PREFACE

When my wife and I decided to move away from the crowded of the South East to move to Bude in Cornwall, we never planned to do anything other than slow down, walk the dogs, and generally enjoy getting away from London where we had both worked for over 25 years. The first Christmas found the Town Band playing carols outside our house, and we went out to revive their spirits with a “wee dram”. My wife mentioned that I had played euphonium in an Army Band – at the Army Apprentices School in Harrogate some 38 years before. But this was enough for the Town Band to come knocking at the door every few weeks while we were moving our mothers into new homes in Bude asking when I was going to join them, but family came first. I relented and in 2002 joined the Town Band playing Baritone. I remember the first gig, a Furry Dance marching from the Triangle in Bude, along the Crescent and on to Bark House Green to play at a Concert with a white elephant sale to raise funds for the Band. I remarked to the Conductor that I had probably only played one or two notes the whole march there, and he replied that was one or two more than they would have had if I had not been there. But my right of passage into brass banding was complete, and I was soon re-learning the musical skills that I had left behind when I was 19 years old.

But being in most Bands is like being in one big family; if one person needs help or is ill the whole family rally round to assist. Then there is the wider family of other bands-people who will readily support  or “dep” for struggling Bands when they are short of players, truly a great family to be part of!

I must thank all of the members of Bude Metric Brass, past and present without whom there would be no history. I apologise if I have got dates, names, places or events wrong and hope that you will forgive me if you have been omitted or incorrectly credited or otherwise for something, this would be totally unintentional.

On 6^th March 2003 four people in Bude decided to start a brass quartet, though they were short of music, instruments, and in one case, experience. So it was that Colin Gay, Alan Lafferty, Shelagh Storer, and Kelly Kennard left Bude Town Band with the intention of setting up a brass quartet. But they quickly discovered that there were other people in the local area who wanted to play more challenging music than that being offered by the Town Band, and on 31^st March they met in Alan’s kitchen to discuss the formation of a ten-piece ensemble. The original four were joined by Ian Udale Luke Bryant and Katie Horton, although another three people, Mathew & Jennifer Dare, and Graham Slade also expressed a desire to join, but were not able to make the meeting.

Thus the quartet became a ten-piece band, and other decisions were taken that would have a lasting impact. Firstly, what would the band be called? The meeting discussed four suggestions: A: Should the ensemble’s name reflect the nature of the group’s music, location or style? Suggestions: Bude Brass Ensemble; Bude Town Brass; North Cornwall Brass. B: Should the ensemble’s name be a play on words? Suggestions: The Metrics; Metric Conversion; Metric Misfits; Metric Pirates. C: Should the ensemble’s name be totally unrelated? Suggestions: The Bugbears; The Networkers; 1^stChoice volunteers; The Staple Guns. Finally they decided on a combination of names, and “Bude Metric Brass” was adopted.

But other decisions were a lot easier, for example what colour uniform would they choose? Well Shelagh’s crash helmet was a lovely shade of maroon, and this would not conflict with other bands in the area – the Town Band wore blue, Holsworthy green, St Gennys black. They chose to wear an informal uniform of sweatshirts and T shirts, with many purchased in Truro market, and black or dark blue blazers with a bow tie, all paid out of their own pockets. But which day of the week should they rehearse? They chose Monday evenings since most of them were free that day, little realising that it would also not clash with other local Bands who had members who subsequently joined; Holsworthy & Launceston, known locally as “Lanson” on Tuesdays and Thursdays, St Gennys on Wednesdays and Camelford on Fridays.

With regard to the running and administration of the ensemble they agreed to elect a Treasurer and Manager. The latter title was changed to “Organiser” since some players felt that they did not want to be ”managed” and this probably better reflected the structure of the ensemble. Initially there was no Musical Director, or Conductor, but one player would act as Leader and set the tempo. They agreed to review these decisions after six months, with an annual meeting every April to approve the finance and administration reports, and elect officials for the following year. They fixed the first rehearsal for the 14^th April.

They bought their own instruments and music stands, but were short of funds to buy music, so they agreed a nominal £1 a week subscription to pay for the hire of the hall and any new music. Luckily there were other bands who helped by lending out-of-copyright music and the “Tunes & Toasts” booklet became their original staple material. They needed somewhere to rehearse, and fortunately Mathew and Jennifer Dare’s father, Brendan, was Headmaster at St Petroc’s School and he offered their hall at a nominal evening rental of £5 a night, but they could only use it after the Brownies finished at 7.30pm on a Monday evening.

Their Constitution was quite clear about their aims and objectives “The ensemble is formed from a group of like-minded brass musicians, who wish to pursue their hobby in a friendly, relaxed atmosphere, playing challenging, stimulating music of mutual choice! The ensemble would “Play for their own pleasure, and for the enjoyment of others in support of charities and institutions. They would hope to extend their music to people who could not normally attend events in towncommunity centres or village halls due to frailty or infirmity. At the same time the players would further their musical knowledge and enhance and enrich the culture of the local community.”

The instrumental line-up that made up the first ensemble rehearsal was Graham Slade and Jenny Dare playing cornets, Kelly Kennard on tenor horn, Alan Lafferty on baritone, Shelagh Storer on euphonium, Luke Bryant on trombone, Ian Udale on bass trombone, Matt Date on Eb bass, and Katie Horton on drums. Colin Gay, who had previously conducted the Town Band, was the most experienced, and acted as Leader playing cornet rather than his more usual trombone; his wife Yvonne was a keen supporter and offered to play the glockenspiel.

The Organiser arranged for a photo of the ensemble, and a press release which resulted in their first public paying engagements. He was a bit surprised when the phone rang one morning, and a voice the other end announced, “This is the Mayor here”, his immediate reaction was that the Council was not happy having a second brass band in the Town, but instead Cllr Heather Partridge invited them to play at “Gurney Day” later that July.

Their first engagement was at Fairfields Retirement Home on the Spring Bank Holiday, 26^th May. They played in the home’s inner conservatory garden, seated between the raised flower beds, where they were joined by Tony Burton and Linda Wilde from St Genny Silver Band. The programme comprised nineteen pieces¹ ranging from Lily the Pink, to A Whiter Shade of Pale, and The Floral Dance.

St Petroc’s School Summer Fair followed on the 13^th June, by which time Yvonne Gay had manufactured some maroon coloured stand banners, complete with a golden fringe. But the Strawberry Cream Tea at Sheepwash on 21^st June was a bit of a disaster, where the lack of full band rehearsals and proper ten-piece arrangements showed that the new Band needed a bit more time before going public. The ensemble were sited a long way from the Cream Tea tent, and the playing was not of the highest standard. For their efforts they were offered a free strawberry tea, and £5 for their trouble, and hoped that this would not be the shape of things to come.

In late July they were joined by a few friends to promote the new RNLI Lifeboat Station on Summerlease Beach. It was a hot day, and the Band retired into the building itself to gain some shade. But the experience fostered friendships that were to last a long time, from both the guest musicians, and the RNLI crew. The following day they were on the Bandstand for Gurney Day. The Event Instructions² suggested that they would open the event at 2.00pm and “Bude Town Band are playing from 4.00pm so we need to clear the bandstand well before they arrive to rig. DO NOT make comment or hinder their programme.”

A week or so later the Band encountered its first logistical problem, and only accident. They had been invited to play for the MS Society in the Triangle in Bude but had not made any provision for chairs; so the Organiser arranged for plastic garden chairs to be bought and borrowed for the event. These proved to be both cheap and comfortable when used on level ground. Sadly where the MS Society located the ensemble was not level and Shelagh Storer and her euphonium took a tumble down the slope, fortunately neither musician or instrument were damaged, but it was a rule thereafter that the site would be reconnoitred in advance, and a flat site be chosen where possible.

Every town and village in North Cornwall, indeed in the West Country, sports a Carnival or Revel and Bude was no exception. The band were surprised, therefore, to be invited to play at Bude Carnival later that August. “You do realise that we do not march?” we said to the Committee, “Yes, but we would like you to play for the Children’s Carnival in the afternoon, on the Bandstand”. The Band readily agreed to support this annual event, aware that we would be squeezed between the crowning of the Carnival Queen and the arrival of the Town Band who would lead the Children’s parade shortly afterwards. The programme⁴ revealed that although the Band were improving, they still had a way to go before they would be competent with all of the music.

The end of the Summer season saw the Band’s relationship with the RNLI cemented when they played for their fundraising weekend at the August Bank holiday, and event which they still undertake.

But the Band was growing in size, and four musicians from St Gennys Silver Band joined, with Mary Lees playing cornet, her daughter Jo, also on cornet, Audrey Jones on euphonium with Walter Gard on Eb Bass plus Colin Gay’s wife, Yvonne, who was improving her skills on the glockenspiel. The organiser discovered an embroiderer in Holsworthy – Pauline Harris – who was able to embroider T-shirts and sweatshirts from her own stocks, so all of the Band had a common uniform, albeit they had to purchase them for £13 & £14.50 respectively; Pauline also kindly embroidered the letter “BMB” on the stand banners; and Bude Metric Brass had gained an identity!

In September the Band held its first, and only, concert in Flexbury Church before it was closed on safety grounds – nothing to do with the Band’s performance, more that the foundations were weakened by a water flood protection scheme shortly afterwards. They borrowed players from one or two other bands and played what was becoming a standard, but different, programme³.

Also in September the Band held an “Interim General Meeting” to review their first six months, amend the Constitution, and confirm that they wished to continue as a group. Significantly the Leader reported that “This was the third time in his musical life that he, Colin Gay, had been involved in forming a musical ensemble and he was, by far, having more fun this time around. Bude Metric Brass’s enthusiasm and humour by far exceeds that of any other ensemble that Colin had been associated with and the performance levels were increasing all the time.”  On a more sober note the Organiser reported that he had paid about £1000 from his own pocket for stationery and equipment, and the meeting agreed that this should be paid from the Band’s funds in future; unfortunately Ian Udale, the Treasurer, said that there was £403 in the bank!

By December the Band were much in demand playing carols around the town. They played for Age Concern in the now defunct WI Hall, for Stratton Church Christmas Bazaar at the Parkhouse Centre, at St Hillary’s and Fairfields retirement homes, at Ceres and Pentyre Court’s retirement flats, in Queen’s Street for late night shopping, and a Somerfield’s Store collecting for both the Band and the Store’s charity of the year  and  they were “pleased to present a cheque for £50 to Somerfield Bude store Manager, Paul Davey, for the Somerfield “Reaching Out” Muscular Dystrophy campaign.”

The New Year gave the opportunity for the Band to take advantage of the January music sales from the Belgian publishers Bernaerts, where original music could be purchased on the basis of 3 for the price of 2. Although a lot of the pieces were not truly “challenging”,  many were the easily recognised musical lollipops of recent years.

At the end of March they held their first AGM, and it noted that they had performed at 25 gigs, had £370 in the bank, and 210 pieces of music. Subscriptions were maintained at £1, and the three officers were re-elected unopposed. Joining the Band at this time was Peter Westbrook playing an American style marching band BH Bass with the bell above his head and pointing forwards – a feature to subsequently be seen in most photographs of the band!

Easter Monday saw the ensemble return to Fairfields retirement home, where once again they played in the conservatory, little knowing that later that week disaster was about to about to strike. The phone rang and the Organiser Alan Lafferty answered to find a distraught voice saying, “Colin has had a suspected heart attack and is in Intensive Care in Barnstaple Hospital”.  Yvonne his wife had travelled with him, but had no way of getting home, so Alan volunteered to go and collect her, and find out what had happened. Colin was admitted for observations, and it was hoped that he would be taken to the Royal Devon & Exeter Hospital for a bypass operation or further tests, but these could be a week or two away.

This left the group with a bit of a problem, since they were due to play at Barn Park House nursing home in Hawill on the 1^st May; would he be out by then? Would he be fit enough to lead the ensemble? As luck would have it, Nick Chadd, who had previously conducted Launceston Town Band, was holding a wind and brass workshop a few days later, and he volunteered to conduct at Hawill should Colin still be in hospital, which he was. The event did not go very well, only nine of the possible thirteen players could attend, the room was too small, and Nick had not rehearsed anything with the ensemble, but the residents did not seem to mind as this seemed to be the first time that anyone had arranged entertainment for them.

After four weeks Colin was discharged form hospital and the ensemble started to rehearse for an Open Day at the nearby Tamar Lakes. Other bands had played there before so the ensemble needed to be as good, if not better, than the others, so that they might be asked back for future events. Members of St Gennys and Launceston Bands helped, and a creditable performance was achieved, including Jenny Dare playing a solo for an old favourite – “Cherry Pink”.

A few weeks later the ensemble were asked to play at Woolsfardisworthy (Woolsery) street fair, where it was noted in the “Event Instructions”² that : It is anticipated that we will play three, maybe four, separate segments, whilst the Male Voice Choir, and Clog Dancers perform. You are free to visit the rest of the Street Fair, have a cream tea, visit the pub etc but PLEASE return at the stated time ready to resume playing. The event went well, though nobody stayed to watch the village tradition of throwing parachuting teddy bears from the church tower!

An event which did not go very well followed a couple of days later. The ensemble were asked to play at a Music Festival being held on the canal wharf by Soundwaves Southwest, a local charity providing music tuition and instruments to children and schools. Being the middle of July the group could reasonable expected good dry weather, even if it were cloudy or windy. However, a sea mist rolled in, and the event was curtailed when the music started to disintegrate in the dampness; this was one of the few occasions that Bude Metric Brass ever played in wet weather – which brought a claim which remained true for several years – “It rarely ever rains on Metrics”!

The group had now been joined by several other players, Laura Buse, who had previously played with Bude Town Band, joined in May playing tenor horn, Dan Wheadon, from Launceston Town Band, and Marcus Nicholls & George Bright, from St Gennys Silver Band, all joined later that Summer playing cornets.

The first Thursday in August is known locally as “Poughill Revel and Cuckoo Fair”, and has been running since the 1920s, stopping only for the Second World War and the foot and mouth crisis in 2001. Previously the Town Band had performed at this event, but in 2004 the organisers asked if Bude Metric Brass could play instead. It was with some difficulty that they found enough people who were on holiday, or retired, or able to take an afternoon off work, to play. The Band were a bit nervous that poor weather might curtail their performance but were assured that there would be space in the main marquee should this be necessary. In the event the weather proved sunny and warm, and the event was acclaimed by the musicians as one of the best they had attended!

But disaster struck on the 16^th August, when several storm clouds released their cargo over North Cornwall, namely Boscastle, where the River Valency burst its banks, but also on Crackington Haven and Canworthy Water where the banks of the River Ottery overflowed into the property of euphonium player Audrey Jones. “I watched it rise, and eventually two burly firemen carried me to safety” she said. But sadly her instrument case floated off down the flooded river, never to be seen again. The music stored by another local band, St Gennys Silver Band, was damaged when water flooded their rehearsal premises, and members of Metrics helped by drying some of the worst affected pieces in their airing cupboards, demonstrating the mutuality that existed between local bands.

