Happy Christmas everyone!  Last night we had a wonderful Christmas Eve in Lindley, Huddersfield, UK.

At 6:45 The Lindley Band MD (Neil Jowett) picked me up here at the flat and we went to the George Hotel in town center Huddersfield.  We were joined by 4 other members of The Lindley Band to play carols from 7:20-9:10 in The Ballroom.  Our audience was a group of pensioners up from south of London to spend a few days in Huddersfield.  We played during their meal.

When we finished playing two of the players (Karen and Chris) who are married, had the group over for food and drink at their house about 10-minutes away.  We left at 10:45 for St. Stephen’s in Lindley (our church) to play more carols from 11:15-11:30.  We were joined by the Vicar’s daughter Elizabeth and boyfriend Simon who are both tenor horn players.  Though they live in London, Simon has recently done some playing with Grimethorpe.  In any case, the 8 of us arrived unannounced, and Cannon White (the Vicar) was glad to have us play.

Part way through the service (I played trumpet on the opening and closing hymns) the brass players went out to the clock tower to play “Christians Awake!” after the clock struck 12.  We played for another 10-15 minutes and then I ran back into church to play the final hymn.

The linked video (on the UK Videos page) is what Sarah took just before midnight and during our first carol at the clock tower.

Cheers,

B-