Bicester Concert Band

Bicester Concert Band started life in 1996 when a small group of keen musicians, supported by Bicester’s Adult Education Centre, began meeting in a cookery room at The Bicester School (or, as it was called then, Bicester Community College). They were soon lucky enough to recruit the services of Trevor Jones as their conductor. Under his leadership the band went from strength to strength and in tim

e outgrew the school cookery room. A change of name to Bicester Concert Band, and a change of venue to the delightfully refurbished St Edburg’s Church Hall heralded further growth for the band, which became a regular feature at local civic events. After conducting the band for 10 years, Trevor left to move to new projects in 2006. It was with great relief that an equally inspiring conductor, Philip Burditt, was found to take the band through its second decade. Having outgrown St Edburg’s church hall, the band’s rehearsal venue changed again to the sports hall in the newly built St Edburg’s School on Kingsmere. Band members enjoy playing in the larger, acoustically better, modern space. Under the leadership of our current conductor, Wendy Marks, the band has attracted more members and is growing once again. Wendy even took the Coronavirus restrictions in her stride and instigated virtual rehearsals and the creation of two virtual recordings. We are now delighted to be back rehearsing face to face with limited restrictions in place.