Later that August the Band were once again asked to play on the Bandstand for Bude Carnival, playing while the Carnival Queen was crowned, before she set off on her parade around the town. The Town Band were due to set off at 3.40pm, so the Metrics players were prepared for a quick evacuation of the Bandstand in case there were to be any animosity or friction. But the weather looked nasty, with black storm clouds approaching from the sea, and the Band were happy to pack everything away as quickly as they could. Just as the last instrument was loaded and the vehicle drove off, the heavens opened and a torrential downpour started. “At least it did not rain on Metrics” quipped one member, though the poor Carnival Queen was seen sheltering under the awnings outside the Crescent Post Office, surrounded by the Town Band.

As well as expanding their membership, they were also acquiring instruments, and the opportunity arose to purchase a redundant drum kit from Lanson Town Band for a modest £50, even though there was no-one to play it. Fortunately, the previous drummer at Lanson was Gemma Brown, daughter of Steve and Ann who helped playing EH Bass and Solo Cornet respectively, as were available to play at the RNLI weekend over the August Bank Holiday.

In early September another objective was met when they played at a joint Concert with Budehaven School. The music programme⁵ was quite quite new to the Band but greatly appreciated by the audience. In October a local lady, Enid Greenwold, had arranged for a Concert in the Summerlease Hotel, as part of the Primrose Appeal for a dedicated breast cancer unit at Derriford Hospital, Plymouth. Although there was a “live” rehearsal a few days beforehand, the event went on, and on, and on, with many of the other performers not understanding that “20 minutes” is not half an hour!

Also in September the Organiser found on eBay that Long Eaton band were selling their bolero style red jackets, and twenty-nine were purchased for the princely sum of £175. Although they had been tailor made for Long Eaton Band, there was a good spread of sizes enabling all 17 members of Metrics to be kitted out. In September Audrey Jones’ cousin Veronica Jones joined the Band playing tenor horn, and in early November the Band was fortunate enough to recruit Roger Rowland, a pastor with the local Elim church, who had played previously with a Salvation Army band, and played Flugel Horn.

Technology played its part in Metrics life when in September the Organiser learnt HTML (Hypertext Markup Language) and set up a website at budemetricbrass.co.uk although this was subsequently changed to budemetricbrass.org.uk to better reflect that they were a voluntary organisation, rather than a commercial enterprise.

November 30^th was St Andrew’s Day, so St Andrew’s church at Stratton organised a charity bazaar in the Parkhouse Centre on the nearest Saturday, and in 2004 invited the Band to play carols in the foyer of the Ivor Potter Hall. The space was a bit tight, but the Church and visitors appreciated the effort. There followed several carol playing sessions, for Bude Women’s Institute, at Fairfields Retirement Home, and in Somerfields, all to raise money for the Band, the bank balance showing £850 at the year end. Whilst playing in Somerfields Mary Lees complained that she did not feel very well, and Ian Udale volunteered to take her back home to Week St Mary.

Also whilst playing carols at Somerfield the Band were approached by Wing Commander (retired) Peter Austin to see if they could play at a VE Day Concert the following year in Meddon Village Hall, on the Cornwall/Devon border, and they readily agreed. But, unbeknown to them, events in the Far East on Boxing Day were to accelerate their attendance at Meddon.

Early in January Mary Lees was admitted to hospital where she was diagnosed with cancer of the liver, and she sadly passed away in February. Member of both Metrics and St Genny Bands played at Mary’s funeral in a packed Week St Mary Church, a lady who was greatly respected in her local community and missed by everyone who knew her.

Leaving around this time was Matt Dare, a founder member, who decided that he wanted to visit Australia, selling his BHBass to partly fund the trip.

On the 16^th January the Band went unexpectedly to Meddon Village Hall to play at a Concert for Shelterbox⁶ and the Tsunami Relief Appeal, where the aim was to raise the £495 needed for one green box. The Band returned to Meddon on the 8^th May to play for the planned VE Day Concert.

January also saw Graham Slade leave for pastures new, and Mark Walter joined in February to play on the drums. The website proved a valuable asset when a newly qualified vet, who had recently joined Penstowe Vets in Holsworthy, Polly Gratwick, asked if Metrics would welcome a French Horn player. Since there are no French Horns in  brass band instrumentation, she was offered a tenor horn, and was warmly welcomed to become a stalwart of the Band’s line up. Also joining in February was Steff Benton, a teenager being tutored in music at St Joseph’s School in Launceston, playing cornet to complement her singing skills.

The Band were approached by a retired Civil Servant and his wife living in Grimscott near Bude, Ken & Ann Yeo, to see if they could play for their Golden Wedding Anniversary in June in the garden outside their bungalow. Their children played brass instruments, so the Band agreed to play there, subject to there being some wet weather cover. The Organiser volunteered his 6m x 4m party tent, provided there were enough people to put it up they day before, and break it down afterwards. The event went off very well, and the Band gained two more supporters, with Ken playing the organ at a Band Concert a few years later.

In July the Band played in Bradworthy at one of its hottest events. The plan was to celebrate the anniversary of Bradworthy Methodist Chapel, but this was abandoned as the Chapel would be too hot. So the Band played in the market square, taking shade – until the sun moved – in front of Wades Furniture store. Later that month they again took part in the RNLI Open Days sheltering from the sun in the boathouse on Summerlease Beach car park, which was being shared with a Triathlon sporting event at the same time making parking very difficult!

Also that month was a Music Festival organised by Soundwaves Southwest, and the Organiser duly began to lay out chairs on the bandstand prior to the arrival of the rest of the Band. A gentleman appeared saying he was from the Performing Rights Society, and could he be told which pieces the Band would be playing. Since the Musical Director was not around to provide the running order for the event, the man took a copy of the list from playing out music pad, saying he would pick about ten pieces that were out of copyright for his “Return” to head office. Sadly, although they had been asked to play for two hours the organisers decided after an hour that the Band should curtail its performance; no reason was given, and it was felt that this was an insult to their professionalism.

By August that year the Band had purchased a 3 metre by 3 metre gazebo from the Argos chain of stores to use at Poughill Revel. This became a focal point and sunshade for the Band sited next to the main stage and playing in a field that had previously housed sheep which added its own flavour to the event, but the Band played well. The Band had a change of venue for the Carnival later that month. The organisers had for many years had St Minver Band play in the Triangle in the heart of Bude, but in 2005 decided that Bude Metric Brass were to be the band to entertain the onlookers during the Carnival. Traditionally the Town Band lead the parade along the Crescent into the Strand and up Bell Vue, where they rested outside the supermarket. The rest of the Carnival parade then proceeded downhill to Crooklets Beach, and back up to the Golf Clubhouse. The Town Band would join in again for the return leg along Burn View, down Lansdown Road and back past the Triangle en route to the Crescent again. Thus Metrics would play until the head of the parade approached, then again after the tail had passed until the head re-emerged in Lansdown Road. Since it would be getting dark by then they rigged some floodlights so that they could play in the dusk and darkness of the night. Everything went quite well, but it was quite late when they finished, and, since the roads were all cordoned off, their journeys home were difficult to say the least; lessons were learnt should the Band be invited to play in The Triangle in the future.

The Summer season ended with the two August bank holiday events for the RNLI on Bark House Green because the Castle was being refurbished and the grounds were out of bounds to the public. What was becoming a tradition also had some drawbacks. For example, the Wharf carpark was taken out of service for the day, so parking and unloading close to the venue became difficult; there was a hog roast sited close to the Band, and fumes from charcoal made more than a few members choke whilst trying to play – though the pulled pork rolls were subsequently consumed with delight by both musicians and visitors alike!

In September the Band played in the Ivor Potter Hall on a bill that included celebrity comedian Bobby Ball. The occasion was an entertainment event organised by Flugel player and Church Pastor, Roger Rowland, with several other acts joining Bobby and the Band. Bobby cracked a few jokes to a delighted audience who had never seen a star on the stage locally before, and left after a quick photo shoot with the Band.

December, and again the Band were much in demand, playing carols once again for St Andrew’s Church bazaar in the Parkhouse Centre, and for the residents of Ceres Court, St Hilary’s and Fairfield retirement homes. Earlier relationships were cemented when the Band played at a Christmas Concert in Grimscott Village Hall, with Ken Yeo playing the organ accompanying Anne his wife who was singing. At Meddon the Band played a programme⁷ of Christmas music ending with what became a favourite audience participation piece “The Twelve Days of Christmas”. Each section of the Band played for one day’s item, for example the basses: A Partridge in the A Pear Tree, and the trombones: Two French Hens, and so on. But the audience had been given numbered cards, not really knowing what to do with them until the Musical Director explained that they should stand up when their respective day number was played; luckily the people with day number 1 were quite spritely since they had to stand for every verse – and it was  noted in later years that people would head for tables marked “12”!

Early in April the Band were asked to Support Bude Cricket Club for their first Cricketforce^8. Weekend, where a First-Class cricketer would visit to inspire the local club, in the event it was Andy Caddick who was expected, but never appeared – but the club carried on regardless. This was the first public event for Paul & Pauline Chandler who had joined the Band in January having recently moved to Holsworthy, Devon,  from Farnham in Surrey.

In May the Band were joined by the Bencoolen Wreckers folk singers for a joint Celtic Concert in the Falcon Hotel with a folk group from Bude’s twin town in France, Ergue Gerbaic. The group, known as Gabriet de L’Odet, were duly welcomed and the Concert started with French, British, and Cornish National Anthems and an ad hoc arrangement of “The Leaving of Liverpool” with everyone joining in. The Event Instructions indicated that the evening would finish at 10.30pm, but extended well beyond that, great friendships having been made. The Band were invited to a return visit to Normandy and subsequently investigated the cost and logistics of a return event in Brittany, but there was insufficient interest or funding to make it viable.

June saw another trip to the Tamer Lakes for their Open Days, plus a new initiative to make better use of Bude’s bandstand in the summer months. Andrew Pitt, then Band Secretary of Launceston Town Band, had asked Bude Town Band, Metrics, Holsworthy, Launceston, St Gennys, and Camelford bands if they would choose two dates in June, July, & August to perform in a series of concerts to be known as Brass on The Grass. Metrics readily accepted the invitation, playing in June and July – the latter being in support of a collection for the local Citizens Advice Bureaux.

Also in June the Band were invited to support the British Heart Foundation who had organised an open day at a garden owned by Mr & Mrs Marfleet in Poundstock. The event went well, with the band’s gazebo providing a sunshade – and a shelter just after the event finished when a sudden storm showed how waterproof it was!

In July the Band again fulfilled one of its objectives and played in the garden at St Hillary’s Nursing Home, where euphonium player Shelagh Storer worked, to celebrate their 10^th Anniversary (sadly the Nursing Home closed in 2010 and is now a block of retirement flats). Another objective was to play in schools, and the opportunity came their way when the primary school in St Giles on the Heath asked them to perform at their Summer Fete.  The event went well with warm summer sunshine to complement the music, but there was some concern that the children thought that the small marquee made a good place to play hide and seek from their parents!

August saw the, by now familiar events, from a second Brass on the Grass, Poughill Revel, Gurney Day, Fairfields Retirement Home, Bude Carnival, to the RNLI Days over Bank Holiday Weekend. One of the congregation of Sutcombe Church invited the Band to play for a “Strawberry Cream Tea” which was held on the Church lawn and proved a much better performance than at their first Strawberry Cream Tea event in Sheepwash in 2003! In September the Organiser used his new estate car to carry both drums and chairs to a Harvest Festival in Shop Methodist Church. One band member commented that “We really shouldn’t have to choose our cars for their use with the Band”, little knowing that the vehicle would become almost a Band workhorse carrying equipment over the following years!

In October the Band were approached by Cornish Bard (Gorsdh Kernow), Terry Bale, who had been coaching Newquay Choral Society to perform some of the almost unknown Carols of North Cornwall. An ensemble rehearsed six pieces arranged by Musical Director Colin Gay from Terry Bale’s choir scores, in the café area of Roger Rowland’s Life Centre in Bell Vue Lane. The six carols were: Boscastle Jack, Hark What Music (The Stratton Carol), Arise Behold the Heavenly Choir (Morewenstow), Do you know the song?. The ensemble comprised: Cornet Lisa Hannah; Cornet; Daniel Wheadon, Cornet; Roger Rowland, Flugel Horn; Polly Gratwick, Tenor Horn; Kelly Kennard, Tenor Horn; Alan Lafferty, Baritone; Shelagh Storer, Euphonium. Interestingly Kelly had just had a baby – Charlotte – and it fell to Colin’s wife Yvonne to rock the baby to sleep while the Band and Choir performed. The ensemble were expecting to play Arise Behold the Heavenly Choir, Hark What Music, Boscastle Jack, Do you know the song? and Lingham with the congregation singing. In the end they only played Arise Behold the Heavenly Choir, and Boscastle Jack & Lingham, though a CD was recorded by Chris Chough^9. “Carols From North Cornwall” on which the ensemble can be heard on two tracks.

But while this was going on there was another rehearsal taking place without Musical Director Colin. Whilst he was on holiday the Band were conducted by Ann Brown from Launceston Town Band in preparation for a special secret rehearsal being held that November. The special event was the 50^th Birthday for Colin organised by his wife Yvonne, assisted by Alan Lafferty, being held in Crooklets Inn. Colin & Yvonne drove to the normal rehearsal venue at St Petroc’s School only to find no-one else was there. They then arrived at Crooklets Inn, which had been decorated with balloons and bunting for the occasion, to find the whole Band and friends, plus his stepson Colin Hudson & family from Plymouth, where Colin Hudson was a leading trombonist with the Royal Marines Band. There was a varied, but simple, programme of music ^10. with Colin Hudson featuring on a trombone solo “As If We Never Said Goodbye”. The evening ended with a buffet and birthday cake, with an engraved pint mug suitably filled by publicans Gary & Sue Moore.

December saw the usual requests for carols, with an invitation to play in Bradworthy Church for their Christmas Tree Festival. The band had already played at St Hillary’s Nursing Home in the afternoon but needed a bit more support in the evening. Sadly low clouds descended on the roads north of Bude making a complicated journey even more difficult, and several players were late arriving. Worse, the church was totally unheated, making the instruments go slightly out of tune, and the evening was not a great success – the Band were never invited back!  Another cold church was visited at Poundstock, where parking and unloading were difficult, but at least afterwards the Band were able to visit the Guildhouse, built between the 15^th and 16^th century, for a “cup of tea and a scone”. There was a return visit to Grimscott Village Hall for a Christmas Concert with Ken & Ann Yeo, where one elderly resident could not understand why Principal Cornet player Marcus Nichols had to leave the main hall area to sound the “Charge” opening to “Stop the Cavalry”.

