It is a great honour and privilege to be asked by the famous Foden's Richardson Brass Band to be their Composer in Residence. Some of you will know that I worked with the band in January when they rehearsed and gave the premiere performance of 'Salt of the Earth', the Tuba Concerto that I wrote for Les Neish & Foden's. I'm delighted that following on from the RNCM Festival of Brass premiere that the band has approached me for the Composer in residence role. It will be a challenge, but what an opportunity! It's especially pleasing because the band is based in Elworth, very near Sandbach (which is where I moved to last August) which gives me an opportunity to drop into rehearsals and talk with the players, try out ideas, ask their advice, all of which is better than any book about composing! Keep an eye out on the BBC Radio 3 schedule as part of the Foden's Band concert from the RNCM Festival of Brass will be broadcast soon. I'd like to thank everyone in Foden's Band for creating this musical opportunity, and I'll do my best to write you some decent pieces!!

Read reviews of Foden's performance at the RNCM by going to Les Neish's blog (www.lesneishtuba.blogspot.com).