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Yorkshire Imperial Band
The Yorkshire Imperial Band, nicknamed the Yorkshire Imps, is a brass band from West Yorkshire, England. The band is listed as one of the top 10 bands of the second half of the 20th century in Dr Roy Newsome’s ‘The Modern Brass Band’.[1] Past players in the band include Cornet artist Philip McCann,[2] Trombone virtuoso Ian Bousfield,[3][4] and Euphonium artists Robert Childs,[5] and Nicholas Childs.[6] The band have played at The Royal Albert Hall,[7] Wembley Stadium and the World Music Festival[8][9] in Kerkrade and have shared the concert stage with musicians Diana Ross, Eric Clapton, Barry Manilow and Shirley Bassey.[10] In 2019 the band performed at BBC Countryfile Live which took place at Castle Howard, York.[11][12] HistoryThe Yorkshire Imperial Band was originally founded in 1936 as the Yorkshire Copper Works Band by the Yorkshire Copper Works company based in Stourton, Leeds. Kenneth Fraser was the band's first President. The band's first set of instruments, it is said, cost the company £2,500, but that was not their only expense because they also provided each member with two uniforms - one for the summer and one for the winter.[13][14] Due to an industrial merger in 1958, between Yorkshire Imperial Metals and ICI Metals, the name was changed to The Band of Yorkshire Imperial Metals, but this was altered again in 1980 to IMI Yorkshire Imperial Band.[15] They had successive wins at Belle Vue - in 1970 under the direction of Trevor Walmsley DFC playing Herbert Howell's test piece 'Pageantry', and then again in 1971 playing Eric Ball's test piece 'Festival Music'. In 1978, under the direction of Denis Carr, they won their first national title playing 'Checkmate' by Sir Arthur Bliss.[16] Between 1970 and 1980 they had four major victories (National Champions 1978, and British Open Champions), Yorkshire area champions five times out of seven along with their triple success at the Edinburgh Festival Invitation Contest.[16] In 1981 they won the Yorkshire Area Contest at St. George's Hall, Bradford.[17] When the Rothwell Band and Yorkshire Imperial Band merged in 1999, the name changed again to incorporate the name of their new sponsors and became the DUT Yorkshire Imperial Rothwell Band. In 2002 the name was revised to the shorter and more recognisable Yorkshire Imperial Urquhart Travel Band. The Rothwell Temperance Band was founded in 1881, when the drinkers and non-drinkers of the Rothwell Model Band, established in 1841 or earlier, divided to form two bands, the other being the Rothwell Old Band.[18] In 1999 it was renamed the Wallace Arnold (Rothwell) Band,[19] reflecting sponsorship by coach tour operator Wallace Arnold. The then "B" band retained the name Rothwell Temperance Band.[20] The band has added various titles including several Yorkshire Area titles, Brass in Concert Champions in 1995 and in 2005 the band were crowned "First Section National Champions of Great Britain" making the Imps the first band ever to win both a National and Lower Section National title. In 2024 the band was the "Yorkshire Area First Section Champions".[16] During its long history the band has been conducted by a number of well known names from the brass band world which included George Hespe, William Halliwell, H. Tompkins, A. H. Whitehead, B. Burns, Trevor Walmsley, Denis Carr, Peter Kitson, John Pryce Jones, James Scott, and Ray Farr.[14] As of November 2024[update] the band was ranked 13th in Yorkshire [21] and 97th in the world[22] in listings at the brass band website 4barsrest.com, and also ranked 97th in the world in the listings of BrassStats.com.[23] RecordingsThe Yorkshire Imperial Band have a long history of successful recording contracts, dating as far back as the 1967 CBS Yorkshire Brass.[24][25] Their most recent recording was released in May 2023 and is titled " Simply Imps" and includes titles such as Shostakovich's "Festive Overture", Andrew LLoyd Webber's "Don’t Cry For Me Argentina", and The Mamas & the Papas "California Dreamin’". Some of the albums the band are included in are shown in the table below.[26]
Contesting honoursNational Championships of Great Britain[27][28] – Winners 1978, Runners-up 1976 National Championships of Great Britain (First Section)[27][29] – Winners 2005 British Open Brass Band Championships[30][31] – 4 wins: 1970, 1971, 1980, 1997* (Grand Shield). Runners-up 1666 Yorkshire Area Regional Championships[32][33] – 10 wins: 1968, 1970, 1975, 1976, 1977, 1980, 1981, 1988, 1993, 2024 (1st section) Brass in Concert Championships[34][35] – Winners 1995 BBC Band of the Year[36] – Winners 1981 Granada Band of the Year[37] – Runners-up: 1985, 1986 *As Rothwell Band References
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