Cornish Bard Terry Bale invited the Band to play carols for his family on the driveway to his house in Flexbury, but they never did find out what the neighbours thought of the impromptu carol concert! To raise funds, the Band played several sessions in the entrance area to Somerfields store on Crooklets Road, and were surprised when the new Manager offered them hot coffee and mince pies, and the use of the staff room should it be required; it seemed that he had been a drummer with Okehampton Excelsior Silver Band and really appreciated the effort that the Band made to enhance his customer’s Christmas shopping (the Band wished more store staff were as receptive!)

Throughout the year there were a number of new members, and others who joined and then left for whatever reasons. Paul Aslett went back to work in Cyprus, so left in December, Luke Bryant – a founder member – re-joined, but then left again, Peter Tomlinson and Norman Weadon both joined briefly, and Veronica Jones left too; but there were always an average of fifteen members covering most of the Band parts.

January saw two important people at rehearsals: Walter Gard re-joined, initially playing baritone, and Matt Dare, who had returned from his travels around the world, playing the trombone parts. The Band had been approached by Bard Terry Bale to play in April at a Cornish Evening in Bude’s Central Methodist Church, with the prestigious St. Stythians Male Voice Choir. The programme ^11. was a mixture of Sankey hymns and contemporary choir and brass band music, with a joint Choir and Band finale: the Goff Richards fun piece “Proper Job”, and being close to Easter, “Morte Christe”. This was the first time the Band had accompanied a choir, and the last piece was so moving that more than one member of the Band described “the hairs on the back of their heads standing up”!

In early May the local branch of the Royal British Legion were opening their new headquarters in Burn View by the Lord Lieutenant of Cornwall, Lady Mary Christina Holborow, DCVO. The Band were invited to squeeze into the front “garden”, where they played a fanfare as the opening ribbon was cut, and of course, “The Royal British Legion march”. Also in May the Bude Twinning Association organised a “Picnic Lunch” at Roadford Lake for their French counterparts, and although they provided lunch for their guests, the Band were warned “The Twinning Association will be providing their French guests with a picnic lunch, but there will be no general buffet so please make your own arrangements for lunch; there is a public restaurant on site.” A second visit to “Southfields” the open garden in Poundstock for the British Heart Foundation in June, was followed by a second visit to Sutcombe for another cream tea event, though this time it was in the Village Hall.

In keeping with their maroon colour scheme the Band abandoned their red “bolero” style jackets and bought thirty-nine conventional style maroon jackets from Oakdale Silver Band for £300. The general opinion was that they were more comfortable, even if they had been tailor-made for the other Band! The red jackets were eventually sold in 2010 for £150 to a new group being formed in Enfield, London.

The new jackets were first used at a new event in the Village Hall at Warbstow, where the Band crammed onto a small temporary stage, the acoustics being quite bright in the newly built hall. A week later the Band appeared at a Veterans Day celebration outside the Royal British Legion hall in Hartland, Devon, moving onto the local football pitch changing room area for the march past. Quite why Hartland Band were not asked to perform was never established.

The remainder of the summer was by now quite well established: two “Brass on the Grass” events on the Bandstand, Gurney Day, Fairfields Retirement Home, Poughill Revel, Bude Carnival and the RNLI Days at the August Bank Holiday weekend. But the Band were rehearsing for a more prestigious private event in September, that being the Wedding of solo horn player Polly Gratwick to her farmer fiancé Paul Symonds. So at 1.30pm on Monday 10^th September the Band seated themselves at the back of the 12^th Century church of St Swithun in Pyworthy. Notably Polly had asked the Band to play Pachelbel’s Canon, and for some unexplained reason one of the euphoniums misread the time signature, playing at twice the tempo for a few bars; fortunately no-one, other than the MD and the band members, noticed and the happy couple left under an archway of trombones.

A week later Musical Director and his wife, Colin & Yvonne Gay, took a well-deserved six-week break flying to Australia to visit relatives. This left the band in a bit of a quandary since there were no obvious deputies to conduct from within the Band, so many people took their own holidays during their absence. But looming large on their return was a Christmas Concert in December with Bude Choral Society being held in the Central Methodist Church. It was noted that, amongst other things, they wanted a “programme” in November when the Band MD was still in Australia, and that both the Band and organ should play the carols jointly; this was changed when it was suggested that there was no need for both to play. Eventually a programme was agreed, and the audience were delighted to participate in a stirring rendition of “Schneewaltzer”, swaying from side to side in time with the music.

December saw the Band again raising funds in the entrance foyer to Somerfields, and the by now traditional carols for St Andrew’s Church, Fairfields Retirement Home, and Grimscott Village Hall the latter not being well attended, and the hall committee decided that maybe this was not wanted by the village. They also made a return visit to Warbstow Village Hall, where the audience had not experienced the activity required for “The 12 Days of Christmas”!

The number of players had changed very little in the past year, but Dan Weadon left to further his dairyman skills near Weston Super Mare, and James Moyers joined in November playing cornet, to become a stalwart of the Band. Jenny Dare joined the Band for a variety of events before she set off for her degree course in Spain, and Graham Slade left again for pastures new.

In 1992 Her Majesty Queen Elizabeth II said: “1992 is not a year on which I shall look back with undiluted pleasure. In the words of one of my more sympathetic correspondents, it has turned out to be an annus horribilis.” In some respects this is how 2008 turned out for Bude Metric Brass, although early indications were that it would be a “classic year”.

A new innovation started in January when the Organiser published the first “Metric Mercury”, a news sheet putting some meat to the bones of the “Forecast of Events”, and providing additional information on subjects that had been discussed in the bandroom for the benefit of members who may have been absent. For example, the Metric Mercury highlighted the idea that they should congregate in a classroom before rehearsals when the Brownies were still in the hall, thus vacating the corridor that had previously been used, and enabling the young children to depart more quickly. It also told the story of how the band had purchased six BH cornets, one EH cornet and a flugelhorn from Horsham Silver Band for £350 provided they were collected. Due to bad weather and the Organiser’s poor health they had to be collected by a friend of his who lived nearby, and his friend would deliver them later in March when he visited the area on holiday.

In February the Organiser’s phone rang, and a voice said, “This is Bishop Bill’s Press Secretary, can the Band play at the Eden Project on Sunday 6th April for his farewell party if we pay for a coach?” Well the answer was obviously “Yes”, and there followed some fervent activity, finding a coach company first – Tilley’s based at Wainhouse Corner was chosen and it was discovered that they already had three coaches booked for this event! A pre event visit to the Eden Project followed, with a representative from the Eden Project showing the recce party the stage that had been erected outside the ice rink, and advising them that the natural amphitheatre in front of the biodomes could hold up to 10,00 people standing; they made only one request, and that was that once it was all over, could the Band refrain from playing a recessional piece, because when pop groups did that the crowd would stay behind listening, instead of vacating the site. The Bishop’s party explained that we would play as people were arriving, play a hymn or two, and a recessional piece as well, which conflicted with the earlier advice from the Eden Project staff!

In 2008 Easter was the earliest that it had been since 1913 almost 100 years earlier, perhaps that is why the Band were invited to play at the Easter Sunday service at St Olaf’s Church, Poughill, and perhaps why they have never been invited back, even though the evening went very well. It was about this time that Yvonne, Colin Gay’s wife, revealed that she had been diagnosed with breast cancer, and was undergoing tests to see if it was malignant or benign.

In the weeks following Easter the Band learnt that every Church in Bishop Bill’s Truro Diocese would be sending at least one coach of parishioners to the Eden Project, and that they would share to stage with pop groups, choirs and children’s dance troops. The coach left Bude at 12.45 and stopped to pick up players and their families en-route. It was expected that the Band would do sound checks at 4.15pm possibly running into the first performance at 4.45pm, the actual event starting at 5.00pm. Space had been made in the ice rink locker room close to the rink for the storage of instrument cases, though no-one realised that there would still be skaters using the facility then. Sound checks over the band played the following items: Prelude: Marching Cornwall; The White Rose; Lamorna; Morning in Cornwall; Greig’s Morning Mood; Arioso; hymn Abbot’s Leigh; recessional: Classical Gold.

Between appearances on stage the Band were able to visit the tropical biodome (very hot), or the Mediterranean biodome, which had a splendid display of bulbs. But as they stood waiting beside the ice rink they realised that some “acts” were continuing past their allotted times, and that the instruments were getting very cold, with possible tuning problems when they returned to the stage. All went well, Bishop Bill being thrilled to hear his favourite hymn, and the audience excited to see him arrive in a steam powered vehicle. Once it had finished the Bishop thanked the Band, and the audience stated to slowly leave the amphitheatre. Despite the instructions of the Eden Project staff, the Band struck up “Classical Gold” a medley of Classical pieces lasting about 7 minutes. There may have been 7000 people listening when they started playing, but only the Band’s families and friends were left when they finished, and the claim was made “We have played to an audience of 7000 – but also cleared that audience in seven minutes!”

Later in April the Band were invited by Bard Terry Bale to again play at a Concert with Stithian’s Male Voice Choir, only this time in the Methodist Church in Launceston. The event would see Bude Postmaster Luke Francis play the organ (very loudly!) for the “Sankey Hymns”, with the choir and Band filling in with an empathetic programme^12. There was a rehearsal in the afternoon, followed by buffet tea before the main event at 7.00pm that evening, which lasted until well past 11.00pm.

In May the Band played at the Anniversary of Bethel Chapel, which is located between Warbstow and Hallworthy, with a programme^13. of hymns, Cornish and other music, not forgetting “Classical Gold” (maybe the MD was hoping to clear the Chapel?). The evening finished with a cream tea “supper” in the nearby Village Hall.  The following week saw the Band’s first of two expected visits to Mr & Mrs Marfleet at home in their garden in Poundstock the first in support of Soundwaves Southwest who had organised a cream tea event. Sadly the weather closed in, and the event was cancelled at short notice. The second expected visit fared better a few weeks later in June, this time it was an “Open Garden” event supporting the local branch of the British Heart Foundation; knowing how steep the garden at “Southfields” was, one would need a strong heart to explore the whole garden, which dropped away quite sharply through their woods. Joining the Band around this time was Mycroft Mead a young, intelligent, and skilled drummer, with a distinctive hairstyle, bringing a welcome rhythm to the Band’s output.

“Flaming June” was proving a little elusive for the wedding of Ms Katy Godden & Col Mike Green RM, who were holding their reception in a field at Scarsick and had invited the Band to play close to the main marquee. It was a bit wet and windy on the Saturday morning when two of the Band erected the 6m x 3m party tent and a gazebo to shelter from the worst of the elements. When they returned later in the afternoon they found bass trombonist Ian Udale fervently hanging on to the frame of the party tent to prevent it blowing away. The tent was a write-off, so the band ended up playing in a corner of the main marquee, dry, but aware how conditions can change rapidly in Cornwall.

The first visit to Bude bandstand came at the end of June for a Brass on the Grass concert, followed a week later in July by a “Festival of Brass” organised by the Cornwall Brass Band Association. The Band had decided to join the Cornwall Brass Band Association (CBBA) so that they could participate in this fundraising Concert later that year; they never intended to be anything other than silent members, and never had any input to their meetings. The Band were given just 40 minutes from 2.00pm to play their programme¹⁴ which was well received by the small audience. Sadly the event did not attract many bands, although it was repeated the following year.

In July Mike Howard, owner of the “Sign O’ The Times” engraving shop in Flexbury, invited the Band to play outside his farmhouse in Kilkhampton for a cream tea event to celebrate his year as President of the local Rotary Club. The band were located in a sunken garden and helped the President raise several thousands of Pounds for Rotary. The friendship engendered with Mike and his wife Sue has lasted to this day.

The middle of July saw two event on the same day, the first was a visit to Trelana Nursing Home in Poughill, playing outside on the patio next to the dining room, and the second was a surprise farewell party for the Methodist Minister at Canworthy Water, Daniel Wheadon, and father of one of the Band’s erstwhile cornet player, Danny Wheadon. It was held at the Eden Chapel near Wainhouse Corner, and typically Methodist, at a crossroads. The Band were one of many “acts” using the room behind the altar to store music and instrument cases. The room was very hot with little air flow, but they were promised a finger buffet supper at the end of the performances. No caterers were used, but parishioners each brought a plate or two of food, and it was all laid out in the back room on tables stretching for at least forty feet across the building. One of the Band commented that “The Cornish certainly know how to lay on a spread”, the table groaning under the weight of the food on offer; being good brass musicians they made sure that nothing went to waste!

Another event that ended with a typical Cornish buffet supper was when the Band played at the Jacobstow Patronal Festival at the end of July. The Band played in St James the Great Church, and then decamped to the Village Hall where they thought that maybe the congregation were in competition with the Methodists at the Eden Chapel to see who could provide the best supper; both won!

During this period Musical Director Colin had been commuting between Kilkhampton and Derriford Hospital, Plymouth, where his wife Yvonne was undergoing treatment for breast cancer. She had been admitted via Cornwall Air Ambulance earlier and had undergone surgery, radiotherapy and chemotherapy to try to halt the invasive cancer. He managed to attend most events, but the Band had to cancel an evening soiree at the home of one of the members of St Andrew’s Church, Stratton; this was probably the only time that the Band ever let anyone down at short notice.

In August the Band were joined by a “couple from Coulsdon, Surrey” who were on holiday in Bude, and helped out at Poughill Revel. Thus began a friendship with John and Chris Constable, who finally moved to Bude and joined the Band in 2012. It was at this time that the Band learnt that Yvonne’s cancer was not responding to treatment and was possibly terminal. So it fell to visitors from Ewell Band to help out and assist at Carnival Day on 16^th, Mike Hensor conducting, and his wide Lynne playing EH bass. The Band had purchased a new, more robust, party tent, though it took a long time to work out which tube fitted where; subsequently the poles were marked with coloured tape to enable an easier erection. The tent proved its worth though, with the weather closing in, and only poor Mike conducting in the dripping rain!

The end of August saw the Band playing once again for the RNLI at the Bank Holiday weekend, and the summer season ended with a second Brass on the Grass Concert in early September. At this event the Band said a sad farewell to George Bright who had been playing 2^nd Cornet, and left to go to Sheffield Metropolitan University studying scientific criminology; this would not be the last time the Band saw George, since he renewed his friendship each time he was down from “uni”. Another casualty was that of vet Polly Symonds (nee Gratwick) who broke her foot and was out of action for a few weeks.

