25/26 Year round up

2025/2026 has been a great year for the wind orchestra. We have held a number of successful concerts and socials throughout the year and we were able to enjoy a tour of Amsterdam at the end of the summer term.

In the autumn term we had a packed schedule with main band playing in the free concert, the Christmas concert and NCBF regionals while the smalls bands were also able to play in our Christmas small bands' concert. Thanks to Michal and Tom for conducting us for some amazing pieces such as The Incredibles, Stephenson's Rocket, The Illyrian Dances and Incantation and Dance, with the last two pieces earning us Gold at NCBF.

The spring term was no less busy as the wind orchestra headed to MC Ball!! Feeling Saxy performed at the ball in another successful year which included performances at the Maths, Stats and Physics Ball and the Christian Union Christmas Mass. The Spring concert was another excellent showcase for the orchestra with David conducting some wind band classics such as The English Folk Songs by Vaughan-Williams and Festivo by Gregson, while Roshan took us on a journey on the ocean with his sea-themed set which included a composition from Roshan himself titled The Cove.

The summer term concluded the end of a busy year, with a mix of concerts and socials as we bid farewell to the leavers' from this year. The term started with Playathon, which despite being slightly disrupted due to circumstances outside of our control, was a great day of playing with all the rehearsing ensembles able to play throughout the day. In the end, we smashed our fundraising target, with the proceeds going to the charity Youth Music. There was great turnout for both the small bands concert and the Leavers' concert, where we said goodbye to our Leavers - Grace, Emily Deakin, Polly, Holly, Keira, Emily Tall, Michal, Amelia, Chris, Roshan, Ellie, Flo, Jude and Annabelle.

Finally, there were some amazing socials this term run by Thomas and Ioan including circles, murder mysteries, board games, pub crawls, balls, BBQs and the infamous Pub Hike. This fabulous year of socials concluded with the wind orchestra tour of Amsterdam, coordinated by Ella, where we were able to see the Van Gogh museum, a concert in the Vondelpark and a boat tour along the canals.

This post is an attempt to update the blog on the happenings of this year before the blog descends into the archives of the wind orchestra website due to the emergence of a Warwick Windstagram (Instagram account) which appears to be of far more use to the Wind Orchestra than this blog, which has been somewhat abandoned for the past few years. It may reappear in later years should some subsequent Wind Orchestra secretary so wish, but for the rest of this year this is it.

Ben Haines

Secretary 26/27

NCBF Regionals 2025

25/26 Exec at MC Ball