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January's Diary

1/1/2026

Happy New Year!

So a busy January in store with a couple of new projects to get underway.

Planning will begin for the musical element of the National Police Memorial Service 2026, this year to be held in Belfast. It is always a honour to work on this national event and this year we hope to include even more musicians with the inclusion of a youth choir along side the other more traditional elements.

I'm very much looking forward to adjudicating the school Brass and Percussion competitions at Wilsons School in January - I am sure there will be some fantastic music making on show!

January will also see the beginning of a very moving project that I am delighted to be a part of with the commencing of planning for a segment for the BBCs One Show concerning a new work I have penned commemorating the 60th anniversary of the Aberfan Disaster which falls this October. The work will form the centrepiece of a segment for the show and production meetings begin this month.

Happy New Year!

12/29/2025

New Years resolutions rarely stick, but this one just might!

With what promises to be a very busy and interesting year ahead I'm going to try to keep this blog up to date with as much information as possible.

There are some big projects on the horizon and I'll be sharing are the news here first and on my socials.

Happy new year one and all!

A new collaboration!

4/16/2025

Absolutely delighted to be published with Pennine Publishing. This new march is an arrangement of tunes that reference all of His Majesty's Armed Forces, the Police and The Scouting Movement - all key players to take part in countless Civic occasions across the UK each year

A very happy new year!

2/26/2025

The start to 2025 has been very rewarding in terms of both composition and performance opportunities. Firstly, I was delighted to find out that I had won the 2024 Richmond Upon Thames Brass Band composition competition with my work, 'A River Reborn'. My wife and I are very much looking forward to going to the premier in March.

On the performance front I have been lucky enough to be selected to play for Pontardulais town band, a Championship section band here in West Wales. We had a fantastic time at the Welsh Open this month and are working hard on the test piece for the Areas in March.

New music to be published

4/30/2024

To be published by Devilish Music in October - just in time for Christmas!

On Christmas Eve 1965, a meteorite the size of a Christmas turkey broke up over the Leicestershire village of Barwell. It remains the largest meteorite fall observed in Britain. There had been no warnings of impending doom. The meteor plummeted through the Earth's atmosphere on a cold December afternoon in 1965. It could have hit Leicester but instead broke up over the nearby village of Barwell just after sunset. The pieces found scattered across houses and streets on Christmas Day sparked a frenzied meteorite hunt. The fragments are still being studied by the Natural History Museum. They are also highly sought after by collectors. In 2009, a 2lb (0.9kg) piece made £8,000 at auction. This new work tries to capture the spirit of Christmas, from its pagan beginnings to the the modern day, combined with the wonder of seeing a meteor shower on the most magical night of the year.

An honour to perform

4/30/2024

I was honoured to be asked to play at two very poignant events this week. Firstly, I was able to provide a sounding of the Last Post for a fallen Firefighter in Swansea and secondly was asked to arrange music for an NHS service in Carmarthen. It is always a privilege to be able to perform at events such as these and they remind us just how important music is to people in difficult times.

Commendation

2/17/2024

I was honoured and delighted to receive this commendation from Chief Constable Vaughn of South Wales Police this week.

As Musical Director of the National Police Memorial Service last year's event was going swimmingly until the venue cancelled on us due to the presence of RACC concrete - a week before the service!

The organising committee pulled together fabulously and thanks to the New Theatre, Cardiff agreeing to host us the annual service was able to take place.

Cantata takes shape

12/29/2023

Several movements of the work are now underway and in February I'll be running a series of workshops in Haverfordwest High School to develop students ideas and include them in the finished work- a true community effort

Major New Commission

12/15/2023

So I can finally announce that I have been commissioned by Pembrokeshire County Council, using UK Shared Prosperity funding to produce a major new work - a Cantata for Haverfordwest entitled 'The Children of St. Savours'.

The work, inspired by recent medieval discovery in the town of the remains of some 300 people will tell an abridged history of Haverfordwest through the eyes of its children. An initial performance is slated for September 14th 2024 of a few movements of the final work. The complete cantata will be staged in the redeveloped Haverfordwest Castle in 2025.

Stay tuned!

https://www.4barsrest.com/news/60113/new-work-inspired-by-medieval-burials.

What a busy Autumn!

11/2/2023

So much to catch up on after what has been a very busy time!

September saw my final National Police Memorial Service as an observer before I take the musical reigns next year in Glasgow. The event was made all the more complicated this year due to the original venue being shut due to RACC (!) but a solemn and dignified service commemorating fallen police officers was held in the beautify New Theatre, Cardiff. Following the service it was a pleasure to meet the Shadow Home Secretary, the Right Honerable Yvette Cooper MP

Exiting developments are afoot for a major new commission!

Hopefully will have more to report soon but I have had several meetings with members of Pembrokeshire County Council and the local Music Service ahead of an announcement to follow next week.

In other news I have been taken on by a new publishers - Devilish Music, who will be publishing 'Ghost Story' in February 2024.