The news from Derriford Hospital was not good, and it was with heavy hearts that the Band learnt that Yvonne had passed away on the 26^th September. “Annis Horribilus” indeed! The Metric Mercury recoded the event: A sad farewell to Yvonne, we will all miss you: “God has taken another Angel”. But from this, Colin said that they had discussed a “Memorial Concert” even to the point that she had chosen the programme. Metric Mercury recorded it as: This event will take place on 14^th February 2009; St Petroc’s School has been booked for a rehearsal on the evening of Friday 13^th, and the Parkhouse Centre all day on the 14^th for two rehearsals and the Concert. The RAOB St Michael’s Lodge have agreed to look after the front of house and raffle (there may be a week’s holiday in France or Spain as a prize!)

In December the Band played again at Warbstow Village Hall also at St Winwaloe Church, Poundstock. In use since 1282, the church had heating to match! Despite the Band’s best efforts, the instruments went out of tune in the very cold damp conditions in the Church; the only consolation being a second visit to the newly refurbished Tudor Guildhouse next door, where mulled wine and mince pies there were a plenty! But December is the month when the Band tries to collect money for themselves rather than other charities, and although a session in the Strand Arcade was poorly attended, at Somerfields store the Band raised some funds for insurance and new music. In keeping with their Constitution, they were delighted to play at Stratton Hospital for the few remaining patients (most are discharged where possible to spend Christmas at home) a few days before Christmas. Collections at Somerfields raised £455.89, and the Manager once again brought minced pies and coffee from the staff canteen for the players who were situated in the entrance foyer between the entrance and exit doors.

The year started with a rehearsal on the Organiser’s 65^th birthday, and after a pressurised rehearsal six weeks before “Band Together” a few of the Band retired to the Crooklets Inn for some liquid refreshment. The pub had become a favourite of the Band since the early rehearsals in St Petroc’s School, and Gary & Sue allowed their conservatory to be used for Annual General Meetings. Word must have spread about how friendly the Band were – and still are – because two new members joined a few weeks later; Steve Knight an entrepreneur who had recently moved from Hampshire where he played clarinet in a military style band, and John Cole a local farmer who brought his son Jonathon to a few rehearsal, all three playing cornets.

Disaster struck on 2^nd February just a fortnight before the Band’s biggest Concert, when the weather closed in, and unusually for Bude, it snowed enough to make travel from the outer villages dangerous, so the rehearsal was cancelled. But plans for Band Together were proceeding, tickets had been printed, the RAOB St Michael’s Lodge agreed to act as Front of House staff, and local publican turned retirement homeowner, Bill Kneebone, had volunteered to act as Master of Ceremonies (MC). So on Valentine’s Night about fifty musicians crammed onto the stage for what was to become an annual event in the Band’s calendar, and “Band Together” was born.  The Organiser had produced a timed running  order, knowing that MCs tend to sometimes talk more than necessary, but Bill Kneebone was not one to stick to the script and was forever calling the Organiser “Mr Rafferty”, a label which stuck in future years, though there was never a timed version again! The Concert went well, with a programme^15. chosen by Yvonne Gay when she was undergoing treatment at Derriford Hospital. Drummer Gemma Brown played a  commendable drum solo in  Choral and Rockout, Ken Yeo from Grimscott very ably assisted the start of the second half playing his organ for Phantom of the Opera, and the audience were surprised when the lights went out in The Great Balloon Race and balloons descended upon them from the aisles, gently guided by the RAOB team! The evening was a great success, and £500 was raised for Cornwall Air Ambulance and Breakthrough Breast Cancer.

After a short break the Band were invited to play at the March Rotary Club Dinner in the Parkhouse Centre, where they were presented with a cheque for £500 from the previous July’s event at Mike Howard’s farmhouse in Kilkhampton. Also in March the Band welcomed back John Granger, who had been absent for two hip operation, and Kelly gave birth to her second child, a boy Jimmy weighing 8lbs; but they bid a sad farewell to Laura Buse who set off for the Balearics as a holiday rep. In mid-July the Band followed the Town Band onto the bandstand for the second Cornwall Brass Band Associatiobn fund raising event and were allowed 50 minutes to play with ten minutes to set up; fortunately St Gennys Silver Band followed them, so several players swapped jackets and ties and stayed on the Bandstand for a second session. Earlier in June the Band were invited by Week St Mary Church to play at a “Pimms in the Park” event at which the new Bishop of Truro, the Right Reverend Timothy Martin Thornton, MA, would meet some of the local parishioners.

The Summer programme was beginning to take a familiar timetable, with Poughill Revel on the first Thursday in August, two “Brass on the Grass” concerts, a trip to Poundstock for the British Heart Foundation Open Gardens, back to the bandstand for Bude Stratton Town Council’s “Gurney Day”, and two concerts in the aid of the RNLI over the August bank holiday weekend. A new event was the Flower Festival at Kilkhampton Church in the middle of August, and this was to become another regular summer feature for the Band. The Church service went very well, and the Band were invited back in September for their annual Royal Air Force Association service in celebration of the Battle of Britain. In October the RAOB had arranged with the Bude Morrison’s store for a charity collection, and the Band were invited to play outside to attract the shopper’s attention to the collection.

Mycroft Mead, the long-haired drummer from Bude left to study mathematics at Cambridge in September, but fortunately had recruited the ex Somerfields Manager, Shawn Dymond, though he only stayed with the Band until early the following year. There were other “recruits” too: Marcus Dymond playing EH Bass, Lisa Hannah playing cornet, Nicola Isaac playing cornet, Karen Blackford on baritone, Charlotte Marchant on trombone and Cath Chambers – Walker on Bass Trombone.

In late November the Band were fortunate to be asked to play at the Atlantic Village shopping Centre near Bideford, much to the chagrin of some older members who claimed that November was too early to play Christmas music! However the venue proved quite lucrative in terms of collections and fees, so like most of the traders located in the precinct, the Christmas season started early!

In early December the Band went once again to the village hall at Warbstow for another Christmas Concert. Notably the hall was very disabled friendly which was fortunate, since the Band had recently recruited Graham Pitt to play cornet, who used crutches or an electric wheelchair for mobility, and this was his first public event with the Band.  However the local villagers turned out in their numbers, again little realising that the “Twelve Days of Christmas” would involve a lot more audience participation than Schneewaltzer a year earlier! It was noted that “there may be refreshments at the end” in the Event Instructions, and this once again proved to be an understatement, the villagers all contributing to the feast that followed.

Earlier in 2009 the local Somerfields store had been acquired by Sainsbury’s, and they had made some major changes to the store’s entrance. Where previously there had been separate “in” and “out” doors at Somerfields where the Band sat between them, the new Sainsbury’s had just two sliding doors. So when the Band ask the new management if they could play there to raise funds they agreed as long as the entrance was kept clear. This would have been fine, except every time a customer approached the doors, they would slide open and expose an icy blast which would greet the players!

After a Saturday session at Sainsbury’s in mid-December, the Band had a short break and made their way to The Green Inn at Week St Mary for an early evening carol session. The publicans were raising money for the Children’s Hospice Southwest, and Cornwall Air Ambulance, and Father Christmas was expected to thrill the children – and bring mince pies for the Band!

With the, by now, regular attendance of Graham Pitt it became obvious that the “level” entrance to St Petroc’s School hall involved a nasty doorstep which required a lot of careful manoeuvring to avoid a wheelchair catastrophe. So Steve Knight adapted a wheelchair ramp that the Organiser had bought in 2006 when his wife had a broken ankle, and screwed wooden blocks underneath to give it strength, thus enabling Graham a smoother passage into the hall. He brought with him his daughter Vikki playing 2^nd Horn, and his son James playing timps, both briefly joined the Band and assisted Dad negotiate the poor disabled entrance to the School. Whilst the Band were playing at Sainsbury’s in the previous December, they met a customer Cath Chambers-Walker, who played the trombone. Since there were trombone seats empty she decided to join in, along with a novice trombone player Charlotte Merchant, whose father Charles had assisted playing cornet with the Band at various events.

The Belgian music publisher “Bernaerts” were still offering a “3 for the price of 2” deal, and the Band again took advantage to make their meagre income stretch a bit further. That year they bought Tuxedo Junction, The Shoop Shoop song, The World is Not Enough, Let’s Twist Again’ Living Next Door to Alice, The Magic of Mozart, Total Eclipse of the Heart, and Non, je ne Regrette Rien. This gave them plenty of music to rehearse and play in the Summer and produced fresh material for the audiences.

The Band had decided at their 2009 AGM that there would be a second “Band Together” Concert, although they realised that the stage in the Parkhouse Centre was too small to accommodate the number of expected players from other bands. They searched for a suitable venue in Bude, and none was found, but Laura Buse had returned from her job as a holiday rep and mentioned that her father Nigel was Manager of the Penstowe Manor Holiday Centre in Kilkhampton. An inspection of the stage in the Cabaret Suite revealed that it was far too small to accommodate a Band let alone the enlarged Band. But the dance floor would do nicely, with a mezzanine stage extended from the normal stage. The seating area was raised above this, and the Band were assured that without the tables up to 300 audience could be entertained. It had the advantage that the assembled musicians could rehearse there the night before, and again the morning prior to the Concert, so that everyone would have had at least one rehearsal. There was accommodation for visitors in the Manor House and chalets, and full bar facilities would be available throughout the weekend; who could resist such an offer at no cost? But it was 5 miles away from Bude, and there would be no public transport for a return journey, and probably not even for the outward journey such were the poor services in that part of Cornwall. This meant that many old folk would not be able to attend unless they had a car, so the Band discussed whether there could be a shuttle mini-bus service, but this was rejected on the grounds of cost and departure delays when everyone would want to leave on the first bus!

The programme ^16. was as challenging as the previous Concert in 2009, with a special mention of “Blades of Toledo” when the baton was taken by David Dobson, Musical Director of Launceston Town Band, so that Colin Gay the resident conductor could join the trombone section and lead them in a memorable performance. Another innovation accompanied “Bohemian Rhapsody” made famous by Queen. A video of Queen’s performance (without sound) was projected onto a screen behind the percussionists, and the Conductor, Colin, proceeded to make the music fit the screen; he achieved this glancing at both the score and video to ensure that he was in time, finishing exactly at the right moment! The highlight of the evening was undoubtedly the “1812” Overture, though this presented an acoustic nightmare for the Av team. At the end of the Overture there are canon shots and church bells; Andrew Dinner, who was at the sound and vision control desk, said that he could get pyrotechnics for the canon, but nothing for the bells; fortunately an old colleague of Alan Lafferty still worked in the Record Library at the BBC and was able to point the Band to a suitable source for a recording of the original bells. The pyrotechnics were tried out at rehearsal on Friday evening and provided an interesting shower of cardboard when they exploded – one narrowly missing 2^nd Baritone player Steve Knight’s ear – they were banished to a less audible, but safer area in a corridor backstage for the actual Concert! Finally the event raised £1000 for Cornwall Air Ambulance and Breakthrough Breast Cancer – including a bucket collection made when Colin Gay had his beard shaved off by euphonium player Shelagh Storer after the Concert was over, much to the amusement of the onlookers! A total of 65 players  from 20 bands took part, setting a standard that was to be reached at future Concerts, the event being recorded and CDs and DVDs were made professionally and available free of charge, but with the request for a small donation to offset production costs.

The AGM was held in April, once again in the Crooklets Inn, but the owners had converted their conservatory into an Italian style restaurant, so the members were squeezed into a small lounge and the corridor outside, making reports and decisions difficult to hear and record. The Organiser apologised and promised a better venue in 2011, little knowing that this might be an easy objective. But the AGM brought the resignation of founder member Ian Udale hanging up his bass trombone, though he briefly practiced with a Flugel Horn before ill health finally made him give up all together.

Later in May St Petroc’s School became upset because the Band were still assembling in a classroom, and they claimed that because it stored the student’s daily records it was untenable. So the Band looked for another venue, described in the “Metric Mercury” thus:

We have been investigating alternative rehearsal facilities using the following criteria:

Must be free on a Monday evening, must have good parking with disabled bays nearby. Must have level disabled/drum kit/music box access, should not be “second use” to other organisations (e.g. Scouts, St John, WI etc), must have good lighting and heating. So we considered, amongst others, Flexbury Church – closed after August; Poughill Village Hall – booked for Line Dancing; Grimscott Village Hall – booked for skittles; Methodist Church – booked for classes. But Budehaven School have a classroom, though Bude Orchestra are already in-situ, and the Band were told that access can be difficult in the holidays, and the Bullers Arms at Marhamchurch say that their function room may become available if the Jive Club do not take up the option. However the Parkhouse Centre have a large room free three weeks out of four, and a smaller room – No. 4 that is free every Monday. So the Band have booked Room 4 for rehearsal on Monday 7^th June to see if we can fit in, and then we can take a decision regarding its suitability. So on 14^th June the Band decided that this would be their new rehearsal premises and have been located there ever since.

The Summer season started in support of the British Heart Foundation, although the venue was not at Poundstock as in previous years, but alongside the canal outside Hanover House, home of the local representative, Robin Bender. The date chosen was Sunday 27^th June, which football fans will recognise as the day that England were knocked out of the World Cup second round by Germany, losing 1 -4. The Band, many of whom had recorded the match to watch later, were dismayed when residents of Hanover House proceeded to shout out the score as it happened; in future years the Organiser would try to avoid England’s World Cup dates and times – at least for the first round fixtures!

A new event entered the calendar – a request to play at Kilkhampton Fete in July; traditionally this had been undertaken by the Town Band, but the organiser’s wanted someone to entertain the visitors before the Carnival Queen in a pony & trap – and Town Band – arrived. So with much difficulty unloading and setting up, the Band began playing on a cloudy day. But the clouds turned to fine rain and the trombones and back row cornets ended up sitting in a low cloud, contradicting the phrase “it never rains on Metrics!” The result was the purchase of a second gazebo from the Argos Stores, though a matching green colour was unavailable, so a similar designed version in blue was bought.

In July the Band went to Bill Kneebone’s garden to play at the Stratton Fete which Bill had recently revived. The fete was held in the Long Paddock which runs alongside the River Strat, the Band being sited next to the PA system; in normal times that would be fine because the announcer would be close by to speak as and when the band stopped playing between pieces, however Bill had been given a radio microphone, and wandered around his large garden most of the time out of range of the Band’s music, and hence talking over most of the pieces!

Another new event was an invitation to play at the evening service of the Central Methodist Church, although little detail was recorded about the programme or music played. But in September the Band played at a free Concert in aid if the Friends of Stratton Hospital, who were raising funds for improved facilities once the Hospital had finished being refurbished. The programme^17. Included unaccompanied singing by band cornetist Steff Benton, and a nurse from the Stratton Surgery, Joe Hutt, who was accompanied by the Band in music from the show “All That Jazz”.

