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Band of gold
Thornton Cleveleys Brass Band will be celebrating their 50th year. Pictured are longest serving members Roger Waring, Marilyn Marshall and Andrew Swann.
TALK about blowing your own trumpet! A brass band will celebrate half a century of music with a special anniversary concert later this year.
The Thornton Cleveleys band has entertained the Fylde coast for the last 50 years.
And Roger Waring, of Partridge Avenue, Thornton, remembers attending the very first rehearsal as a 15-year-old boy in 1962.
He said: “There was an advert in the paper which said anyone interesting in joining should go to the local newsagents to find out where and when to meet – it was like a secret society!
“The first meeting was held at the back of the old council yard in Thornton and I remember I was one of 12 youngsters lining up to meet Mr Tom Birch.
“He was at the back of a small band room, rummaging around dusty looking instruments handing them out – I was given a tenor horn.
“The first few rehearsals were a bit hit and miss really and we soon split for the school holidays, during the break I polished the instrument until it gleamed, I was really proud of it, but when we returned in September I had to swap it for a cornet – I was quite upset at the time!”
Over the next few years the band grew in numbers and in 1972, thanks to the support of the parents’ committee, the group moved into their current hut on Holly Road, Red Marsh, Thornton.
Mr Waring, now 65, said: “Because it was still a youth band there were a lot of parents helping out so they formed a parents’ committee and raised money to buy a plot of land.
“We then built our own hut so we knew we always had somewhere to play and we still meet there 40 years on.”
Today the band boasts around 30 members and has a strong youth section with eleven players.
To celebrate their golden anniversary a concert will be held on Sunday April 29 at the Marine Hall in Fleetwood at 7pm.
Members are appealing for all ex players and conductors of the band to take part.
Telephone Judith Thorpe on (01253) 851682 or 07746687245.
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Wednesday 30 May 2012
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