Of the 762 brass bands I have records of from County Durham, around 130 were colliery bands (and more of them would have been directly connected to the local colliery, even if not specifically named after the mine or mining company). This article looks briefly at the history of the Durham Miners’ Gala and the colliery bands that performed at it.

Brass bands are, of course, musical organisations first and foremost, and the bulk of their heritage is bound up in the hundreds of thousands of concerts, marches, contests and other performances they have provided their audiences with over the years. Very few of these live performances were ever recorded, at least until recent years, and we must…[Read more]

During the 1890s and early parts of the 20th century a type of band arose using kazoo-type instruments. Zobo instruments, based on kazoo principles, were invented and developed in the USA in the early 1890s, rapidly becoming a new craze for a while. When the instruments spread to the UK the bands that were formed using them were largely “comic”…[Read more]

As brass bands gained in popularity, composers and arrangers naturally produced pieces to supply the ensembles with the music for their craft. It was not long before some of those pieces became arranged for solo or piano performance, sometimes with words attached. These first appeared in the 1870s through to the early 1900s.
A little later, songs…[Read more]

A brief look at some brass band related music that appeared as printed notes on postcards in the early 1900s

A number of humorous images have been produced which portray brass instruments being played by depictions of buttocks. Some of these were produced by French illustrators .as more “serious” satire during the Russo-Japanese war of 1904-1905.

A look at a form of commemorative souvenir that due to its fragile nature is rarely seen today. These items were printed, and often overprinted to mark some significant event in the 1890s and up to WW2. The first case I came across was some programmes for the Besses o’ th’ Barn Band – their final farewell concerts before embarking on their two…[Read more]

From 1861 through to the mid-1870s Morpeth had held a series of non-competitive annual band festivals known as the “Monstre Band Festival” after the “monster” massed bands that were a feature of the events. The early events were held in the Old Brewery Field (now built up as the area around Olympia Gardens). Between 8 and 15 bands took part wi…[Read more]

The band was founded in 1850 and was supported by the colliery owners, the Blackett family, and also by subscription. A set of rules were drawn up which, by today’s standards, were quite strict in their forfeits and fines, though the issues they foresaw in their members’ behaviours are still relevant today!

There have been many estimates of the number of brass bands over the years. These have ranged widely and, in most cases, were greatly exaggerated. My research to date has identified nearly 20,000 distinct brass bands which existed in the British Isles between 1800 and the present. This is not a final figure and, although there are many bands still…[Read more]

The Harrogate Band was one of the first brass bands to establish a presence on the internet, with its website going live in January 1996. In addition to basic information about the band and its history, there were some notes on the broader history of brass bands. Later, in June 1996, a set of links to other brass bands and related websites was…[Read more]

The first scene comprises the 190th anniversary celebration special insert in the “Exmouth Leader”, Thursday April 11th, 1991, which describes the history of the store and shows some of the range of its goods through congratulatory advertisements. The second scene is an article from “Devon Life” in July 2002, which describes how the store changed…[Read more]

The musical contributions at the two international exhibitions in Scotland, at Edinburgh and Glasgow in 1886 and 1888 were detailed in two books written by Robert Marr. Both exhibitions featured many musical events and groups which were engaged to entertain and educate the thousands of people that streamed through the doors each day. From Marr’s…[Read more]

An outline of the results of the first 20 years of computerisation at the British Library Document Supply Centre and the introduction of new technology which automated traditional library systems such as inter-lending, stock control, periodicals management, customer information, bibliographic systems and databases

An overview of the history of brass bands from the early 1800’s through to the present day, together with details of the brass bands of the locality

A brief look at what attracts the reader to the detective genre.

Ptarmigan Books – a little known imprint in the Penguin Books aviary of birds: bibliographic descriptions. Ptarmigan Books was just one of the many special series published by Penguin Books. Hubert Phillips was the major influence in the Ptarmigan series, which reached only nine titles. As well as editing the series he was the author, or…[Read more]

A brief outline of the background to the early brass bands in Harrogate.