As a member of the YWO, one becomes accustomed to playing in a wide variety of venues – churches, schools, hospitals, marquees, gardens, railway stations, car parks and even on one memorable occasion, the back of a lorry! Whatever the venue, we always try to give a good performance even if the audience is very small (playing in the rain to five people and two dogs springs to mind!). Of course occasionally we get the opportunity to play in rather splendid surroundings and such was the case on 5th December when we performed in spectacular Paisley Abbey. You can read more about our concerts later in this newsletter.

We are always pleased to see new players joining our

ranks and take this opportunity to extend a warm welcome to Margaret Isaacs (flute), Amanda Lyons (clarinet), Jonathan Smithers (bassoon), Laura Wilson (trumpet) and Lewis Orr (percussion). We hope that they have fun playing with the YWO.

We are delighted to welcome back Billy Shaw to our saxophone section. Billy was a stalwart of the band in

its early days in the 1980s so we're pleased to see him back where we think he belongs.

We are sorry to lose the services of Anne Chalmers (oboe), Mairead Grant (alto Clarinet) and LouiseAnne Simpson (horn). We thank

them for the valuable contribution they have made to the band and wish them all the best in the future.

Congratulations to trombone player David Welsh on the birth of his fifth grandchild. David's son Michael and his wife Dawn are celebrating the arrival of their son Freddie James in January. We send best wishes to the whole family.

Congratulations to bassoonist Gillian Mackie who married D a r y B r a i t h w a i t e i n September. After the wedding the couple jetted off to enjoy a wonderful honeymoon in Spain. We wish the new Mr and Mrs Braithwaite many years of happiness together.

Twentysix band members were present for our Annual General Meeting, held in Renfield St Stephen’s on Friday 10 October 2008. Our Chairman David Welsh reported on the active year we have had, with 7 concerts in total, 10 Committee meetings, and a promising swell in membership numbers, though with some fluctuations. David noted with satisfaction how enthusiastic our members were to our oneoff experiment with a guest conductor, when Kevin Price of Glasgow Wind Band took up Michael’s baton last May. The Committee hopes to make this a more frequent arrangement in light of band feedback, though it should be added that Michael Philip was unanimously reelected as our Musical Director! Despite our having purchased £600 of new music, invested in

uniforms and equipment, and donated £200 to the YMCA to support their sterling work, our Treasurer Alison Glen noted that our bank balance remains healthy. This has allowed us to freeze the annual subscription rate for another year, which members may particularly appreciate in this particular creditcrunching year... Finally, Michael praised the 20078 session as being an excellent year musically, particularly our efforts to learn the subtle art of playing ‘pianissimo’ – not an easy task with up to 50 musicians in the band at any one time, but we’re getting there. Our Chairman also took the opportunity to thank those who contribute to the smooth running of the orchestra. These include those band members who set up and tidy the hall before and after rehearsals,

Janice McCormick for providing the moraleboosting tea at each rehearsal interval, Lorna McMillan for producing her excellent newsletters, our outgoing librarian Julie Donaldson and social secretary Duncan Parkinson. David also thanked the members of the Committee for all their hard work over the past year. Appointed at the AGM were Gayle Davis (Secretary), Alison Glen (Treasurer), Lynn JeppesenThomson (Concerts Organiser), Stuart McNally (Equipment Coordinator), Helen Caleb (Web master), Glenda Johnston (Acting Librarian) and John McCann. Our Chairman was in turn thanked for all the effort he himself i n v e s t s i n t h e o r c h e s t r a .

At the same time, we enjoyed Lindsay Shuttleworth’s last performance (for the time being) of the xylophone solo ‘Gee Whizz!’. Lindsay, we salute you ! This was a good start to our season and a chance for McMillan Cancer Support to raise some funds. The autumn was clear of further engagements and we set to work learning a range of fresh repertoire. By December we were ready to face the public again and gave

Our first concert of the season was on Friday 12th September at Arthurlie Parish Church, Barrhead. We don’t often undertake a concert so early in our season, so we had to include much of our repertoire from before the summer break. However, we did manage to include first performances of two new pieces to our library : Cesarini’s ‘A Joyful Fanfare’ and Warren Barker’s lively arrangement of Gershwin’s ‘Strike Up The Band’.

two Christmas Concerts on consecutive Fridays

The first of these was on 5th December in the grand surroundings of Paisley Abbey. The rafters rang to Strauss’s ‘Emperor Waltz’, Fučik’s ‘Florentiner March’, Gershwin’s ‘They Can’t Take That Away From Me’ (thanks to John McCann for the tenor sax solo) and the beautifully understated ‘Girl With The Flaxen Hair’ by

Although our band is almost full, there are still a few vacancies that we'd like to fill. We still require: 1 oboe Eb clarinet * alto clarinet * 1 cornet 1 horn 1 tuba * string bass * percussion * If you know of anyone who might be suitable (and interested) please contact ywoglasgow@yahoo.co.uk the instruments marked with * are held by the band and available for use by members.

Congratulations to Jack Finnigan who was the winner of our children's competition. We hope that he has fun spending his prize. There were runnerup prizes for the following youngsters who also sent in all correct entries: Callum Clayson, Isabella Clayson, Rosalind Down, Eleanor Down, Caleb Reid, Lucy Stokesley and James Taylor. Thank you to everybody who took the trouble to enter.

After the success of last year's Post Christmas Night Out, it was decided to repeat the performance this year although with a change of venue. For this purpose, on the 17th January a company of 17 members and friends braved the wild, stormy night to enjoy an evening of feasting and fun at Konaki's Greek Taverna in the West End of Glasgow. The food was wonderful and the atmosphere convivial so a wonderful evening was enjoyed by everyone. A big thank you to Lynn Jeppesen Thomson who organised the whole event.

