The Band of His Majesty’s Royal Marines return to the Chichester stage

This time he is back for the first time as conductor as The Band of His Majesty’s Royal Marines Collingwood and Chichester Cathedral Choir combine on the CFT stage from Tuesday, December 3-Saturday, December 7.

Director of music Phil joined the Portsmouth band in September 2003: “And I think I did my first Chichester Christmas concert in 2003 or 2004. It was quite a different format then. There used to be lots of stage actors that would do readings but it's a long time now since I did one.

“And now as director of music it's quite a different challenge. As a musician you are focusing on your own parts but now I'm thinking about the balance of the programme. When you think about the different options, you’ve got hundreds of different versions of Silent Night for instance.

“But really what I think we've got to do is to be light. I always think in terms of Friday Night Is Music Night. I think that's the mindset that you've got to be in. It is light entertainment. I was a percussionist before I became a conductor and if you think of Christmas music it's lots of bells and sleigh bells and tambourines. But there is an element of balance for the Royal Marines as well. You have to keep those elements of tradition. We have to feature the corps of drums. We have to have the soloists and we also have to have some light-hearted more jokey elements to the music. It's a question of not taking it seriously but also taking it seriously, if you see what I mean. People are paying a lot of money to come and we want to give music of the highest quality but we also want people to have fun and to enjoy themselves. And actually at Chichester there's a genuine feeling that it's one of the best gigs that we do each year. We know what we're doing and we know that people will enjoy it and you're just performing in the evening. You can relax during the day and by the time you've got into the third or fourth show, you are really into it.”

This year, however, there is a serious undercurrent with the musicians also engaged on The Royal Marines Charity #26forSoph initiative, members of the Royal Marines Bands completing a variety of challenges in aid of the charities supporting Sophie Ward who joined the Royal Marines Band Service in 2020 and served as a flute and saxophone player in Collingwood Band. She met her husband Rich in training and they married in April 2023.

But after some concerns about her health last year, Sophie was diagnosed with Motor Neurone Disease in January 2024, aged 26.

She has been incredibly resilient, never giving up and never letting MND get in the way of enjoying life. And in response, musicians have been undertaking #26forSoph challenges, individually or in small teams, completing a challenge of 26 “somethings” for Sophie – maybe running 26 miles, collectively cycling 2,600 km or walking 26,000 steps a day. Some will be climbing 26 mountains while others endure 26 hours of rowing. You can support them on https://www.justgiving.com/campaign/26forsoph.

The aim was to raise £26,000. They have reached £64,032 so far. Funds will be split between the RMA – Royal Marines Charity (70%), Dorothy House Hospice Care (15%) and Motor Neurone Disease Association (15%).