St Gennys is a coastal civil parish and small settlement about seven miles southwest of Bude
1907 – March: St Gennys Brass Band formed by schoolmaster A Cooke. (4barsrest article / JB)
1907: A Cooke, St Gennys Brass Band MD. (Post & Weekly News 1st March 2007)
1907: St Gennys Brass Band will be attendance during the afternoon and evening. (27 July 1907 – Cornish & Devon Post)
1908: St Gennys Brass Band might show what they can do. (23 May 1908 – Cornish & Devon Post)
1908: A new Brass Band has recently been formed at St Gennys, under the direction of Mr. Cooke, the village schoolmaster. (25 May 1908 – West Briton and Cornwall Advertiser)
1908: St. Gennys Band entertained on Wednesday (Jan. 24). The St. Gennys brass band were entertained to supper by Mrs Harris and the squire. Twenty-three members sat down to tables tastefully arranged in the open. After supper the bandmaster thanked Mrs Harris and the Squire for their kindness in entertaining the band, and for the support they had given and the sympathy they had always shown the band. (Cornish & Devon Post – Saturday 04 July 1908)
1909: The entries were the highest on record. During the afternoon selections were given by the St Gennys Brass Band under Mr W A Cowling. (7 August 1909 – Cornish & Devon Post)
1912: The procession, headed the St Gennys Band, was very pretty. (6 July 1912 – Exeter and Plymouth Gazette)
WWI: St Gennys Brass Band playing suspended. (4barsrest article)
St Gennys Brass Band re-formed.
St Gennys Silver Band circa 1920s (Post & Weekly News 1st March 2007 / Greta Richardson)
1923 The branch of the British Legion held their annual parade and headed by St Gennys Brass Band, marched to the parish church. (16 August 1923 – Western Morning News)
1926: Bude Band of Hope held their annual festival on Thursday when a procession, headed St Gennys Band, went around the town. (12 June 1926 – Western Morning News)
1929: St Gennys Band visited Week St Mary last week, and rendered selections at different parts of the village. (25 January 1929 – Western Times)
1931: St Gennys Band, under E Gliddon, rendered selections. (25 September 1931 – Western Times)
1936: Third place was taken by St Gennys Silver Band, conductor Mr W Rogers, with 88 points, and fourth place by Bideford Town Silver Band, Conductor Mr H S Wraight. (4 June 1936 – North Devon Journal Barnstaple)
1940: An excellent programme was given the St Gennys Silver Band. (19 January 1940 – Western Times)
WWII: St Gennys Brass Band playing suspended. (4barsrest article)
St Gennys Silver Band re-formed.
1947: Competitions and slide shows. St Gennys Silver Band will be in attendance. (19 July 1947 – Western Morning News)
1947: The D.C.L.I, sounded Last Post. Headed the band and drums of the D.C.L.I., the parade, including Bude Town Band, and St Gennys Silver Band, marched past the saluting base where the salute was taken by Col. Lord Cromwell. (25 July 1947 – Western Times Exeter)
1949: St Gennys Brass Band contesting. (Contest archive)
1950 to 1961: L R Prout, St Gennys Brass Band MD. (Contest archive)
1978: St Gennys Silver placed 5th in the Fourth Section at the SWBBA Contest under C E Payne playing Four Little Maids by John Carr.
1979/80: St Gennys Brass Band contesting under Clive S Payne. (Contest archive)
1979: St Gennys – unknown results (own choice test piece and hymn) in the Fourth Section at the SWBBA Spring Festival under C E Payne.
1979: St Gennys Silver unplaced in the Fourth Section at the SWBBA Contest under C E Payne playing Rufford Abbey by Drake Rimmer.
1980: St Gennys Nelson Silver unplaced in the Fourth Section of the National Brass Band Regional Championships under C E Payne playing Overture to Youth by Eric Hughes.
1980: St Gennys Silver withdrew from the Fourth Section of the SWBBA Contest.
1982: St Gennys Silver – unknown result (Cotswold Suite) in the Fourth Section at the SWBBA Contest under C R Taylor.
1984: St Gennys Silver unplaced (A Northumbrian Suite) in the Fourth Section of the SWBBA Contest under A Moon.
1985: St Gennys Silver – unknown result, possibly 4th (Metrololis) in the Fourth Section of the SWBBA Contest under A Moon.
