked as a travel agent he made the arrangements for the choir’s two weeks tour of Florida, USA, in 1991.
And so he was delighted when his father-in-law, Honley’s chairman Roger Wild, invited him to compere this year’s concert.
Brass band followers will know that for the past five years David has presented one of the most popular weekend shows on BBC local radio.
Aired at 1pm each Sunday, Yorkshire Brass is also one of the top rated shows on BBC I-player and has listeners from as far away as South Island in New Zealand,Sydney, Brisbane and Adelaide in Australia – and even a regular listener in Nepal.
David, who compered a BBC Children in Need concert at the Town Hall on November 3 and Colne Valley Male Voice Choirs in Gilbert and Sullivan’s March of the Peers played the soprano cornet in Slaithwaite Brass Band before his playing career was brought to an end in the late 1980s because of business interests.
The Cory Band, which hails from the Rhondda Valley and was formed in 1884, come to Huddersfield with a phenomenal record. For the seventh year running they are ranked Number one in the world.
In May they were crowned European Champions in Oslo, Norway, for the fifth time.
They are conducted by Philip Harper who was appointed Musical Director in May last year, succeeding Dr Robert Childs.
He was the principal tenor horn of the National Youth Brass Band of Great Britain and reached the final of the BBC Young Musician of the Year in 1991.
Honley’s Musical Director Steven Roberts will be conducting his first Town Hall Christmas concert with the choir which he joined in January. Steven, who is in great demand as a conductor, arranger, vocal coach and adjudicator, has chosen an exciting programme of traditional Christmas music, some of which he has arranged and some modern non-Christmas music.
Recent recruitment events has boosted choir membership to over 60, well on its way to its 80 plus target which Steven is hoping will be reached within a year.
Tickets for the concert which begins at 7.15pm are on sale through Kirklees box offices at the Huddersfield main library (223200), Holmfirth Tourist Information centre (222444) or online at www.kirklees.gov.uk/townhalls and are priced from £5 to £16.
