Music

The last few weeks have been full of the sound of music at Mossley Hollins! It all started with the Whit Walks and the Mossley Hollins School Band having the honour of leading out the morning Parade along with the banner for Mossley Methodist Church. It was a glorious morning to be marching through the streets with the whole community out to share and support the celebrations. The day was special for the Band too with both friends and family of the Band helping out on the day, joining in with our music making. Our Band members, Nominoë, Lexi and Josh all had their parents playing with us for the morning march and we were very grateful for their support – particularly on the way back up the hill to Top Mossley!

In the afternoon and evening, the music continued with the Band taking part in the Whit Friday March Competitions in both Saddleworth and Tameside. The students worked hard and put in some fabulous performances, collecting a few prizes along the way with two winning performances at Hurst Village and Top Mossley, and three runner-up prizes at Droylsden, Stalybridge Celtic FC and Friezland. We also picked up two third place performances (Dukinfield Tame Valley and Heyrod) and two Deportment Prizes at Carrbrook and Heyrod.

We managed to perform at 11 contests over the course of the evening, starting in Carrbrook at 4pm and finishing at Top Mossley at 10.30pm, which is a great achievement in itself. It was a great day travelling and performing in the community and it was lovely to see familiar faces along the way, including staff, students and family members as we performed in the different venues. We also managed to catch up with a couple of our past Band members Alfie and Thomas as they performed a prize-winning performance at Broadoak with their band, St. John’s Mossley. Our final performance at Top Mossley was really special as the Band was welcomed with a deafening roar from the immensely supportive crowd!

Highlights of the evening would be our Trombone player Nominoë, who lifted each performance with his awesome sound, along with our wonderful Year 11 students, Ciara (cornet) and Ella (Tuba) who played brilliantly all evening. We missed them in the morning as they started their day with their GCSE Science exam but they both brought their musical leadership to our contest performances, which really boosted the Band. The final mention needs to go to our brilliant band banner bearer, Ethan, who is a member of our Junior Band. He lead out the band at each street march and when the Band took to the stage he entertained the crowds with his dancing and infectious smile. He really did bring joy wherever we performed and was a real star!