Phil: I love the band - we all do - but there's other things in life, you know, that's more important. Danny: Not in mine there isn't. a b Douglass, David John (2005). Strike, not the end of the story. Overton, Yorkshire, UK: National Coal Mining Museum for England. pp.42–43. The hospital scene, with Pete Postlethwaite in bed, was filmed at Doncaster College, not a hospital. The festival scene in Delph was filmed on Monday 23 October 1995. [6] This was the first tour for the band organised by International Concert Attractions Pty Ltd and the schedule was gruelling. The tour started spending 5 days in Japan and performing on 14/02 with two concerts in the Orchard Hall – Tokyo, followed on 15/02 at Kouseinenkin Kalkin – Tokyo, 16/02 Hagoyashi Koukaido Nagoya, 17/02 Festival Hall – Osaka and 18/02 Meil Parque Hall – Kukupka.

In the competition field, the band took part in a total of 42 contests between 1932 and 1945. The results were – 19 firsts, 11 seconds, 4 thirds, 6 fourths and 2 fifths. Quite an achievement in any class. Shortly after George Thompson’s return, he was responsible (in 1960) for the formation of the Grimethorpe Colliery Junior Band. In the case of that movie, people are taking their clothes off for money, because, well, what else is there? Don’t forget: there’s a haunting suicide attempt in the midst of the film too, one of the many parts of the movie that continue to resonate. The piece for London had already been chosen. It was to be ‘A New Jerusalem’ by Philip Wilby. The piece starts with an off-stage trumpet part that was fundamental to the whole ethos of the piece. The Voice of God started the work and returned twice more, the final time very near the end. To make the effect convincing and achieve the spine-tingling character of the whole piece – The Voice of God needed to be unseen by the audience throughout. A Lancashire man named Harry Mileman took over the band in 1947 following a short spell by George Hespe (well known for his brass band piece ‘The Three Musketeers’).Gloria Mullins has been sent to her home town of Grimley to determine the profitability of the pit for the management of British Coal. She also plays the flugelhorn, and is allowed to play with the local brass band after playing Concierto de Aranjuez, affectionately known as “Orange Juice” by the characters, with them. The band is made up of miners from whom she must conceal her purpose. She renews a childhood romance with Andy Barrow, which soon leads to complications. Andy is bitter about the programme of pit closures and determined to fight on, but he is also realistic about the circumstances and predicts a 4-to-1 majority for closure and redundancy. When Andy realises that Gloria is working for management, he accuses her of naïvety for thinking that the Coal Board is considering whether the pit has any viable future and argues that the decision to close Grimley would have been taken years earlier. It is later revealed, during a confrontation between Gloria and the management of the colliery, that the decision to close the colliery had been made two years previously, and that this was to have gone ahead regardless of the findings of her report; the report was simply a public relations exercise to placate the miners and members of the public sympathetic to their plight. Grimethorpe Colliery Band was on the crest of a wave and at the time were the form band in Britain, having had a very successful 1991. However, the ‘Holy Grail’ was to win at London and we joined every other band in Britain in starting out with an appearance at the Area as the first step to glory. Frank Renton was to conduct the band, as he had with great aplomb and success over the previous 4 years and the test-piece was ‘Frontier’ by Michael Ball. For theirs isn’t the key relationship in the film. Ultimately, that honour falls to father and son, to Danny and Phil. Grimethorpe incidentally did not take part as Elgar Howarth was in the box with William Relton and Roy Newsome, but such was the furore that many conductors thought it “undesirable” and the following years saw the Open revert to ‘Epic Symphony’, ‘Diadem of Gold’ and ‘Benvenuto Cellini’.

At Monday evening’s rehearsal, somebody happened to mention that an announcement was to be made in the House of Commons at 2.00pm the following day. It could affect the future of British Coal and might have implications for the Yorkshire Coalfield and Grimethorpe Colliery in particular. We were not concerned about Grimethorpe possibly closing because we knew that there was at least 90 years of coal left and felt sure that this would keep the pit safe for many years. How wrong we were! The following year the band got booked for 70 concerts and this took some reducing, even now the band are doing 50-60 concerts / competitions a year and has a full concert list a year in advanced. Families can talk about the range of character traits in Brassed Off. Which characters exhibit empathy, loyalty, or perseverance? How do some characters display or contradict stereotypes? The notion of pride is prominent throughout this story. In what ways can pride be a positive -- or negative -- trait?

Versions

Beginning in early 1993, groups of miners' wives camped outside some pits' gates and outside the Department of Trade and Industry in London. [3] This is referred to in the film. It contrasts with the muted response from the mineworkers, some of whom sang Shut the pit! to the tune of the song Here We Go! from the 1984–85 strike. [3] Plot [ edit ] The band played at the World Premiere of Brassed Off at the Odean Cinema Leeds as part of the Leeds International Film festival. They were invited to play at the 50th BAFTAS at a star-studded event at the Royal Albert Hall. Virgin Radios Chris Evans also invited the band to perform on the Christmas show of TFI Friday for Channel 4 television. The lads were visibly moved by this very emotional rhetoric from Frank and turned on their heels determined to play the performance of their lives. In June 1985, half a dozen players appeared in the film All Creatures Great and Small, the actual recording being done in the North Yorkshire Village of Askrigg. October saw the band record excerpts for a Russell Harty profile on the Michael Parkinson programme.

At the end of the performance the audience went into raptures. The emotion of the whole scenario took over and coupled with the excitement of the contest and the feeling of overwhelming satisfaction at the level of performance achieved, tears rolled down the faces of more than one hardened band member and Yorkshire Miner.

Tracklist

Over the years, the band has performed at many memorial services for distinguished personalities in the country.

Andrew resigned early in 1955 and Harry Mileman, who had remained in employment at the colliery, took over as ‘Caretaker’ Conductor until he left to take over a similar position with a band in New Zealand. The bands touring exploits have exploded in the past couple of years Visiting Japan and Australia in February/March 1999 playing to over 60,000 people and travelling over 60,000 miles. In 1996 Grimethorpe became Yorkshire Champions once again as well as the top English band at the National Finals, thereby qualifying for the 1997 European Championships at London’s Barbican where the band gained 3rd place. ARIA Charts – Accreditations – 2002 Albums" (PDF). Australian Recording Industry Association . Retrieved 27 December 2021. The film is set ten years after the year-long strike in 1984–85 by the National Union of Mineworkers in Britain. Before the privatisation of British Coal, a wave of pit closures took place. Depleted of resources and in debt following the labour militancy of 1984–85, the miners were unable to continue a resistance against the policies of the government. Many had been in debt ever since the long strike, and were prepared to take redundancy money whilst it was on offer.The contest management were very supportive, and allowed us to delay the start until 6.15pm in the hope he may turn up. They also sanctioned the use of a borrowed player, but because of the No.1 draw, it had to be from the band drawn last, Hammonds Sauce Works and in particular a young man by the name of Billy Rushworth. We were delighted to hear this, but more dismay came when we found that they were rehearsing in Shipley, and even a helicopter wouldn’t get Billy to the hall in time. We resigned ourselves to going on stage with only 2 horns. The highlight of the tour was when the band played in the grounds of the British Embassy in Washington when The Queen and Prince Phillip entertained President Ford and his wife. After graduating from Manchester University, Elgar Howarth studied at the Royal Manchester College of Music, working with composers Harrison Birtwistle, Alexander Hoehr and Peter Maxwell-Davies. When first hearing Grimethorpe he said that there was a unique sound from virtuoso players which had not yet been used by the composers with whom he normally worked.