When the Band had moved rehearsal premises in June they discovered that there would be several Mondays when the rooms at the Parkhouse Centre were already booked, and so they “borrowed” the Eden Chapel near Warbstow on 5 occasions in October and November. It was during this period that MD Colin took time out to revisit his late wife’s family in Australia, with Launceston Band’s MD David Dobson and Flugel player Roger Rowland filling in the conducting gaps.

Christmas music was once again on the agenda when the Band paid visit to Atlantic Village for a second year, only this time they had the first choice of dates, choosing a Saturday in late November, and a second Saturday in December, both dates proving very lucrative in financial terms, even though one trader was a bit annoyed blaming the Band’s presence on poor sales (though other traders said he had been suffering from poor trade for some time!).

Also in November the Band played carols at the Buller’s Arms in Marhamchurch in support of the “Movember” movement who were encouraging men to grow moustaches and raise funds for prostate cancer. In December some of the Band went back to the Green Inn in Week St Mary for a second, and last, time to play carols for disabled children; sadly the roads were quite icy so some players opted to stay at home, but this did not detract from the event. The pub was Built in the 17th century at what was a former school headmaster’s house and became the Green Inn until closure at the end of 2010. It re-opened in 2012 and was renamed The Orchard Inn – the new owner’s name being “Orchard”. As in previous years the Band also played carols at Warbstow Village Hall, Fairfields Retirement Home, and at Sainsbury’s store in Bude in December.

Preparations for a third Band Together Concert started early with an unscheduled rehearsal on January 3^rd; the programme ¹⁸ was as challenging as before, although the variations of tempo in Riverdance were causing some concerns for not only the musicians but the MD as well! Included in the programme was the Finale to the William Tell Overture as a tribute to Pete Postlehwaite who starred as” Danny” in the film “Brassed Off” where he hoped to lead their band to the national finals but is hospitalised instead, and who sadly died in January 2011. In the film he is seen leaving his hospital bed to join the Grimley Colliery Band on the stage for their performance, which they win. A clip from the film was projected onto the screen at Penstowe Manor, the timing starting exactly in sequence with the concert performance, and ending completely in synchronisation with the film, no mean achievement. Sadly the concert cameras failed to record the event properly and the subsequent DVD was never made available to the public.

Flugel player Roger Rowland was instrumental in the purchase of the old Conservative Club building to create the new “Life Centre” in Bude’s Strand, and the Band were invited to play for the grand opening on 2^nd April. This proved to be a logistical nightmare since they would be sitting on the pavement outside while Dan Rogerson MP opened the building. Fortunately it was a dry sunny day, and the music was appreciated not only by the Life Church members, but also by the lunchtime drinkers sitting in the sun outside the nearby Carriers Inn!

But the membership of the Band, and indeed any band, is somewhat fluid, and there were several changes that had occurred in the previous year. Vikki Pitt leaving to move to the Isle of Wight, and Amy Bindlecombe leaving when she graduated to senior school both in August 2010. Walter Gard joined in briefly when his health permitted, and Shaun Dymond the erstwhile Manager of the Somerfields store joined also in August, playing drums but left in early February 2011 for personal reasons. Thus the Band comprised: Karen Blackford; Paul Chandler; Pauline Chandler; Peter Cole; Matt Dare; Ashley Denford; Marcus Dymond; Colin Gay; John Granger; Lisa Hannah; Nicola Isaac; Audrey Jones; Steve Knight; Alan Lafferty; Charlotte Merchant; James Moyers; Marcus Nicholls; Graham Pitt; Roger Rowland; Shelagh Storer; Polly Symons; Cath Chambers-Walker, and Peter Westbrook; about twenty-five regular musicians, supplemented by Grace Denford and Lisa Hannah on cornet and Kelley Kennard on horn or euphonium. But the Band needed a drummer, so in April Graham Pitt recruited one of his work colleagues, Keith Henry, and although he was a willing recruit, he had no drumming experience, and he was asked to leave in October.

The summer season proved remarkably like those of previous years: two Brass on the Grass concerts on the Band stand or around Bude Light, a Garden Fete at Fairfields Retirement Home, Bude Heritage Day, plus two concerts for Bude RNLI on August bank holiday weekend. However the Band were not always welcome in the town. This from the Secretary of Bude Carnival: “Following the meeting last Sunday, Bude Carnival will be going ahead on 20th August. However, it was decided to make certain changes to the afternoon and evening entertainment to cut costs and the number of Bands was the main saving. I am sorry to say that it was decided that Metric Brass would not be needed this year.”

But the Band were still very busy with a concert for the MS Society in Bradworthy Methodist Church in March, a Cream Tea Concert in Sutcombe in July, and an appearance at “A Cornish Celebration”, organised by Terry Bale at Adventure International also in July. That month also saw the Band play at Stratton Fete, though this year they were well away from the PA system, being sited opposite the function across the River Stratt! In August they played again at Poughill Revel but being the first Thursday in the month they struggled to find players who could get the time off work to play; fortunately they were assisted by Grace Denford, Josie Whale, Julie Dobson, Tony Uglow, Kelly Kennard and Helena Hassel.

Another new event in August was the flower festival in Kilkhampton Church of St James the Great. The Band were joined by organist Mike Richardson and the choir, surrounded by the most excellent flower arrangements, each accompanied by a title and a short note. Space was tight, and the Band could not play all the hymns requested since they only had old hymn books, purloined from nearby St Gennys Band, leaving the organist to play the remainder. But the Vicar, Richard Ward-Smith, was suitably impressed enough to invite the Band back in the years to follow, making it an annual event for the Band.

At the AGM the Band had expressed a wish to hold another Autumn Concert and approached the RNLI to see if their marquee would be available in early September; sadly it had already been allocated to another function, so the Band looked for an alternative venue. The Ivor Potter Hall in the Parkhouse Centre was free, and the Concert went ahead, again with ex cornet player Steff Benton singing various pieces, and the League of Friends of Stratton Hospital again being the beneficiaries. Sadly the Concert only raised £494.17, from which Stratton Hospital received only £220.40 after overheads were paid, considerably less than the amount raised the previous year.

The Band looked to the Christmas season, with several changes to their previous year’s calendar. They were invited to join Launceston Male Voice Choir for a joint Concert in Bridgerule Village Hall. The hall had been under-used for a while, and the Band were squashed onto the small stage, struggling a bit with the antique lighting. Despite the shortcomings, the Band enjoyed the event, and were pleased to be invited back the following year, for what became an almost annual event. Several band members had become friendly with Chris & Robin Bale, members of the Bencoolen Wreckers folk group, and were invited to join them playing carols in the Bencoolen Inn. Luckily it only required a small ensemble to play, since the space beside the pool table was limited, but a few “Tribute” beers later and the whole pub were enjoying the beer, food and carols. Another long-term friendship had been established!

Sainsbury’s were yet again to be the source of most carol playing funds, although the Band tried a slightly different approach to see if it might be more profitable (the band raises most of its money in the Christmas period!). They arranged to do a Saturday lunchtime pub crawl, playing a few carols then asking the customers for a bob or two and moving on to the next pub. They started at the Brendon Arms, with the Band Organiser acting as an advance party to see how many people were in the following pub or two. The Falcon Hotel was next, hardly anyone there, Carriers Inn, yes there were people, but they were all off to the Preston Gate in Poughill; The Globe Hotel was next, not full of people; off to the Crooklets Inn, the Band’s old hostelry. The usual warm welcome, but hardly any customers, so try the Preston Gate. Here they were made very welcome and enjoyed playing for the crowd that had previously been in Carriers, albeit that they had had a few more beers, and were quite receptive to a small brass ensemble playing carols. However it did not produce much income and was abandoned in the future. On Christmas Eve, to round off the carols playing, the ensemble played for an elderly couple who were neighbours of the Band Secretary. After a playing few carols on their drive the Band were delighted to join their neighbours, who were already devouring hot sausage rolls and mince pies, all to be washed down with mulled wine!

At the AGM that year the Organiser, Alan Lafferty, indicated that he was getting too old to carry on with all of the pressures of running the administrative and logistics side of the Band. So the Band agreed that there should be an “Event Organiser” and that his post would be called “Secretary”, more in keeping with other brass band’s structures. However there were no volunteers for the role of Event Organiser for a couple of years until Nigel Storer stepped forward to take on the task.

For some time the Band had been fortunate recruiting new permanent members, but this had the side-effect of finding suitably sized uniforms for them to wear. The jackets that had been bought second-hand from Oakdale Silver Band were tailor made for that band at some cost. So there were several members of Bude Metric Brass who could not be properly kitted out being slightly larger than the available sizes. Since it would have been too expensive to buy tailor made uniforms for the one or two people who needed them the Band opted instead for smart maroon blazers.  A supplier to the bowls sport was contacted, and they supplied blazers which were embroidered with Band’s badge by Pauline Harris in Holsworthy. A decision to dress the whole Band this way was taken a couple of years later.

Throughout the year the Band welcomed Josie & Holly Whale, Chris and John Constable, Angus & Alec MacDonald and Katie Parkin. Katie brought her own timpani drums with her but asked if the Band could store them between rehearsals. There was already a problem storing chairs, gazebos and signs etc which were cluttering the Band Secretary’s garage, so they explored the option of hiring a half container at the local storage facility in Stratton. This proved very convenient because it gave everyone access to the equipment where previously it relied upon the Secretary or his wife to be present to unlock his garage

By now the Band’s calendar had almost fixed events and the year could almost be planned in January! Band Together 4 raised £1400 for Breakthrough Breast Cancer and Cornwall Air Ambulance. One piece of the programme²⁰ that stood out was “I’ll Walk With God” a tribute to the prolific brass arranger Goff Richards who had died in June 2011.  The first “new” event in 2012 was a fundraising concert outside Bude’s Morrison’s store in support of the Royal Antidiluvian Order of Buffaloes (RAOB) St Michael’s Lodge where Nigel Storer was a member, and who were raising funds for the Phoenix Appeal.

The Queen’s Diamond Jubilee was celebrated by a “Street Party” in Bill Kneebone’s garden (The Long Paddock) in Stratton on June 2^nd, and all the members of the Band were presented with a special Jubilee mug. A Concert on the bandstand the following Monday – which was a Bank Holiday – was a great success: “I would like to thank all members of Bude Metric Band who played for the community on the 4th June. You all did a wonderful job, and everyone enjoyed your performance. Please pass this message on to all those involved in the event. Best wishes for all future bookings.” Janet McCulley (Chairperson of Exercising For Mobility). The Band returned to the Long Paddock for Stratton Fete at the end of June, this time located in the marquee used for the Jubilee event – with the promise of cheap real ale as a bonus!

The Summer season continued with the, by now, annual visits to the Bandstand for two Brass on the Grass Concerts; Bude-Stratton Heritage Day and two performances for the RNLI weekend in August. The floor surface of the Bandstand was causing a bit of concern because the crazy paying slabs were both uneven, and indeed not properly secured; one afternoon when the bandstand was not in use some children were seen removing some smaller stones and see how far they could be thrown. So the Band asked the Council if it could be replaced with a smooth surface, and feedback suggested that it had been considered at a meeting, but there needed to be some research around the best materials to use.

In August the Musical Director, Band Secretary and RAOB Provincial Grand Prime of the North Cornwall Province, Nigel Storer, went to the Molesworth Arms Hotel in Wadebridge to meet the members of the Wadebridge Male Voice Choir who would be joining the Band for a joint Concert in September. This created a logistical problem in that there would be one joint rehearsal at 5.30pm so the Band would have to provide refreshments for the Choir in time for the Concert at 7.30pm. Gill Beresford became the co-ordinator for this activity and those who could provided a fine buffet for the visitors. The Concert raised £703.96 for the Phoenix Stroke Appeal ²¹, plus a cash donation of £240 that was posted through Nigel Storer’s letter box by an anonymous donor. The programme^22. for the Concert was well received, particularly the joint rendition of Morte Christie which again “made the hairs on the back of my neck stand up!” said one participant.

So the calendar moved on to the Christmas period with several new events changing the pattern of previous years. There were two visits to Atlantic Village and carols at Sainsbury’s store, though their letter asked them to play “outside” and the staff were surprised when the Band turned up with a gazebo rather than sit in the entrance! Then there was a second visit the Bridgerule where the stage lighting had been improved from the previous year’s concert, a trend of many improvements made over the future years. Bude-Stratton Town Council invited the Band to play carols for their Christmas Festival, but the event was declined because there would have been no shelter from the elements. One Sunday the Band joined the Bencoolen Wreckers in their pub for another session of carol playing; sadly little is remembered of the event! Finally the Band were delighted to play at the Festival of Nine Lessons and carols in St Michael’s Church, with Nikki Isaac reading the third lesson. At the last-minute Sainsbury’s invited the Band to play on Christmas Eve and a small ensemble took advantage of the offer and collected £289.87 for Band funds.

The Attendance Records for this period show Marie Trowbridge, Colin Gay’s new partner, joining in January and learning to play the cornet. A mistake made by Gill Beresford, who was moving to Cornwall from Glossop and visited Bude just before Christmas in 2012, led her to joining the wrong band! She saw some people playing carols around the town, and approached them to see if they might like a tenor horn player; the response was that they were trying to raise money for a new band hall, and would not be meeting again until well after the Christmas break, but did not leave any contact details. So on her return to Bude in the new year she searched on-line for “Bude Brass” and the Metrics website came top of her search, so she joined, and became an accomplished member of the Band.

Also in 2013 Karena Smith, who had just left Lanson Band and but still played with Camelford Band, joined in February, with Dave Partridge and his son Sam bringing a welcome drum beat to the Band in September; Shaun Griffin also joined then adding to the trombone section. But the Band said a sad farewell to Roger Rowland whose pastoral duties took him to Caerphilly, to founder member Graham Slade who had returned briefly, to Charlotte Merchant who left to go to University, to Josie & Holly Whale, and to Ashley Denford, though they were all invited to return should they wish. A local GP, Angus Macdonald, and his son Alec joined in September, Angus hanging up his bagpipes in favour of a cornet! Angus vainly attempted to maintain his somewhat ancient cornet, but ended up dropping it bending the bell and tubing; the cornet was a write-off, and he promised to be more careful with the replacement, and he was as good as his word.

Aside from the events or gigs that the Band played at there were several changes to rehearsals. One was the introduction of “Players Choice”, or should it be “Player’s Choice”? The plan, proposed at an earlier AGM, was that one player each week would choose something of their own liking. This would usually be a piece that they liked playing, though often they would have to apologise to a soloist or another member of the Band whose part would be more difficult! The pieces chosen would primarily come from the existing music pads ²⁴ other times from the Library; this prompted one player to ask if they could publish a list of the complete library, which no Band had ever done, so was politely declined!

