The 2000 season soon came around and the band knew that they did not have an easy job ahead of them. Performing music from "The Wizard of Oz & The Wiz" the band were well aware that once again they needed to perform a show that was both demanding enough for the judges but also entertaining to their audience. This the band achieved and at the end of the 2000 season the band were placed 9th in the Premier league having won 8 bonus points throughout the year.
A relatively inexperienced and very young cadet band had to be amalgamated quickly into the main band. For the new members, the 1996 New Years Day Parade in London was their first big engagement, and the band continued to entertain and compete throughout the season with a new show, presenting tunes from "Joseph & The Amazing Technicoloured Dreamcoat". But, despite all their continuing hard work they were relegated to Championship Class at the end of the competing season.
By 1997 the average age of the members of Braintree Dimensions had dropped to only eleven years old. Still they put on a show using music from all the shows by Sir Andrew Lloyd Webber.
In 1998 the band came up against some of their toughest ever competitions. Despite this they battled hard, and with a show of music by Barry Manilow earned themselves a place in the National Finals at Birmingham NEC, achieving 7th place in the Championship Class.
Once again big changes occurred within the band. Tina had now left and moved away to Germany but Paul was still there, still working hard with all the members. Dan Jones became the new Bandmaster and Lee Gardham the Show Director. An exciting production from Warner Brothers "Little Shop of Horrors" directed by Paul Sanders gave them the vehicle to fulfil their ambitions. Working harder than ever before, they had a very successful 1999 season. At the BYBA National Finals in October, they achieved fifth place in the league and won a total of 10 bonus points throughout the year. They were given the accolade of Most Entertaining Band within the Championship Class. Their overall points total for the season placed them fourth nationally and entitled them to a well deserved promotion back into Premier Class.
The Marxmen Group was formed originally in 1968 by Taffy Hurst and was called The Marching & Concert Band of Braintree. The band spent many, many fabulous years performing up and down the country in carnivals and giving sit down concert performances. The band forged friendships with other bands and performed across Europe in places such as Belgium and Holland. Firm friendships formed between the member that are still in play today and great camaraderie was founded and still flourishes in todays band.
The Band's name was changed to Braintree Dimensions in 1990 to reflect a new change in style and enable the Band to compete against others in the British Youth Band Association Competitions. Led by Simon Amos the band went from strength to strength and a cadet band was formed in 1992/93 who performed in Wembley in November 1995 and won a gold medal. During 1993 the band were invited to Chantilly in France where they took part in the Lord Mayor of Montmartres Parade and to the French Riviera for the Nice and Menton carnivals. At home the bands continued dedication led to an appearance at Wembley for the British Youth Band Championships and promotion was gained from Championship to Premier Class within BYBA for the 1994 season.
The Shows the band produced for Premier Class included music from "Queen" in 1994, and "Mary Poppins" in 1995. 1995 Also saw with an invitation to play in the St Patrick's Day Parade in Dublin. They ended a successful 1995 season, in a very creditable seventh place within the BYBA Premier league.
1996 brought massive changes for the band. Many long stand members had now left the band due to ageing out and other commitments and Simon Amos had laid down his hat. These losses left the band with many pairs of enormous shoes to fill. Up stepped Paul Sanders and Tina Tregoning, both members from way back in the day! Paul took up the mantle of Musical Director and Tina became Band Master.
In 2001 the season started with much speculation as to whether we would be able to put a show together for the year after once again losing a large number of long standing members. A lot of hard work was put in by all members of the band and staff alike and produced a show using the music from "Star Wars". This was a very demanding score and they performed it to the best of their ability. Regrettably they were not credited with the points that they felt were deserved & also due to the very high standard of other corps on the circuit they decided as a band to cut their losses and pull out of the last two competitions that they had been entered for in order to start to work on building a strong new Band with a new image & style that would clearly turn heads in 2002.
2002 was a great year for the band competing in the Premier Class of BYBA, achieving 5th place with a score of 743 points at the National Championships, this being the highest placing ever achieved by the band in its entire history.
They started 2003 by entering the Colour Guard into A Class of WGUK (Winter Guard UK). This was the first time the Marxmen had competed as a Winter Guard so they were extremely excited about the new venture. As the season went on the Guard really started to come into their own and by the National Finals really started to look like a Guard to watch for the future, achieving 8th place and a score of 50.5.