1987: St Gennys Brass Band contesting under M Sweet. (Contest archive)
1987: St Gennys Brass Band celebrated their 80th anniversary with a concert held at the St Gennys Church. They were assisted by the Tintagel Male Voice Choir. (British Bandsman 7th November 1987)
1988: St Gennys Brass Band contesting under H Shipley. (Contest archive)
1988: St Gennys Brass Band placed 1st in the Fourth Section at the SWBBA contest under Henry Shipley playing Othello.
1997 or earlier: Tony Burton St Gennys Brass Band MD.
St Gennys Silver Band – date unknown (Photo: Band Facebook page)
British Bandsman 3rd May 1997
2006 September: St Gennys Silver Band tunes up for their 100th Birthday party. (North Cornwall Post & Diary Number 35)
2007 – 1st March: St Gennys Silver Band celebrates 100 years. (Bude Stratton Post & Weekly News)
St Gennys Silver Band 2007 (Photo in Post & Weekly News and taken by Adrian Jasper of Delabole)
Back row: Roy Woodward, Walter Gard, Alan Lafferty (Secretary), Marcus Nichols, Paul Aslett, Norman Pickard (oldest playing member),
John Nex, John Lees (Chairman)
Front row: Linda Wilde, Tony Burton (MD), Anne Hassell, Audrey Jones
Missing from photo: Hannah Towse, George Bright
2007: Tony Burton, St Gennys Silver Band MD. (4barsrest article)
2007: There have been sixteen different conductors and numerous players. The oldest person still associated with St Gennys Silver Band is 90 year old Band President Mr Albert Gliddon who said, “I joined as a lad aged 14 in 1930 when there was no radio or television, and brass bands were very popular”. He went on to recount how some players would walk with their instruments from Higher Crackington to St Gennys on rehearsal nights. Albert continues “This was fine for the cornet players, but the euphoniums and basses were quite heavy to carry. One player had to cross fields of cows and on one occasion he put his instrument down to negotiate a gate, only to find that the cows had trampled on it!” (4barsrest article)
2007: St Gennys Silver Band will be celebrating their 100th birthday on 4th March 2007 with a Thanksgiving Concert and Blessing in St Gennys Church at 2.30pm.
Over 150 past players and supporters have been invited to this significant event to mark another milestone in the Band’s history. Music for the Thanksgiving Concert has been chosen by Musical Director Mr Tony Burton to reflect items that would have been popular when the Band was formed in 1907.
“The classical brass piece “Notre Cherie Alsace” was used as a championship test piece around that time” said Mr Burton, “and the traditional Maori tune “Hine e Hine” was made popular by Princess Te Rangi Pai in 1905”. More recent works include the Abba classic “Super Trouper”, and a Cornish favourite arranged for Brass Band by Goff Richards, “Proper Job”. The Concert will open with a piece specially written for the Band by Aidan Howgate, “Fanfare St Gennys”.
Over the past 100 years the Band has had a varied existence, breaking only for the two World Wars. It has had sixteen different conductors and numerous players. The oldest person still associated with the Band is 90 year old Band President Mr Albert Gliddon, “I joined as a lad aged 14 in 1930 when there was no radio or television, and brass bands were very popular”, he said. He went on to recount how some players would walk with their instruments from Higher Crackington to St Gennys on rehearsal nights. Albert continues “This was fine for the cornet players, but the euphoniums and basses were quite heavy to carry”, he said, “One player had to cross fields of cows, and on one occasion he put his instrument down to negotiate a gate, only to find that the cows had trampled on it!”
In recent years the Band has diminished in size as players have grown too old, or have left the area for job or further education opportunities. Said Band Chairman Mr John Lees, “We aim to carry on playing as long as we can, but unless we gain some new players in the near future it will be difficult to undertake all of our traditional commitments.
The band would urge anyone aged between 8 and 80 to come and see how easy it is to play a brass instrument. Where else can you be lent a musical instrument and get free music tuition?” Nowadays the players do not pay a subscription, and “fines” are a thing of the past; they do charge for their services though, to cover the cost of insurance, new music, and instrument repairs. (4barsrest article 22nd February 2007)
(Photo and report courtesy The Poundstock Packet 2016 / sourced by Audrey Aylmer)
Compiled by Tony Mansell (Bardh Kernow)
This collection is a part of the Cornish National Music Archive (CNMA) project to Collect, Preserve and Share our Cornish Heritage and Culture.
It is based on location as each may have had more than one band.
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