January saw the usual start to the year with rehearsals for Band Together 5. By now some sixty-three musicians from thirteen different bands were joining, so the Metric players were urged to learn their parts well so that they could lead the guests. One of the items²³ was Queen’s “Radio Ga Ga” and the Band were at a loss to see if anyone would attempt the vocal part; George Bright stepped up to the mark, even to the point of dying his hair and wearing appropriate attire to make him look like Freddie Mercury, the effect was excellent, but sadly his singing could match that of Freddie!  But Cornwall Air Ambulance and Breakthrough Breast Cancer benefitted from the £800 raised at the event.

Saturday 23^rd March saw the first semi-formal event for the Band when they celebrated their 10^th Anniversary in the Falcon Hotel. They were let down badly by the disco and karaoke people, so the Secretary bought a karaoke machine from eBay and went all the way to Llangollen to collect it! It was powerful enough to keep the residents awake, and everyone agreed that it was a good idea to meet once in a while away from the bandroom and concert hall.

In May the Band were invited to play at the Tamar Lakes as a surprise to the participants at the end of the North Devon Hospice “Nightwalk”. Walkers for the charity set out at dusk to traverse the Upper Lake whilst the Band set up a gazebo and lighting outside the café and final point of the walk. It was quite chilly, and quite dark by the time the last people came in, but there was a welcome bacon sandwich for some of the Band, kindly provided by the café staff, once everything had been packed away.

The Summer season calendar looked very similar to previous years; Brass on the Grass, Heritage Day (which was previously known as “Gurney Day”), RNLI weekend, Kilkhampton Church and Poughill Revel all featured.

But in late June the Band Secretary was contacted by the Bude Castle events manager, who asked if the Band could play on the Bandstand on Monday 15^th July for some VIP visitors, though he was a bit coy to name them “for security reasons”. This created a bit of a problem because many Band members would normally be at work. When it emerged that the visitors would be their Highnesses the Duke & Duchess of Cornwall, otherwise known as Charles & Camilla on their annual visit to Cornwall most members of the Band managed to take time off for the event. The Royal couple were scheduled to visit an exhibition inside the Castle, then walk to the Canal past the Bandstand where the Band would be playing, and local school children would be on hand to cheer and wave flags. The Band were told not to play the National Anthem, instead they kept the children happy with a brass band version of “Gangnam Style”, only to stop playing when Charles climbed the steps at the back of the Bandstand to greet Musical Director Colin Gay. His knowledge of the Band and its background were remarkable, probably a better comprehension than most of the people of Bude!

There was no Autumn Concert in 2013, and so the Band could concentrate on their Christmas programme, and prepare for Band Together 6 the following year. But there was a lot of Christmas music in their pads, and it was felt that maybe they should be staging a Christmas Concert so that some of it could be heard, though clearly not that year.

There were two visits to Atlantic Village this year seated closer to the Christmas Tree in the centre of the mall, and another Sunday afternoon with the Bencoolen Wreckers and a morning at Sainsbury’s on Christmas Eve raising funds for the Band.

 There was another carol concert at Bridgerule joined by a group of local singers known as the Minstrels, with the Band seeing even more improvements to the Village Hall. The front of the hall had been revamped with a temporary kitchen and meeting room, together with modern toilets, emergency exits, proper lighting throughout, and a level path around the side of the hall enabling trolleys to be used to transport drums and large instruments to be wheeled in. The local Bridgerule newsheet “the Buzz” described it thus:

Christmas Concert: A lovely Christmas concert was held in the village hall on 12th December. To a packed hall the Minstrel Singers from Canworthy Water and Bude Metric Brass entertained us all to a really festive and jolly concert. The audience participation was a real fun time with The Twelve days of Christmas quite something to behold!!! Best of all though was the singing of Silent Night by the ladies in just candlelight -really magical! Chairman Keith Roberts kept the whole thing moving with his very funny jokes and anecdotes. The raffle was very well supported and the whole event raised £409 towards the village hall refurbishment fund. Thank you to all those generous people who gave such delicious food and/ or raffle prizes, without you we don’t know what we would have done. Particular mention to Kay who made 140 absolutely lovely pasties which everybody really enjoyed -thank you so much. A true community spirit was clearly alive in Bridgerule!

With the new year came the realisation that there needed to be some changes to rehearsals and logistics. With a full-time drummer and kit plus the increased number of people rehearsing the small Room 4 at the Parkhouse Centre was becoming more than a bit cramped. So the Band approached Bude-Stratton Town Council to see if they could use the larger Room2/3. They agreed, but the room(s) were used by the Old Cornwall Society and Cornwall Wildlife Trust in the winter months, and the Band would have to revert back to Room 4 on those dates. The Band also agreed that the mixture of second-hand uniform jackets and new blazers should cease and that everyone should have a blazer, albeit off the peg rather than tailor made. But how would the Band pay for them? Fortunately Cornwall Council Community Chest came to the rescue with a grant of £300 towards the £600 overall cost, the remainder being bought from Band fund weekly subscriptions. To offset the costs of the larger rehearsal room, lock-up container, and “capital” purchases such as the blazers, Shelagh Storer had been running  a “Bonus Ball” scheme since 2012, where members could buy a number between 1 and 50 for £1 and if their number was the Bonus Ball number in Saturday’s Lotto Draw the winner would receive £10. Although this revenue scheme was a welcome addition to the Band’s income, it was only taken up by a few of the Band’s stalwarts, but at least showed that some people were prepared to pay more than the weekly subscriptions to improve the Band’s image in public.

Rehearsal venues became quite acute every year in February when additional musicians arrived for the pre-Band Together rehearsal. Although the Band could access the larger room in the Parkhouse Centre, this was not always available on the Monday prior to the Concert. So in 2014 they de-camped to the Acland Suite in the Falcon Hotel – venue of their 10^th Anniversary Party a year earlier. The Staff were extremely accommodating saying that it was a joy to hear live music on a Monday evening, and the cash bar and post rehearsal sandwiches were a welcome incentive for the musicians to both attend and socialise afterwards. But the traditional rehearsal on Friday evening at Penstowe Manor was a problem since the Cabaret Suite – venue of the Saturday Concert – was occupied by a Gala Concert being sponsored by the local newspaper, and therefore unavailable.

So the Simon Carey the new owner/manager at Penstowe Manor offered the Band the use or the sports hall – a large area with enough space for two badminton courts. Access was difficult, and the room needed space heaters to make it more comfortable; the acoustics were “bright” allowing notes to linger and return a few seconds later. It was a sizeable room, and the Band were grateful for the free use of the facility; once the Friday rehearsal was over they moved all the  instruments and equipment into the Cabaret Suite, and spent a few hours setting up while the remnants of the Gala Concert audience finished their drinks and departed. Fortunately Nikki Isaacs worked at the venue in the gym/swimming pool area and was thus able to support the Cabaret Room staff ensuring that nothing was untoward, and the technical and timpani rigs could be accomplished that night. The eighty musicians from seventeen different bands were really appreciated the late-night effort when they arrived for the Saturday morning rehearsal.

Being the 100^th anniversary of the start of World War 1 the programme²⁵ reflected this with a moving rendition of “Nearer My God to Thee & O Valiant Hearts”. The audience were enthralled to find three bass trombones performing “Minnie the Moocher” with Geoff Henning from Langley Band hitting the very low notes with his contrabass trombone! But star of the show was undoubtedly Sam Partridge on drums; at the start of part two of the Concert he started playing “Sing Sing Sing”, and this was used as a cue for the lower section instruments to leave their drinks at the bar and start playing, which prompted the upper sections to return to their seats, and only then would the conductor start the piece. Aged only 9 at the time Sam stole the show with a good regular rhythm and a steady beat, which was much appreciated by the audience and his fellow musicians. The Concert raised £1000 for Cornwall Air Ambulance and Breakthrough Breast Cancer.

The subsequent programme of events for the year followed a similar pattern to previous years. But in May the Band were invited to play at a rally for Bude Motor Club on Bude Rugby Club pitch – outside the pavilion to be precise. The weather was good and the turnout amazing, the Band not realising there were so many motorheads in the town! In late May the Band returned to the Tamar Lakes for a second North Devon Hospice Nightwalk, helping to raise £9000 for their appeal. Being the second year that the Band had played there, it was probably not as big a surprise to the walkers who had “met” the Band the previous year.

In June the Band was privileged to be the first to play on the newly resurfaced Bandstand for their first Brass on the Grass concert, inviting the Mayor of Bude-Stratton Town Council, Mr Frank Partridge to cut a ribbon declaring it “open”. Cllr Partridge had been instrumental in getting the Council to provide funds and manpower to see the work done, and the Band were very grateful for his efforts.

June saw another new event when the Band were invited to become a warm-up act for Wadebridge Male Voice Choir. The venue was Bill Kneebone’s marquee in Long Paddock, and although the performance only lasted for three-quarters of an hour allowing the Choir to assemble, it was noted that “the bar will be open after the Band’s performance”!

On 19^th July the Band were invited to West Park Farm, Nr Boyton for the wedding reception of Dan and Donna Wheadon, where the Band would be located in a newish barn, where the floor was still at the earthen stage. It was to be a surprise for Donna and the guests, so careful timing ensured that no-one knew the Band were present until they arrived back from the church. Another barn had been kitted out with white drapes and tables & chairs for the reception, with a drink for the Band after they had played.

In July the Band were double booked, playing on the Bandstand for Heritage Day in the morning, and at Fairfields Retirement Home in the afternoon. By now the Band had purchased a complete set of blazers for all of the Band using the Cornwall Council grant and were pictured on the Bandstand so that the Councillors and public could see how the Council tax was being spent.

As the summer season progressed there were several more visits to the Bandstand for another Brass on the Grass, and the RNLI Days at the end of August. The Band was once again invited to play at St James Church, Kilkhampton, for their Flower Festival, with the Vicar Richard Ward-Smith relating the story of how his mother would sing the four verses to the hymn “Praise My Soul the King of Heaven”   whilst boiling an egg, knowing that it would be just three minutes!

To mark the 100^th anniversary of the start of World War 1 the village of Bridgerule had arranged a weeklong exhibition of war-time memorabilia in the Village Hall, culminating in a cream tea on the final Sunday, with the Band playing suitable music²⁶. There was a slight mix-up when the Band arrived, because a paper mache model of Flanders Fields had been erected on the stage where the Band would be sitting, but this was quickly resolved.

An interesting article about the Band appeared in the “Post Series” – in Bude known as “The Bude & Stratton Post”, and is re-printed here:  A great achievement for Bude

There are many success stories to be found in Bude, each week one reads of businesses, civic, sporting, scholastic, charitable, and other such events in the Post Series of newspapers. But one which may have gone unnoticed by many readers must be the growth of Bude Metric Brass from a simple quartet in 2003 to the full-sized brass band that you can see on the bandstand and around the town today. Under the baton of Musical Director, Colin Gay from the outset, the Band have more than fulfilled their ambition to play “challenging music, to as wide an audience as possible”.

But the musicians are not all exclusive to Bude Metric Brass, with many playing in other local bands as well. Holsworthy, Camelford, Launceston, and Bodmin Town Bands, as well as St Gennys Silver Band and Roche Brass Band all contribute to the mix of musicians. With an age range of ten to seventy-five, and occupations as diverse as retired vets to students, the mixture is a true cross section of local life, and proves that anyone, with a little help, can be taught to read music and play an instrument in a brass band.

Did they achieve their objectives? Well certainly if you have attended one of their now annual “Band Together” concerts held every February you will have heard the “challenging music”! Every musical genre from the heavy metal of Led Zeppelin to the classics of Tchaikovsky’s 1812 Overture are all part of their repertoire, and they have even asked the audience what they would like to hear at future concerts so that they are challenged even more.

What about playing to the “wide an audience as possible”? With an average of twenty events a year, ranging from bandstand appearances for Brass on The Grass, Bude Heritage Day, and the August RNLI weekend, to visits to retirement homes such as Fairfields Retirement Home at Launcells, and shopping centres like Atlantic Village, they have made good that promise. The furthest they have travelled though is to the Eden Project for the Bishop of Truro’s farewell party in 2008, and the most prestigious was to play for HRH The Duke & Duchess of Cornwall on Bude bandstand last July.

The Band receives no financial support, relying on donations from event organisers, and collections at Sainsbury’s at Christmas; they don’t march either, so you will never see them leading a carnival parade or leading the ex-service men & women on Remembrance Sunday. They are often confused with the Town Band, or the Salvation Army, but hope that as time goes by the people of Bude will realize that they are living in one of the few places in the UK that have two brass bands, and will support them both with equal measure.

In September the Band welcomed two musicians, Tony Burton and Linda Wilde, who had helped the Band out on many occasions, but now decided that the time was right to become full members. But their membership was tinged with a great deal of sadness, since Tony had been diagnosed with terminal cancer, and his life expectancy was not known. Tony met his partner Linda Wilde when he was appointed Musical Director of New Mills Band some 30 years earlier, and when he took early retirement in 1993, they decided to move to Cornwall. His first band in Cornwall was Bude Town Band where he met and became friendly with the conductor, Nick Chadd, who became a very good friend, and moved with him to Launceston Band. Nick took him on first as a delivery driver for the food smiths, then as general dogs’ body, keeping Chadd’s Yard in good order – even calling it his yard at times!

He moved to Hatherleigh Band playing there for some fifteen years at contests, mainly on bass trombone, but also on EHBass. He helped out many local bands though, where his talents were greatly appreciated. In 1999 he took on St Gennys Silver Band as Musical Director breathing new life into a struggling band. He always said he loved St Gennys Band because of the characters in the band, and the sense of community that it fostered.  In 2003 he assisted the new Bude Metric Brass band find its feet playing at many of their early events, and it was to them that he returned offering a wealth of experience and anecdotes. Sadly the cancer took its toll, and in November he felt too ill to play, passing away on 3^rd December. He was well respected and the members of four different bands attended his funeral, with recordings of Suite Gothique and The Cossack being provided by Bude Metric Brass for the service, followed by a wake in the New Inn Kilkhampton.

There were one or two other changes of personnel throughout the year with Shaun Griffin leaving in June, and Peter Cole hanging up his cornet in October.

The first “event” of the Christmas season was an invitation to play at the Bude-Stratton Christmas Fair in the Castle Grounds on 30^th November. The Band had previously declined this event on the grounds that they would have been playing on the exposed bandstand in possibly poor weather, but this time they were promised a marquee on the lawn, and indeed the sun shone off their instruments!

