Players

As the name suggests, Dai is a native of Wales, from Newport in Gwent, where he played soprano cornet for 13 years with the Rogerstone Band. He also played soprano cornet in the National Youth Band of Great Britain alongside many other now famous names in Brass Bands.

Eventually an invitation from the Midlands based William Davis Construction Group Band enticed Dai away from his homeland. He was to occupy the soprano seat in that band for 20 years, at one point being their longest serving member, playing in all the major brass band national contests and taking part in several continental tours undertaken by the band. He has also often been called upon to play with some of the top brass bands in this country.

Following a short break from playing, Dai was invited to take over the soprano chair at Derwent Brass and at the first contest he played with the band was awarded the prize for Best Soprano Cornet. Over the years, Dai has been recognised and regularly featured as a soloist in concerts, recordings and radio broadcasts.

Tom joined the front row cornet section in 2021, having formely held the Assistant Principal Cornet seat at NW Championship Section band Accerler8 (formerly known as TCTC Group Band and Co-op Crewe).

Prior to playing for Acceler8, Tom also played Principal Cornet with Midland’s contenders Hathern Band (Loughborough) for some 5 years, during which time he qualified as a vet with first class honors at The University of Nottingham where he also performed and conducted with the The University of Nottingham's Sutton Bonington Music Society (SBSO, SB Big Band and SB Singers) . Prior to this he also played with the Riverside Concert Band and various other brass ensembles.

Dan kick started his playing career at the tender age of just six years and quickly progressed to become the principal cornet of the Desford Junior Band. His first contest experience was with the Desford band in 2001 before joining the Unity band where he quickly progressed from the Junior to Senior band. In 2004 he then joined the Leicester Co-op band where he remained part of the solo cornet line up for an impressive 11 years and played a key role in their significant rise from the 4th to Championship Section (as of 2016). A couple of special memories for Dan during his time there also include the band being awarded the runner-up prize at the 2nd section national finals in 2011, winning the Championship Section of the Weston Supermare contest in 2014 and being part of the winning quartet in the LBBA Open competition.

Away from the world of brass music, Dan is quite the scientist having graduated in 2011 with a Masters Degree in Chemistry and now works as an Analytical Chemist for a leading pharmaceutical company. The chemistry certainly clicked into place when he accepted the opportunity to join Derwent Brass in June 2015 with Dan's positive attitude tying-in well with the band's ambitions; for many years he held the Repiano Cornet seat in the band and is a regular player in the band's 10pc ensemble.

Sarah began playing Cornet aged just 11 under Murray Slater and enjoyed several major events including performing at the Schools Prom and playing at the National Festival of Music for Youth. She later joined the Derbyshire County Youth Wind Band and took part in a number of overseas tours, Schools Proms and the European Wind Band Festival.

Her first foray into brass banding was at the 'deep end' with the highly successful Rhodian Brass, including taking part in many major competitions including the National Finals at the Royal Albert Hall and the British Open Grand Shield. She then moved to join Britannia Airways, later becoming Thornton Brass where she remained a member for a number of years.

Sarah took a step back from banding to have 2 children (and later organise their hobby of competitive swimming!) before picking the Cornet up again in 2018 with the non-contesting Sir Richard Arkwright's Masson Mills band. Missing the buzz of the contest scene she joined Long Eaton Silver Prize Band in 2021 before joining Derwent Brass in late 2022.

Resume to follow

Jennifer began playing at senior school in the brass band, wind band and orchestra with the occasional part in the school musical productions. She went onto join the City of Derby Youth Band and then the City of Derby Band playing Cornet and Flugel Horn giving her the opportunity to travel extensively through Europe and Canada. After leaving she then went on to play with Neville Brass ensemble.

Jennifer is proud to have been one of the founder members after the amalgamation of Neville Brass and Davis Derby Band to form Derwent Brass. Initially playing Cornet, Jennifer also spent some time on Flugel and was often featured as a soloist. After a short sabbatical the band bug bit again and she returned to Derwent Brass on Cornet, this time on the back row which she thoroughly enjoys.