The Roberts Bakery Band - M.D. Colin Cranson

The Roberts Bakery Band was formed from Middlewich Town Band after securing sponsorship from the Northwich based company in 1980. The band has worn their sponsor's name with pride ever since and is extremely grateful for their continued support.

The band's real love is its concerts and over the years has forged a reputation as one of the most entertaining concert bands in the United Kingdom with a well-balanced repertoire of classical, traditional and 'pop' music. In doing so the band has helped raise thousands of pounds for charities such as Macmillan Cancer Support, The Royal Air Force Association and St. Luke's Hospice.

Over the last decade this reputation has spread overseas and the band has completed tours to Belgium, Malta, the Netherlands and France. The band has also represented Great Britain at the European Blasmusikfestival in Germany on no less than ten occasions, a wind band festival that sees the band perform to audiences well in excess of six thousand people and appear on national German television.

The band is currently brimming with young talent from across the region, with Championship level and British Open winning experience in key positions.

Contest Record

The Roberts Bakery Band has had considerable success in the contest arena. In 1976 the band become Fourth Section Champions of the North West Area (as Middlewich Town Band), on this occasion led by a famous brass banding name, Rex Mortimer. Four years later the band were Area Champions again, this time in the Second Section. Upon securing the sponsorship of Roberts Bakery, their meteoric rise to the top level of banding under Colin Cranson was well underway.

The greatest honour that the band has had to date was placing 2nd in the prestigious Grand Shield contest in 1982. That day at Belle Vue in Manchester many observers felt that Colin had led the band to a historic victory only for the very last band to play, Brodsworth Colliery, to pip them to the title. 1982 also saw the band compete in the Championship Section for the first time in its history - an amazing feat considering that the band had been languishing in Fourth Section obscurity just six years previously.

Roberts Bakery Band would remain at the top level for a decade, until 1992, but soon bounced back in qualifying for the Second Section National Finals in 1994 and regaining Championship Section status from 1997 to 2000. The long standing partnership with their Musical Director continues to thrive to this day.

In recent years the band were double 'Best Non-Championship Section Band' winners at the Delph Whit Friday Contest in 2006 and 2007, before becoming First Section Champions of the North West Area in 2008. The band went on to appear at the National Finals in Harrogate and gained promotion back to the Championship Section, where they compete against the very best bands in the UK once again.

Recordings

The Roberts Bakery Band has made ten recordings to date, and has appeared on national radio several times. To find out more about the band's compact discs and cassette tapes, or to listen to a selection from these, see Recordings.

Rehearsals

The Roberts Bakery Band rehearse every Monday and Thursday, from 7:30pm prompt to 9:30pm. As is customary rehearsal times do vary on occasion.

The Maxwell Davies Centre, located towards the rear of Sandbach School, has been the band's home since February 2005. This is a purpose-built facility for the School's Music Department, giving the band expansive rehearsal space and a room to store the band's equipment and music library. A map of the bandroom's location is available here.

Website

The official Roberts Bakery Band website was launched in late 2002 by David Woollam and since 2006 has been maintained by Cornet player Tom Hancock.

Recent years have seen the band expand it's internet presence and there are now Roberts Bakery Band pages on Facebook, Myspace and Twitter.

Contact Details

If you would like any further information about Roberts Bakery Band, please feel free to contact any of the following:

Musical Director: Colin Cranson

16 Lime Close
Sandbach
Cheshire
CW11 1BZ

Telephone: 01270-764096

Manager & Librarian: Jim Winstanley

Telephone: 01270-522478
Mobile: 07599-700718
Email: manager@robertsbakeryband.co.uk

Concert Secretary (Bookings): Jacquie Kilsby

Telephone: 01782-510261
Mobile: 07968-443316
Email: bookings@robertsbakeryband.co.uk

Webmaster/Player Recruitment: Tom Hancock

Email: tom.hancock@robertsbakeryband.co.uk