December saw the Band return twice to Atlantic Village where their carol playing around the Christmas tree delighted visitors, and annoyed some of the traders; but when a family with young children stopped to listen the MD would hand the baton to one of the children to conduct the Band – needless to say the musicians played on regardless, but it pleased the family, and was probably more exciting than their visit to Father Christmas! They joined the Bencoolen Wreckers for some carols and Cornish singing, this time on a Tuesday evening – the Wreckers traditional singing night – and found that the pub was packed with customers by the time they finished. The Band did not play carols at Fairfields Retirement Home, because “the music is too loud for their hearing aids”!

Another new venue was the housing estate being built by Bovis Homes, known locally as “Binhamy Farm”. The sales staff thought it might be nice if the Band could engender a bit of community spirit by playing some carols around a Christmas Tree that was being erected in a park like area on the new estate. On the day it was far too windy, so the Band and residents met in the Sales Office where the cramped conditions meant that the event would not be repeated in the future.  There was another carol concert with the Minstrels at Bridgerule, and a fundraising session at Sainsbury’s. The Postmaster at Bude main Post Office, Luke Francis, asked if the Band could play a few carols on Christmas Eve, and a small sextet obliged before they could all relax and prepare for their own Christmas celebrations.

“Every cloud has a silver lining”, and in January the Band Secretary was pleased to learn that the Carnival Committee had approved his application for a grant to buy (newer) hymn books from that year’s Carnival  funds –  despite them earlier not having  enough money for the Band to play at their events! Another silver lining appeared when Shelagh Storer managed to sell the old Band jackets on eBay to another new Band and wondered how many more musicians would wear them before they finally wore out!

In early January the Band started rehearsals for Band Together 7 in February, which would feature²⁷ Suite Gothique and The Cossack as a tribute to the late member Tony Burton, both pieces having been played at his funeral the previous December. It was noted that at the pre-concert rehearsal “There are may be active catering facilities for rehearsals, but please bring your own hot drink flasks, water, etc. The bar will be open after Friday’s rehearsal, and Micky John Bull “Comedy Entertainer” will be performing in the Lounge Bar from 9.30pm; Penstowe management have agreed that anyone can join the audience for free!” The Concert raised £1500 for Cornwall Air Ambulance and Breakthrough Breast Cancer, though it was noted that many of the audience were “concessions” or “senior citizens” who benefitted from paying for a cheaper ticket, and that perhaps these should be removed for future concerts thus raising more for the charities.

In March the Band were delighted to welcome Tony Jones an ex-military trombonist from the Parachute Regiment Band who had just moved to a cottage near Holsworthy and was taking over as Conductor to Holsworthy Town Band. Also joining at this time was Phil Reluga, who also played with Holsworthy, though his stay was quite short, and he left to return to Bude Town Band.

At the AGM in April it was noted that there were 27 playing members:  Gill Beresford; Paul Chandler; Pauline Chandler; John Constable; Chris Constable; Grace Denford; Marcus Dymond; Colin Gay; John Granger; Ruth Henderson; Nicola Isaac;  Audrey Jones; Tony Jones; Alan Lafferty; Angus Macdonald; James Moyers; Marcus Nicholls; David Partridge; Graham Pitt; Phil Regula; Mike Slade; Karena Smith; Shelagh Storer; Polly Symons; Marie Trowbridge; Peter Westbrook; Linda Wilde. Surprisingly there was only one empty seat, that of 2^nd Trombone, which had been empty almost since the Band began!

The Band began rehearsing their summer programme having purchased another twelve pieces of music from the Belgian publishers Bernaerts, ready for their first outing to Morrisons store in mid-June. But earlier Marie Trowbridge arrived at rehearsal with an injured arm. It seems that she fell over going into a pub for lunch in the New Forest excited to see her sister. She missed lunch as she waited to be plastered at Pool hospital. Subsequently she visited the fracture clinic North Devon District Hospital where they discovered that the tendons had ruptured, and surgery followed. But being her left arm she was fit enough to play at Morrisons where the RAOB raised £432.46 for the Friends of Bude Sea Pool (FoBSP). A couple of weeks later the Band were on the bandstand for the first of their Brass on the Grass concerts, this time raising £70.04 for Band funds.

Each year the Band played at the Heritage Day, Poughill Revel, and in Kilkhampton Church for the Flower Festival as well as the Brass on The Grass concerts, though the second event was held around Bude Light, the setting acting as a natural amphitheatre. In past years they had also played for Fairfields Retirement Home at their summer fete, but this year they decided that the elderly residents would benefit from a samba band instead. At the end of August over the Bank Holiday weekend the Band played on the bandstand on the Saturday afternoon and Monday morning; in fact they played in a marquee in front of the bandstand, it being too windy for many of the other groups performing over the weekend. To publicise the event the Band were fortunate enough to be given copy space in the local newspaper, and the flavour of one of their articles in 2015 is reproduced here: A recent visitor to Bude said that he thought brass bands had died along with the mines and the mills. How wrong could he be? Certainly within 20 miles of Bude there are no less than twelve bands, some flourishing, others struggling, but all providing a wide range of music genres. Luckily Bude Metric Brass is one that is flourishing, having grown from a simple ten-piece ensemble in 2003 to the full-size band playing at the RNLI weekend 2015.

The versatility of the band means that they are just as happy playing hymns, marches, a full concert piece, or even a South American samba. Indeed the annual Band Together Concert at Penstowe Manor every February, hosted by Bude Metric Brass, brings together some ninety musicians, all friends of the Band, from a dozen or more bands, playing a wide range of challenging music. If you have not attended one of these Concerts you are missing a real musical treat, and it is all for charity, right on your doorstep!

Bude Metric Brass undertake many events during the summer season, from the popular “Brass on the Grass” free Sunday concerts, to Bude Heritage Day, and fetes, garden parties, and in support of local charities such as Bude Sea Pool. But the jewel in the crown must be the August Bank Holiday weekend in support of the RNLI; Saturday sees the Band on the bandstand from 2.00pm to 4.00pm, and Monday from 11.00am until 1.00pm again on the bandstand, then 3.30pm to 4.15pm on Bark House Green. The Musical Director always says that “we never play the same piece of music twice”, so come along and see if his promise is true!

After a break Bude Metric Brass will be presenting a concert for “Mind”, the mental health charity, on Saturday 14^thNovember in the Parkhouse Centre. This will feature the popular “Torpoint Lady Singers”, who, like the Band, sing in support of worthy charities. Watch the “Bude & Stratton Post” or the Band website www.budemetricbrass.org.uk for more details nearer the date.

The article mentions the “Mind” Concert, which were causing a few logistical problems. In the past there had been a ”crew” from other organisations to handle the front of house activities – ticket sales, raffle, ushers etc, but on this occasion there would be no-one. The choir would arrive in the afternoon and stay on-site for the evening performance and thus would require some refreshments. Gill Beresford volunteered to take on the catering as long as the Band member helped out with provisions and general assistance in the kitchen. On the day family volunteers looked after the front of house, and the Band members under Gill’s guidance provided a banquet for the Choir. The concert itself was well received, with items^28. from the Band alternating with the Choir, and £600 raised for Mind.

Gill Beresford’s dedication to the Band was much in evidence again when she negotiated the provision of natural material bags in which the members of the Band could carry their music. There was only one condition for the company that supplied them and that was that there should be some publicity photographs taken. So on the Band’s first visit to Atlantic Village in December they were duly photographed with the bags and Christmas Tree behind. Besides the usual Christmas venues – Bridgerule Village Hall, Sainsbury’s and the Bencoolen Inn – they added Morrisons store to their list, which should have been a good place to collect for Band funds, except it was 2 o’clock on a Wednesday afternoon, not the most advantageous day or time, but a portend for future attendance there. A small ensemble went to Meddon Village Hall, where a shortage of seats proved slightly embarrassing for the organisers! The Band were invited back to play at the St Michael’s Church for their carol service, being joined by the organist for some of the carols. Bude had been developing and expanding in size, and part of that expansion saw a Lidl’s store open near the Binhamy Farm housing estate, so one Monday evening a small ensemble sat outside to woo the late night shoppers; it was a great venue, but a bit short of generous donors, luckily it was a fine evening! Finally they played again at Sainsbury’s and Bude’s main Post Office on Christmas Eve, the Band having collected about £1300 over the December period.

In personnel terms there was good news and bad news throughout the year. Tony Jones slotted in very well playing 1^sttrombone, his skill and experience allowing him to play a solo in the Mind Concert. But Shelagh Storer on euphonium was suffering with ill health, so her daughter, another founder member, Kelly Kennard, who had left to start a family, returned to stand in for her mother as necessary; Shelagh handed over the post to Kelly in mid-November, attending when her parental duties allowed. In September the Band were very fortunate to welcome Sue Lyle who was Band Secretary for Holsworthy Town Band for many years and was a very accomplished musician. Initially she played trombone, but soon switched to cornet where she played on the “front row” ^29. Solo cornet. In November husband and wife John and Chris Constable, Soprano Cornet and 2^nd Baritone respectively, were involved in a nasty accident on the A30 when stray cows wandered in front of the van that they were using to travel back from a chess tournament where they had been working. Chris suffered severe leg injuries which kept her away from the Band for a couple of months, returning on crutches early in the following year, and only being fully rehabilitated after a year or two.

Each week before the full Band rehearsal the Musical Director takes one or two learners and sometimes some improvers for individual and joint tuition. One successful learner was Thelma Stuart who was learning to play the tenor horn and joined the full Band in January bringing much mirth and jollity to her fellow musicians!

The Band started rehearsals for Band Together 8 quite early in January and recognised that there would be a problem in February with two subsequent gatherings. Traditionally the Monday prior to Band Together includes many local people who attend to sample the programme ^30. in advance of the full rehearsals. But the larger of the Parkhouse Centre rooms were already booked – the Ivor Potter Hall was in use by the Jive Club, and Rooms 2/3 by The Old Cornwall Society. So once again the Band book the function room at the nearby Falcon Hotel, much to the delight of the Reception and waiting staff!

Being half-term the Cabaret Suite at Penstowe Manor was in use on the Friday evening and would still be in use after the Band had finished rehearsing. So the new owner/manager at Penstowe, Simon Carey, very kindly made the Sports Hall available, a warehouse sized building used for badminton and similar sports. It had a wooden floor and hard walls making it very “bright” acoustically and was unheated, so James Moyers borrowed some industrial fan heaters to make it slightly more comfortable. The Concert raised £2000, the highest amount ever, this year for Cornwall Air Ambulance and the Friends of Bude Sea Pool (FoBSP). It was thought that the change in publicity with more social media advertising, and the change to a local charity – FoBSP – had increased the audience and hence revenue, though it may also have been the increase in ticket price to £10 and the withdrawal of concessions.

In March the Band welcomed two new recruits Linda Lewis playing second cornet, and Andy Whitlock who took on the challenge of the Soprano Cornet alongside John Constable.  The Band were fortunate to be able to have the Soprano seat ^31. with two players covering for each other, though sadly Any moved on to pastures new after a few months.

The Band said a sad farewell to their good friend Walter Gard who passed away on 13^th April. He played 2^nd Baritone and Bass with the Band in 2004/5 and donated a BH Bass to them in 2013.  He was a long-time brass player, starting with Boscastle Band, and then with St Gennys Silver Band where he had recently been elected President.

The Summer season started with a “Tea Party” concert opposite the main Post Office in Bude to celebrate the Queen’s 90^th birthday. There was scaffolding around the local shops, so the Band slotted neatly underneath! There followed the traditional pattern of events with two Brass on the Grass Concerts, Bude Heritage Day – when it actually rained, though the Band were dry enough on the Bandstand the visiting Mayors sheltered under large umbrellas – and two days in August helping to raise funds for the RNLI. The local paper – The Post Series – carried a supplement for the event, and the Band were fortunate to have the following published:

“Watching the local news about a fisherman, surfers, kayakers, and swimmers being rescued by the RNLI inshore lifeboats, and then seeing the programme “Saving Lives at Sea” on BBC1, one can only reflect upon the bravery and dedication of the RNLI crews, both on, and off shore. Thus Bude Metric Brass are proud and honoured to once again entertain the crowds at the Bude Lifeboat Days and hope that they once again raise “loadsofmoney” for such a worthwhile cause.

But in any organisation that requires a team effort, the word “commitment” is at the top of the list of requirements. A football team is no good without a goalkeeper, the RNLI lifeboat is no good with a skipper, and a brass band is no good without a good Musical Director and players. Each play their own part, but they are all committed to a common goal. Bude Metric Brass are committed to playing challenging music of their own choice for fun, and for the benefit of Bude and the surrounding area. They do not charge for their services, relying rather for a donation from event organisers; they do not receive any official support, but are grateful when organisations and the local councils recognise their efforts with ex-gratia payments for specific items such as uniforms or music.

The Band have had yet another successful year, starting with the ever popular “Band Together” concert in February that raised £2000 for the Friends of Bude Sea Pool and Cornwall Air Ambulance, through to concerts to celebrate the 90^thbirthday of Her Majesty Queen Elizabeth II in June, for Bude Heritage Day in July, and more recently twice for the Brass on the Grass series of free Sunday concerts in the Castle Grounds for the benefit of both visitors and residents alike.”

But July that year saw two new events one of which became a regular feature of the Summer. Near the junction of the A39 trunk road and the A 3072 which leads to Bude is a farmhouse called “Pendeen”. Named after the parish name which means ‘headland of a fort’ in Cornish it was transferred to the 19th century mining village on the south-west ‘toe’ of Cornwall. The Geevor tin mine incorporated part of the old Levant mine, with one gallery 2,000 feet below the seabed. The land behind Bude’s Pendeen is farmed by Chris Heard, and every Sunday in the Summer and some Thursdays in the school holidays he opens up his fields for a car boot sale. Unlike many other sales in the UK this does not start at a silly hour on a Sunday morning, but the more respectable time of 1.30pm! Thus it attracts a large attendance and is considered to be one of the largest in the County. The Band were invited to play there and jumped at the chance to both play for the crowds and increase their bank balance at the same time! They had not reckoned on the generosity of Chris Heard though, and he made a large donation to Band funds from the pitch fees, joining other local charities as beneficiaries from his not for profit boot sales!

The second new event was a one-off attendance at the nearby GCHQ ^32. “camp” whose satellite dishes can be seen from Bude and many miles beyond. The centre was having an open day for families and the Band were invited to play outside one of the buildings on a hot Saturday afternoon. There were a few logistical problems because of the nature of the work carried out there. All of the musicians had to submit their full names, date and place of birth, and would be escorted everywhere they went. Vehicles had to be registered in advance, and only two allowed on site – one with the MD and they music etc, and the other was for Ann & Gemma Brown who were assisting on Cornet and drums, the regular musicians being away on holiday.  No cameras or recorders were permitted, and access to the toilets was just inside the building foyer which was covered by CCTV. An exciting afternoon, but the Band never did discover the precise nature of the event, most families having visited in the morning.

