CNL Brass

Cardiff Northlakes Brass Band is a community band,  formed in 1973. It rehearses at Cardiff, a suburb of the City of Lake Macquarie, New South Wales, under the baton of Musical Director, Luke Bradbery.

With its members ranging in age from 17 to 87 years, the band supports community events, marching in festival parades and entertaining with concert performances.

It led the Wallsend Winter Fair Parade from its inception in1985 until 2012 and provided a concert program after the Parade to entertain those in attendance. It is a popular Winter Fair. Wallsend is a suburb of Newcastle. The band continued to play in the Parade until 2015, after which its involvement ceased.

It also entertains developmentally disabled members of the community.  It supported, in particular, Crossroads Christian Fellowship, which organised weekly entertainment for its developmentally disabled members. CNL Brass presented two concerts annually from 1976 until 2020, when Crossroads Christian Fellowship ceased to function.

CNL Brass provided the entertainment for another volunteer organization called Head Start in October 2010, as its members ended a fundraising walk. Head Start provides support for persons that have suffered brain injuries, mainly as a result of accidents.

CNL Brass has a major annual commitment to ANZAC Day. It continues to support Pelican Flat RSL Sub-Branch at its Dawn Service, as it has done since 1978. It supported Belmont RSL Sub-Branch, provided music for the March and Service and entertained with a Concert after the Service from 1978 until 2012.
In 2013, the band supported Stockton RSL Sub Branch for its March and Service and entertained with a Concert at Stockton RSL and Citizens Club after the Service.  It continues to support Stockton RSL Sub Branch, but ceased presenting concerts in 2017.

It has been a regular participant in the Hunter Regional Band Association’s annual Bands in the Park entertainment day for more than twenty five years. he annual event was held in Newcastle’s King Edward Park each year until 2015. It was transferred to Speers point Park in the City of Lake Macquarie in 2016. It is non-competitive and free for the community to attend. Eight to ten bands participate in the event.

The band has presented concert programs in support of community radio station 2NURfm 103.7 in its fundraising efforts. The Secretary of the band and Horn player, Geoff McGregor, presents a weekly thirty-minute program— Brass Encounters—on the station, featuring the best in Brass Band Music, past and present.

CNL Brass also presents Concerts in its own right. On occasions guest artists and other music groups are invited to perform with the band. Since 2013, the Concerts have been held at Lake Macquarie Performing Arts Centre (renamed Warners Bay Theatre in 2021), Warners Bay. The band usually presents three Concerts each year.