Sale City Band displays its marching skills

SALE City Band member Brian Joyce was recently presented with life membership for his dedicated service to the band.

The Sale City Band is on the lookout for new members this year.

The band will host an infornation night for all interested people, from beginners to accomplished musican.

The information night will be next Monday, February 13, from 7 .30pm at the Band Hall, 128 Foster St Sale (next door to the museum).

The band will perform, giving prospective members an opportunity to listen to the type of music it plays and to explore each instrument's function within the band.

Lessons are at the affordable price of $2 per week.

Some brass instruments are available for hire, or players can provide their own.

The band encourages families to become involved, with age no barrier to playing an instrument.

Band members say valuable friendships are often formed through the performance of music.

Sale City Band members Matthew Lawless (tuba) Matthew Monck (trombone) and bandmaster Hugh Davies will be part of a fund-raising concert at Sale Memorial Hall on Friday March 3. The cabaret style concert, to raise funds for the restoration of the Sale Memorial Hall's grand piano, will feature a host of local talent including Julie Ward's choir Voices in Harmony, the Sale RSL Pipe Band and trad jazz ensemble Quince Jam.

HISTORIAN Peter Synan outlined the significance of the bridge while Sale City band entertained. Look in Friday's Gippsland Times for a pictorial essay on the opening.

LONGFORD: A community celebration will mark the reopening of the Swing Bridge near Longford on Sunday.

The event, taking place between 11am and lpm, also signifies the official handover of the bridge from VicRoads to Wellington Shire Council after restoration works were recently completed.

State Transport Minister Peter Batchelor will be joined by shire mayor Malcolm Hole for the reopening ceremony, after which a group of boats will pass through.

Entertainment will be provided by the Sale City Band and Sale Pipe Band.

VicRoads eastern region manager Dave Shelton said the celebration would be appropriate for such a local landmark. "It is a terrific way to finish off the restoration," he said. "Because it not only has local significance, it was a broader historical significance."

Because of limited parking space near the bridge, free shuttle buses will transport people from the Canal Reserve, Sale and the Longford Reserve to the site from 10am onwards.