We are really looking forward to our summer and especially to our “Jubilee Brass” concert on the 9th June and we hope you can come along to the Commemoration Hall and celebrate the Queen’s Diamond Jubilee with us. We will have lots of traditional British music for you to enjoy, and the concert starts at 8pm.

Tickets are now on sale at Carillon Cottage in Wadhurst High Street and are priced at £8 with concessions at £6 and remember that under 16s are free with an adult and that interval refreshments are included in the ticket price. If you can’t make it into Wadhurst to get tickets then please contact John Whitehead either on 01892 783384 or email on manager@wadhurstbrassband.co.uk and we will put some aside for you.

We are always pleased to see new players, young and old alike, beginers or not. Recently, Linda, one of our 3rd conrnet players wrote a piece for our Spring Concert programme back in March. Here it is and we hope it might encourage you to come along and play with the band.

You really are “never too old”

To say I was a late comer to music is a huge understatement. In 2007, an asthmatic of pensionable age, I was fortunate to be able to join Wadhurst Brass Band.

Prior to this, I had no musical knowledge. I had not played any musical instrument and learning to read music was akin to trying to read at primary school. I actually thought that a “quaver” was a type of potato crisp, “allegro” an old Austin car and “mezzo forte” something to do with a hotel chain! After sitting with the band at a Thursday night practise, I was well and truly hooked. That feeling remains with me to this day. I was then invited to join the Training Band and this is where the music making began.

Since then, I have been able to join the main band. I was honoured to be with them at the Menin Gate in 2010, and I look forward to travelling to Germany with them this year. To say my progress has been somewhat of a slog is another understatement. It is often slow and frustrating. When I finally mastered “Twinkle Twinkle Little Star” I felt as though I had finally arrived at Everest Base Camp! Thankfully, my repertoire has broadened somewhat since those early days and the music becomes even more rewarding.

I have received a wealth of support and encouragement from band members and I am fortunate to be given a weekly cornet lesson by Algy – a man of great skill, and even greater patience and optimism. This musical adventure has been an experience that I wish I had begun years earlier. The joy comes not only from the music making, but also from new friendships made and of modest personal achievement.

So, Wadhurst Band, pat yourselves on the back. You have accomplished quite a feat in my, perhaps not too modest, success. My grateful “Thanks” to everyone of you.

Linda (Proud to be 3rd Cornet)

Stan, a fantastic supporter of the Band, sadly passed away last week, aged 88, after a long illness. He helped raise money so the youth band, as it then was, could go and buy new instruments. He was also a great fundraiser for the village, helping raise funds for the Commemoration Hall, Doctors’ surgery and many other causes as well as the band. He festooned his house with lights at Christmas and the Band would play at the switch-on. When in better health he could be seen in and around the village taking photographs, maintaining a pictorial library of village life and, with Michael Harte, he produced a book of photographs of the village “Wadhurst Then and Now: A Study in Pictures”. He also turned an Anderson Shelter and his garden shed into a mini museum, full of memorabilia of war-time and rural life in Wadhurst, all in aid of local charities.

Here we are, the daffs are blooming and the birds singing and we are just 2 weeks away from our Spring Concert on the 31st March. As usual the concert is in the Commemoration Hall and starts at 7.30pm. Over the last few weeks we have been busy putting a shine to the programme and we will be pleased to see you there. Tickets are now available from Carillon Cottage, Wadhurst High Street, and are priced at £8, with concessions at £6, and children under 16, accompanied by an adult, are free. If you cant get to Carillon Cottage then contact John Whitehead, on manager@wadhurstbrassband.co.uk or call on 01892 783384. A glass of wine and a hot cross bun are included in the price. See you on the 31st!

Where do these photos keep coming from? This one is from a time when WBB was just a youth band and sponsored “blow-a-thons” raised money for the purchase of new instruments. You can always look at photos of the band on Flickr. Perhaps you can spot the same faces on recent photos?