Faces new and old at Scottish CO-OP

On 21st November, 2008, the Scottish Co-op Band was pleased to announce the addition of a new player to its percussion section in the person of Kirsten Hughes.  Kirsten, who hails from Baillieston in Glasgow, is a fourth-year student at the Royal Scottish Academy of Music and Drama and has been playing percussion for ten years. During that time she played with the Bo'ness and Carriden Band.

Speaking about her move, Kirsten said  "I'm just really happy to be with the band and am looking forward to the experience of playing with such a fine group".

The addition of Kirsten to the band's percussion section is most welcome not only musically, but also numerically, and gives the band extra strength in depth to meet the demands of future concert and contest requirements.

 After an absence of two years  Jonathon Gawn returned to the band and played E flat bass at the  Scottish Open Championships. Jonathon, a former student at the Royal Scottish Academy of Music and Drama and now a tuba player who has gained experience with a number of leading orchestras in the country said " I am really looking forward to meeting up again with Willie Young and the rest of the team and hope that together we can help the band achieve a good result at the Scottish Open competition".

Also returning to the band after a 10 week absence abroad  was Caroline Munro who filled the flugel horn chair at the Scottish Open Championships. Caroline, a product of West Lothian Schools' Band and Broxburn Silver Band joined the Scottish Co-op Band in 2003 on repiano cornet and has had spells on soprano cornet and as principal cornet. Speaking about her return, Caroline said "I am looking forward to this year's Scottish Open with great anticipation and as this is my first time on flugel with the band I am really quite excited about it."

The contributition of these three players was a great boost to the band as it took the the Scottish "Open" title for a second time.

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