Linlithgow Reed Band are set to bring the curtain down on their year with a special performance this weekend.
They will host their annual Christmas Concert in St Michael’s Parish Church on Sunday (December 16) at 7pm.
An exciting programme, with everything from traditional carols and seasonal music to Ed Sheeran songs, has been put together by the bandmaster, Lex McDowell, who recently celebrated 10 years at the helm of Linlithgow’s much-loved Burgh Band.
Lex is a graduate of the Royal Scottish Academy of Music and Drama (RSAMD), now known as the Royal Conservatoire of Scotland, and has been a music teacher at Linlithgow Academy for a number of years.
Under Lex’s leadership, the reed band has made tremendous progress and can now boast an active membership of 130 across its three sections – the main band, the LRB Training Band, which Lex also conducts, and the beginners’ band, which has recently been taken over by Sarah Storrar.
This is the largest playing strength in the band’s 52 year history.
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Lex can be found every Tuesday at the main band rehearsal in the academy and on Sunday at the various beginners and training groups that meet in the Longcroft Hall.
He is particularly proud of the number of adult ‘re-starters’, who have been persuaded to come back to playing again.
Many of these have made rapid progress through the ranks and are now involved in the main band.
Lex’s milestone tenth anniversary was marked at the recent annual general meeting with the presentation of a commemorative quaich by band President, Jonathan Molloy, who told the meeting: “I would like to thank Lex, for continuing to find interesting, new pieces for both the main band and the training band to play and for leading both ensembles so assuredly.
"My own view is that Lex’s conducting, particularly in our concerts, just gets better and better.
"Having such a reliable and capable conductor really helps to give us all confidence for our concert performances.”
Reflecting on his decade of leading the reed band, Lex said: “I don’t know what I thought during that first period.
"Could I even see 10 years into the band’s future? Would I leave? Would the band be for me? We had 18 players in the ATC hall in Barkhill Road, playing ‘Swinging Safari’ and ‘Born Free’.
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"Now we have a membership of 130 of all ages and only the Academy hall is big enough to accommodate our weekly rehearsals.
"All I can say is that the last ten years have been for us a lot of hard work, a lot of great performances – some tricky ones too – and a lot of great times together.”
The Christmas concert will be compered by the irrepressible Bruce Jamieson.
Tickets cost £6 (Primary aged children and younger free) and are available from The Thread Counter (formerly Norman Cummings), Far From the Madding Crowd or on the band website www.linlithgowreedband.org.uk