My conclusion is that I should have taken lessons in violin or piano instead of learning the trumpet!” As Douglas is one of the most outgoing and sociable members of our band, we have no doubt that even on a desert island he would find a way of communicating with the wildlife and would soon have them organized into musical groups of some sort!

On this occasion, we have chosen a member of the trumpet section to banish to a desert island. Douglas Suckle is one of our most versatile musicians so we expected his choice to reflect this. Those of you who think that choosing 8 discs would be easy, well, just read what Douglas has to say! “Being a member of the YWO, the likelihood of being asked by Lorna for a contribution to the newsletter is almost a certainty. But whilst it's easy to agree to provide your Desert Island Discs, what appears to be straightforwardly simple turns out to be more difficult than you first thought. From the immediate 100 musical pieces that come to mind quite readily, the elimination of 92 of them is a much greater task. If sent to a desert island, however, I would surely have no hesitation in including the following 8 pieces in my survival kit – here they are “in no particular order”.

Violin Concerto No 1 by Max Bruch Rhapsody on Blue by George Gershwin Bohemian Rhapsody by Queen 1812 Overture by Tchaikovsky The Planets by Gustav Holst Nimrod from the Enigma variations by Elgar Meditation for violin from “Thais” by Massenet “I'll Walk with God”sung by Mario Lanza

Debussy. Among the seasonal music was the world première performance of my brand new piece ‘A Christmas To Remember something I trust may find its way into other band libraries in the years ahead.

The second Christmas Concert was our own traditional one in the Renfield Church Centre, Glasgow. The programme was identical but the atmosphere cosier as band and audience mingled as usual and enjoyed a splendid feast of festive fare.

Laura McCheyne had her first lessons in music making at the age of ten when she was in Primary 6. On moving to secondary school, she continued playing first of all in the school band and later in the Glasgow Schools Band where she stayed for two years. When she got too old (!) for this band she joined the YWO. Laura thinks that the highlights of her musical career so far were winning the Govan High School band prize and winning a competition as part of the Glasgow Schools Band. When not hard at work as a sales assistant Laura enjoys going to the cinema with her friends. She also plays the guitar and is teaching herself to master this instrument. She enjoys listening to music and describes her musical taste as “eclectic”. Stuart McNally began playing cornet at the age of 10 with the local Boys Brigade Brass Band, a band which later became independent and was known as Kings Park Brass. Once he started Secondary School, he joined the school jazz band and eventually the school orchestra. In 2005 he joined the Glasgow Schools Symphony Orchestra and went on the ten day residential course in Castle Toward in Dunoon. He joined the YWO in 2006 and more recently played with Brass Impact and Newlands Concert Brass on a temporary basis. Stuart thinks that his musical highlights so far are competing with BB in national championships and often winning, competing in the 2008 Scottish Open Brass Band Championships (and not coming last!) and taking part in the YWO trip to Germany in 2007. Although he is a full time student, Stuart works part time for Glasgow's Concert Halls – at the Royal Concert Hall, the City Halls and Old Fruitmarket as a Customer Care Assistant and as a First Aider. He obtained his BB Queen's Badge in 2004. Stuart should complete his degree in Human Anatomy at Glasgow University in May, after which he hopes to join the Ambulance Service.

We live in a village near Basel, which is located in the German speaking part of Switzerland. However, the first language is SwissGerman, which is completely different. Luckily most people also speak German, as that's the language spoken at school. I'm taking German lessons two evenings a week and that's going quite well. At first I was scared to make mistakes, but now I'm more confident and not afraid to make a fool of myself! When arriving in our new home town, I immediately started looking for a band to play with. Soon I found one and went to one of their rehearsals on a Tuesday night. The group of musicians is a bit smaller than the YWO, but they rehearse in our village, have a good mix of instruments and a Swedish conductor who speaks German. This band (Musikverrein Concordia Therwil) is well organised (yes, Swiss!): they send out invitations by email with details of the next concert/rehearsal. But it still is a village band, which performs at locals' houses when they celebrate their 80th or 90th birthday. The first time this happened it took me so long to find the address, that I missed most of the serenade, but just managed to play their l a s t t u n e : h a p p y b i r t h d a y ! Currently we are practising for the band's annual concert in February. I'm looking forward to this event and hope to tell you

My family and I are doing fine. Our first 6 months in Basel, Switzerland, have passed very quickly, but not quietly! Our lives have changed completely, but that's what you would expect when you move to another country. Peter is enjoying his new job. He leaves the house at 7am and returns around 7 at night, cycling to and from his work. Our 2 boys go to Kindergarten and Primary School . The school system is completely different from Scotland. The kids play till they're at least 6 and then they go to Primary School to learn reading and writing. It was a huge change for the boys when they started in August, but they picked up the language quickly. However, the children are not as nice as they are in Scotland, according to our son Tim (now 8 yrs). After a week at school he asked me to write a letter to the government of Switzerland, as they should be able to tell their people to be nicer to each other! This early observation fits in perfectly with my experiences up to now: the typical Swiss is honest, not interested in foreigners, hygienic, healthy, tidy, hardworking, perfect, sober, conservative, ambitious, reliable, unfriendly, humourless, intelligent, patriotic, punctual, courteous, lawabiding and a good skier. But I have to admit, I've also met friendly, humorous and funloving Swiss who ruin all my preconceptions!

m o r e a b o u t i t n e x t t i m e . Best regards to everybody at the Y (I have to admit that I miss the band and would love to come over for a Friday night!), Sabine os vanLijf (formerly of the saxophone section)