So, how did you get into banding?
Well I got into brass banding because… I got into trouble. Like so many of us, my first exposure to brass instruments came through the Salvation Army. And, to be honest, it wasn’t because I had a burning desire to play. It was just what you did. My parents played, my grandparents had played, my great…well you get the idea. It was the way things were, and it was what I did. I didn’t start on cornet like the other kids in the Corps at the time, I wanted to play trombone because I admired the bass trombone player in the band - a larger than life second world war bomber command veteran with an anecdote for every occasion. I learned when I was seven and played in the small YP band, and senior band for a few years until, when I was eleven my parents left the Army. The trombone went back in its case and instead I played rugby, drums and video games. My Dad didn’t stop playing though. He got involved in one of the local bands (which interestingly had a strong core of ex-Salvationist musicians)...