But other events were not so accessible. Fairfields Retirement Home decided that they no longer wanted the Band and booked the samba band for a second year. For Poughill Revel it was common practice to erect the two gazebos on site on the morning of the Revel, but in 2016 this proved to be a problem. The Secretary had a hospital appointment in Barnstaple 35 miles away in the morning, and the Musical Director kindly offered to drive him there thus being unable to erect the gazebos. So they decided it would be ok put them up the day before, thinking that this would solve the problem. Sadly they had not reckoned with the strong winds and rain of North Cornwall in August and arrived in the afternoon of the Revel to find the frames of the gazebos quite badly bent though still just useable.

A local anonymous benefactor heard of the Band’s plight, and donated £1000 for more sturdy replacements, and these were purchased later that year, one was 6 metres by 3 metres, the second smaller at 3 metres by 3 metres. They came with the Band’s name emblazoned on the front panel, and with sandbags and guy ropes to secure them; there was just enough money left to purchase a tear-drop flag to quickly identify the Band at crowded events. Their first outing would be at Morrisons at Christmas in an area under some cover but exposed to the elements. There was some consternation that the gazebo would fit under their roof since it had three fashionable “spikes” which extend several feet above the normal head height, luckily it fitted quite nicely. The gazebo was only used outside when the full Band were available on one Saturday morning, at other times a small ensemble would gather around the magazine racks and newspapers just inside the store.

In November the Band celebrated the 60^th Birthday of Musical Director Colin in the function suite of the Falcon Hotel. The Band had prepared a selection of his favourite pieces ³⁴. About 70 people attended, with the Band hosting some of the Bencoolen Wreckers, and the Falcon Hotel’s own group “Friggin Riggin”. A cake was duly cut, and a silver tray had been supplied by Soprano Cornet player John Constable and Bude Trophies owner, with the signatures of Metrics band members engraved on it.

In early December Cornish Bard Terry Bale invited a small ensemble to attend an anniversary concert in St. Teath Parish Church. It was not possible to inspect the venue beforehand, and parking could be a problem since the Church had no car park, and the streets were quite narrow. The Band were sited close to a vestry to one side of the Church, close to some form of air vent; being December the Church was cold, and the air vent exacerbated the problem of keeping their instruments warm and hence in tune. There were other groups of singers and performers all celebrating the 25^thAnniversary of the Children’s Hospice Southwest ^33. which Terry Bale had been a part of all those years before. Probably one of the best results of the event was the discovery of the White Hart Inn a few hundred yards from the Church!

Apart from the visits to Morrisons the Band played at another Carol Concert in Bridgerule^35. in 2016 with the Tamarside Singers, a newish group of mainly female singers accompanied by two guitarists, with a combined version of “We wish You a Merry Christmas”, the Band transposing to G Major for the benefit of the guitarists in their group. There was another joint session with the Bencoolen Wreckers in their watering hole of the same name, and a new event when the Band went to the River Life Café and sat outside serenading the passers-by before retiring inside for an early hot Christmas lunch! Once again Bude Post Office welcomed the Band, or rather an ensemble, on Christmas Eve where an even larger crowd than previous years had assembled for a mince pie, and a carol or two! The Band’s fundraising raised £1878.54 from the fourteen events and venues that they visited.

Earlier in the year the Band had discovered that Cornwall Council Foundation were looking to approve funds for local charities, provided they were not religious, political, or health based, from the construction of the East Langford Farm wind turbines in nearby Kilkhampton. So the Band applied for, and were successful obtaining, a grant of over £7000 for the purchase of two timpani drums, a four-valve euphonium, and four new cornets, and these were proudly displayed at the following year’s Band Together Concert. The timpani drums were constructed from fibreglass and should have been lighter and more “mobile” than the privately-owned ones that the Band had previously “borrowed”! But these were “tuned”, in that the note sounded could be altered in pitch using a foot pedal and lever; the ironmongery associated with this function actually made them heavier and bulkier, causing consternation from the players who had to transport and store them.

Another year and another Band Together loomed, this time number 9, and another challenging programme ³⁶ to raise money for charity. One special piece stood out, and that was “Lucy in the Sky With Diamonds”, but not because it was from the Beatles 1967 psychedelic music from “Sgt Peppers Lonely Hearts Club Band”, but as a tribute to Marcus Dymond, who played EH Bass, and whose daughter Lucy had died unexpectedly the previous year There was a lot of heart searching before the Band asked Marcus whether he would approve, which he gladly did, and a young life, and occasional player with Bude Metric Brass, was fittingly remembered. Another star performance was from EH Bass player Ruth Henderson who excelled at “The Bare Necessities” from “Jungle Book”, even to the point of dressing up as a bear for the show! The concert was by now a regular entry into many external players diaries, and that year the Band were pleased to welcome eighty musicians from twenty-three different bands to Penstowe Manor for the rehearsals and Concert, although yet again the larger rooms at the Parkhouse Centre were not available for the routine Monday rehearsal beforehand, so the Band de-camped to the Falcon Hotel once again.

To celebrate the 10^th Anniversary of Band Together the following year, Bude Metric Brass decided that everyone who had been involved in the past Concerts should have a say in the programme. So they asked the musicians to vote for their favourite pieces, and the most popular would be included in the 10^th Anniversary programme in 2018. There was a yellow “voting form” available from Metric’s Band Secretary and they would find a list of all the 118 pieces played at previous Concerts, and before they left, to mark the paper with their favourite pieces, one from each genre: Pop, Solo/Trio, March, Film/TV, Jazz/Swing, Classical, Band, Trad, Hymn, & Show. To assist their choice the music was been annotated with the year it was played. To validate the form, the Band asked the attendees to “clearly print your name, Band, and the number of the previous eight Concerts that you have attended.” The Band Secretary used this information to weigh the choices so that it fairly represented the players wishes. Similarly a flip chart was set up for the audience to mark their favourite pieces on a pad, but this proved less informative because people marked their favourites several times when no-one was looking! However the Concert raised £2,200 for Cornwall Air Ambulance and the Friends of Bude Sea Pool, and subsequent photo shoots “Air side” at the helicopter base in Newquay, and “Pool side” at Bude Sea Pool. The Band made a point of displaying the new timpani drums, euphonium and cornets, and asked the audience for any comments, which were subsequently included in the Cornwall Council Foundation’s impact report.

The Band was always on the look-out for good second-hand instruments, and In November the Secretary came across an orchestral xylophone on eBay and purchased it on behalf of the Band. They were not so fortunate trying to raise £4000 for two Tenor Horns; the players were using “borrowed” instruments from another band and it was felt that they deserved their own new horns, and were aware that Jenny Thomas, owner of Duchy Brass, had two such instruments. So the Band asked the local Masonic Lodge and Rotary Club to see if they could help, but alas they had other priorities at that time. The Musical Director had better luck when he also spotted a bargain and purchased an almost new euphonium, which was quickly brought into action. But what did the Band do with a redundant set of drums? Well rather than confine them to a skip the Secretary found an artisan, Sam Wheeler, in Wells, Somerset, who turned these items into unusual furniture. For example a reinforced bass drum would become a wine rack, and a floor mounted tom-tom turns into a stool. In return for the redundant drums the gentleman donated a cymbal the had been converted into a clock, and this was used as a raffle prize at Band Together 10 in 2018.

With regard to musicians, the Band was having some ups and downs; in April their Euphonium player Kelly Kennard was admitted to hospital leaving a gap in the lower end of the Band, which was soon filled by Karena Smith. In May the Band were delighted to welcome Liz Harnett who had recently moved from Thornbury Town Band and was living just around the corner from Paul & Pauline Chandler in Holsworthy. She joined Alan Lafferty on 1^st Baritone and was soon integrated into the Metrics culture.

At very short notice the Band were invited to play at the Marhamchurch Food Festival in March but had to decline the offer when it was revealed that too many key players would be absent. Apart from the, by now, traditional events such as the Heritage Day, Brass on the Grass and Kilkhampton Church Flower Festival, and another visit to Pendeen car boot sale, there were two new events in the Summer schedule. The first was Kilkhampton Carnival; although the Band had played there once before in 2010. There had been a change in the organising committee, and they wanted a change in format. Instead of the Carnival Queen arriving in a pony & trap they would use a suitably decorated trailer being pulled by a tractor which would speed up the closure of the A39 trunk road through the village.  In case of bad weather the Band brought their new gazebos to enable everyone to be under cover, including the new timpani drums purchased via the local wind farm community fund, but the only shelter needed was from the sun! Also in June the Band were invited to attend the “new” Morrison’s store, where the original porch area had been enclosed and automatic doors installed, which gave the store a better retail area and security for garden plants. The band were quite pleased that they had been chosen for this event and were allowed to make a collection for Band funds.

The Band took up the offer of editorial space in the local paper’s supplement for the two RNLI days at the end of August, it read: Where do two vets, a doctor, an agricultural engineer, and a local trader go when they want to get away from the pressures and stresses of work and modern day living? Add a handful of retired people and some teenagers, and the answer will be “Bude Metric Brass”! Starting fourteen years ago with just ten players – hence “Metric” in their title – this independent brass band now rehearse with a full Band of thirty musicians. As any of them will tell you, once they start reading the music the cares of the day are less important than playing the correct note, at the right length, in the right key, at the correct level, and in the right place!

But the pleasure they get playing music together as a group translates to the fun and joy that they get playing at events like the RNLI weekend at the end of August. Described as “the highlight of Summer for the local people” it is one of the Band’s favourite events. Yes, there will sometimes be bad weather, but eventually the sun shines, and the crowds gather around the marquee on the Castle lawns and on the quayside. But the Band plays on regardless of the weather, and in the four hours of their performances – two hours Saturday afternoon, and two hours on Monday morning – they never play the same piece of music twice, unless it is by popular request from the public.

The second new event that summer was a re-creation of the “Day the Americans Came to Bude”, by local lady Claire Roberts who ran a canal side shop entitled “The Kitchen Front”. The event took over almost all of the Crooklets car park and overflow area with old jeeps and US militaria. The Band were located outside the Bude Lifesaving Club building, where a natural flat area provided an impromptu dance space for the 40s style programme^37. of music, big crowds gathering in the late summer sunshine to hear Glen Miller and the Boogie Woogie Bugle Boy of Company B!

At their AGM the previous April the Band decided that they would like to put on a free Christmas Concert as an early Christmas present for the people of Bude. They chose the Bude Foodbank as a worthy cause, hoping that they would be able to run the front of house activities. A week or two beforehand they had to drop out because they were moving offices and storage facilities, so the Band approached the 1^st Bude Scout Group who were trying to raise money so that they could attend a Jamboree the following year. Since it was unlikely that there would be any decorations in the Ivor Potter Hall, they bought two artificial Christmas trees and lights so that at least the stage would be decorated. Sadly the Concert ran at a loss, the audience was not great, although those that attended were well pleased with the event.

Apart from the usual meet up with the Bencoolen Wreckers, and a carol concert at Bridgerule and another Carol Concert in St Michael’s Church in Bude, the Band were fortunate to add some new events to their calendar. The Wreckers invited the Band to play on the Friday late night shopping day at Bar 35 in the centre of the town. Despite the free beer they were not able to make a collection because another charity went around with their buckets, and the bar did not offer any payment. But they were invited to play at Marhamchurch Village Hall (actually located in Shop!) along with the children from St Mark’s C of E School, Woodford Chapel Singers, and The Morewenstow Handbell Ringers. The event went off very well and the Band were invited to play in Woodford Chapel at a Good Friday service in 2018 and return to the village hall at Christmas the following year. Marcus Nichols (Solo Cornet) was working at the Red Gables retirement home in Bude, so an ensemble from the Band spent a pleasant afternoon entertaining his residents and fulfilling one of the Bands objectives to bring their music to people who would not otherwise be able to hear it.

Another January and two anniversaries to look forward to and celebrate. The first was, of course, Band Together 10 where the music³⁸ had been chosen by the audience and playing members. But there was a slight problem with the front of house, because past stalwarts Shelagh and Nigel Storer were away on holiday, so family members were press-ganged into service. Thus the credit went to Jon & Lynn Henderson, Bryan Gay, Phil Beresford, Lee Nicklen, Zoe Major and Di Lafferty who were a more than competent replacement.

Special mention must be made of two other stalwarts, namely Mike Johns who acted as Master of Ceremonies at three previous Concerts, even though he manged to re-name a prolific brass band arranger “Goff Richards” rather than “Geoff Richards” much to the amusement of the musicians; and to Andrew Dinner, owner of Safe & Sound electrical store on the Kings Hill Industrial Estate, who operated to PowerPoint graphics that were displayed behind the musicians, and cued sound effects and films at the appropriate moment. But Band Together 10 had started a romance when Tracy Osborne was invited to join the tenor horns for the Concert, the regular horn player Linda Wilde being scheduled for a routine operation around that time, and therefore possibly unable to play. Tracy met BH Bass player Mike Slade in the pub after one rehearsal, and after a while decided that they should buy a house together with a view to perhaps getting married. But their gain was the Band’s loss, because they settled in Roche some distance from Bude, but closer to Mike and Tracy’s work, and were thus unable to attend regularly for rehearsals, though able to help out on the odd occasion.

At the AGM that year the playing members were recorded as: Cath Chambers-Walker, Paul Chandler, Pauline Chandler, Chris Constable, John Constable, Marcus Dymond, Colin Gay, John Granger, Liz Harnett, Ruth Henderson, Audrey Jones, Tony Jones, Alan Lafferty, Sue Lyle, James Moyers, Alec & Angus Macdonald, Marcus Nicholls, Dave & Sam Partridge, Graham Pitt, Mike Slade, Karena Smith, Thelma Stuart, Marie Trowbridge, Peter Westbrook, Linda Wilde. The Band were told that there were sufficient funds for the purchase of two new tenor horns, and luckily the two at Duchy Brass were still available. They could also afford for a very old EH Bass that had worn out valves, dents and generally was in poor condition to be sent to the workshop of Rik McQueen in Manchester to be thoroughly overhauled, re-plated and brought back to a playing condition – the Band only needing someone to play it!

The second anniversary was the fifteenth formation of Bude Metric Brass, and it is here that this short history comes to an end. The Band and their families descended on The Weir Bistro near Bude for an informal evening of chat, drinks, buffet and a karaoke. They looked forward to another summer season bringing music to residents and visitors to Bude and fulfilling their stated aim: to pursue their hobby in a friendly, relaxed atmosphere, playing challenging, stimulating music of mutual choice. The ensemble play for their own pleasure, and for the enjoyment of others in support of charities, institutions, schools, and further education establishments. There were no speeches other than to say “Thank you” to everyone who had played and supported the Band over the preceding 15 years, and to hope that it would long continue”.