Doncaster
Our first weekend engagement of the year was a visit to Doncaster. It was back in January 1998 that the band last visited the Corps. Since that date, the Corps has been through a major relocation programme that has seen the establishment of Doncaster Salvation Army’s Lakeside Community Church in a spectacular new suite of buildings.
The band arrived at Doncaster and was welcomed by members of the Corps who provided a superb roast dinner! We then sat about arranging the platform ready for a series of pictures to be taken – partly in preparation for the forthcoming tour of the USA Western Territory at the end of March. Once they were all done, the stage was prepared for the programme … and such was the anticipation from the local people that the hall began to fill up well over an hour before the start time!!
Our opening item, Martin Cordner’s ‘Let Everything Praise’ was enthusiastically received, and was followed by Andrew Wainwright’s arrangement of ‘Benedictus’, from Karl Jenkins’ ‘The Armed Man’, taking us into the opening prayer, which in turn was followed by Steven Ponsford’s ‘Turris Fortissima’. Lieut-Colonel Bill Heeley, the Divisional Commander gave an official welcome to the band to the ‘Yorkshire Territory’ and invited the congregation of over 450 to stand and greet the band before handing the programme over to our Bandmaster, Dr Stephen Cobb.
The next segment of the programme featured two of the band’s soloists. Long-serving soloists Kevin Ashman (Cornet) and Derick Kane (Euphonium) performed contrasting solos – Kevin playing Arthur Gullidge’s ‘Jubilate’ and Derick played Canaan’s Land, by Peter Graham, The solos were separated by another Peter Graham number, his chorus arrangement ‘Ask’.
The first half of the programme concluded with a premier performance of a new work by Kenneth Downie. His ‘Variations on a Celestial Theme’ came to the band very recently and has a real appeal, with its slightly quirky treatment of the old tune ‘Bright Crowns’. It has been really interesting to work on and the congregation clearly enjoyed the piece, which was enthusiastically received.
After a short interval, which gave both audience and band a much-needed chance to grab some fresh air … the warmth of the audience’s reception of the band was exceeded only by the temperature inside the hall!!!
Some enthusiastic singing of ‘O When the Saints’ by the assembled crowd opened up the second half of the programme, which took the form of a scripted sequence of themed items that together express praise to God for his love and care, assurances of his continued love and anticipation of eternity in Heaven. Introduced by our Executive Officer, Colonel David Hinton, the sequence included Psalm of Thanks (Paul Sharman), Heavenward (Bill Gordon), So Glad (William Himes), There is a Redeemer (Trombone ensemble, Ralph Pearce), Ein Feste Burg (Andrew Mackereth), Lead The Way (Vocal group), In Christ Alone (Martin Cordner) and Seize the Day (Peter Graham). Colonel Hinton provided a challenging Scripture message before the Band played Seize the Day – another recently received work. At the end of the programme, the band gave a spirited performance of Wilfred Heaton’s march ‘Praise’ which concluded with the whole band standing for the last few bars.
A crisp and cold Sunday morning saw the band and corps members gather for prayer in the hall, which was still almost stiflingly warm from the previous night’s concert! Sunday morning’s meeting started with a devotional pre-meeting item from the band … Lorne Barry’s ‘God Has Healed’. The congregation at The Salvation Army’s Lakeside Community Church (Doncaster Corps) responded to Colonel Hinton’s meeting with warmth and real engagement as they participated in worship and listened to personal testimony from Gary Terrar and then to Colonel Hinton’s scripture message … and we were delighted to see two people kneeling at the Mercy Seat at the conclusion of the meeting.
Sunday afternoon’s programme, which included items such as South Shields Celebration (Martin Cordner), Purpose (Paul Sharman), Blazon (Peter Graham) and solos from Carl Nielsen (Crossroad – Stephen Bulla) and Jonathan Evans (Home on the Range – Erik Leidzén) was again greeted with enthusiasm by the congregation. Many older listeners were treated to moments of nostalgia by the inclusion on Emil Söderström’s march ‘Minneapolios IV’, and Bramwell Coles’ suite ‘Portraits from St Paul’s Epistles’.
As members of the band changed into travel gear and started to pack down, members of the Corps expressed their enjoyment of the weekend – the proceeds of which (almost £900.00) are being donated to The Salvation Army’s work in Haiti.
2010/02/04