Woodstock, Ontario is a city with a population of 36,000 and is the county seat of Oxford County in South western Ontario midway between Toronto and London.

Woodstock straddles the historic Thames River and is known as the Dairy capital of Canada. It also claims to be the ‘friendly city’.

Woodstock was first settled in 1800 and became a town in 1851 and a city in 1901. Early settlers were American immigrants from New York State.
Increased immigration from Great Britain followed in the 1820s and 1830s.

The Salvation Army Corps, led by the officers Captains Owen and Sandra Budden, in this quaint city, was the venue for Jubilee Brass to perform its second annual fund raising concert. In fact the band made a week-end of it as Woodstock continued to celebrate its 125th anniversary.

The band started the day with their annual fellowship dinner which included the spouses. This was followed by a bake sale sponsored by the Lady’s Auxiliary. This is usually a huge success and satisfies the taste buds of the concert attendees. The band is most indebted to the ladies for this practical support.

Guests for the occasion were Mr. Paul Stevenson, professional trumpeter and Lt. Colonels Merv and Mary Belle Leach (Rtd) who conducted the Sunday events. Merv is a member of the solo cornet section.

As well as the Sunday morning worship the band presented an afternoon concert.

Paul Stevenson hails from London, Ontario and is regarded as one of Canada’s most versatile trumpet players. He is comfortable in both the jazz and classical idioms. His is a very busy performing schedule yet he took time to donate his time and talent to this Jubilee Brass program.

Paul has performed with the Winnipeg Symphony, the Calgary Philharmonic, Intrada brass, the Wichita symphony and the Meadowlands SA band, just to name a few.
Paul has also performed with Natalie Cole, the Temptations and Guido Basso. He has participated in over 30 recording projects. His film credits include Casinos of the World, Canada Summer Games, Land of Lakes and the Chat Room.
Paul is currently Head of Music at Lucas Secondary School in London, Ontario. Paul holds a Masters degree in performance from the University of Western Ontario.
Paul’s contributions to the concert were “Gabriel’s Oboe” (Ennio Morricone) accompanied on the piano by Jubilee Brass’s own Barb Kitney, and “Blessed Assurance” (Stephen Bulla) accompanied by the band. In this solo he used both flugel horn and trumpet to flawlessly perform this demanding yet exciting item. This was before the intermission. In the second half of the program he played “The Worburtan Arms” (Jeff Christmas) again accompanied by Barb, and “People need the Lord” with the band.
The Band was thrilled to have Paul as their guest and look forward to the possibility of future joint ventures. Paul was magnificent, soaring to great heights and then calming the crowd with beautiful tonal qualities as well.

Jubilee Brass, playing to a packed house, commenced the program with Redhead’s “A Fanfare of Praise”. This piece progressively builds on the tune “Fairest Lord Jesus” taxing the chops and stamina of the band.
Following song, prayer and introductions the new Divisional Commander Lt. Colonel Lee Graves took over as chairman and proved to be both enlightening and humorous.
Soderstrom’s “Army of God” was next on the program. This is a snappy number based around the tune “Hark, hark my soul” to a different and pleasing rhythm.
Later the Band played “The PilgrimWay” from the pen of Eric Ball, everybody’s favorite composer. This piece is very demanding in the second movement which has to be played at a double piano. The unison part for cornet in the 3rd movement keeps everyone on their toes.
The song setting “Mid all the traffic” (Ballantine) was extremely well received by the audience to the point that there was no applause but rather a contemplative and reflective moment felt by all.
Before the Intermission the band marched in their new colors with the tune “Yellow star, red and blue” The band received a new Army flag and a new Canadian flag courtesy of the London Centre of Hope. The flags were dedicated by the DC Lt. Colonel Lee Graves and presented to the band Executive officer Major Wilson Noble.
The band commenced the second half with the march “New Zealand Warriors (Goffin) and followed that with the vocal number with brass accompaniment “That Beautiful Land” led by bandsman George Holmes.
A pertinent devotional followed by the Executive officer Major Wilson Noble that led neatly into the bands next number, a composition of “ Wonderful Savior(Dale Pittock).
Bandmaster Jim Gordon chose, for the band’s final number, the classic Prelude and Fugue, “Arise my soul, arise” from the pen of Dean Goffin.
The program concluded with the lovely benediction tune “: The day Thou gavest”.
The Sunday morning meeting was led by Lt. Colonels Merv and Mary Belle Leach with the Colonel challenging the Corps, in their 125th anniversary year, with a message based on the topic “Where are you now?” using scripture illustrations to point out how God’s chosen people and then the followers of Jesus faltered and even failed in their pilgrimages. The Band’s instrumental contribution was the selection “In His Presence” written by one of the band’s tuba players Ray Brooks. This is a beautiful number that was played well. The band prefaced the message with the vocal number ‘What will you do with Jesus?”(Bearcroft)

The afternoon concert began with George Marshall’s brilliant March “Soldier’s of Christ” conducted by the deputy B/M Lt. Colonel Merv Leach. This gave B/M Jim Gordon a chance to sit on the solo cornet bench and to strut his stuff. Yes, folks, he’s still got it.
Bearcroft’s bright and happy cornet quartette “Joyous Proclamation” was played by Major Gary Venables, Lt. Colonel Merv Leach, Bandsmen Bert Wormington and Fred Boycott.
A March Medley by the Bandmaster’s cousin Bill Gordon gave the audience a taste of several contemporary tunes.
M. Korb’s test piece for bagpipes was played by kilt less Band Sergeant Jack Bernard, much to the pleasure of the crowd. He still gets the biggest hand.
The audience got into the swing of things joining the band in Bearcroft’s “Sing along with the band”.
Major Gary Venables gave another faultless and lovely rendition of that wonderful number “I’d rather have Jesus” (Himes)
Again the band put down their instruments to sing ‘In Me”, a lovely song with words written by Harry Read, Music by Mark Bearcroft and arranged by the band’s own Jon Pittock.
The concert ended with the timeless classic “Hyfrydol” (Gunnar Blomberg)
All too soon, a most delightful annual week-end was concluded. The band will soon start planning for the next one.