As many followers of the bands will be aware, Grace Pratt passed away earleier this year.
Grace is Mikes mother and banding was in her blood from an early age. Grace was a very talented cornet player herself and after marrying Ted Pratt her family could not fail to become brass players themselves.
The whole Shepherd Group Brass Band organisation wanted to pay their own tribute to Grace, someone who supported us through the years and who was a face we all looked out for in our concerts. The best tribute we can think of is to play the music she loved while raising fund for York Against Cancer, her chosen charity.
The concert will take place at 7:30 pm on September 29th 2023 at York Salvation Army Citadel and will feature the Shepherd Group Concert Band conducted of course by her son Mike and the Shepherd Group Senior Band. The music will be a celebration of Grace’s life and a reflection on the lives of those we have lost in recent years.
Tickets for this concert are avaialble via our Eventbrite page.
We get cuttings from the Press sent to us from the daughter of an old family friend who lives just down the road from you in Wood Way off New Lane. The article on August 7 about the memorial concert for Grace Pratt was really interesting as I was a member of the Rowntree Band, conductor Leslie Lambeth, when I was at school at Archbishop Holgate’s, where Les taught the brass. But I joined the band on percussion later moving onto the G trombone.
I remember Grace and Ted very well ….a lady was a rarity in bands in those days ( late 1950’s early 60’s )…..and Ted and I would also play in local orchestras, along with his fellow postman and trombonist, Alf Field. I also found out later that Ted was in the army here in Glasgow, just a few minutes down the road from where we have lived since 1967. That was the year I joined the BBC Scottish Symphony Orchestra as Principal Timpanist. I won’t get to the memorial concert but would like to make a donation to the nominated charity. I know a bit about the disease having been well looked after in the Beatson Cancer Care Centre for the whole of the summer of 2008. I wonder if you’ve ever played my arrangement of The Land of the Mountain and the Flood. I look forward to hearing from you.