Unite the union brass band – a history
What’s in a name?
Unite the Union Band has been through several name changes since its inception in
1900.
You may recognise some of them:
Sheffield Recreation Band (from 1900)
City of Sheffield Band (from 1970’s & again in 1984)
Quaker Sutherland Band (from 1970’s)
Andrews Heat for Hire Band (from 1980)
Stocksbridge Engineering Steels Band (from 1988)
UES Stocksbridge Band (from 1992)
Asda Stocksbridge Band (from 2000)
Stocksbridge Brass Band (from 2002)
Over a century of music
According to the surviving documentation, laying out the band rules and constitution,
the band was formally founded on the 4th of May, 1900 by William Thomas
Bestwick, a Sheffield Police Inspector. As bandmaster and leader he set about
raising funds for instruments and uniforms and his stated intention was that the new
band should “give pleasure to all who would listen, whilst playing for their own
pleasure and recreation.” Thus the new band was given the name
of Sheffield Recreation Brass Band.
Unfortunately very little is known of the band’s history during this period but the band
contested with some success (at one point adding the words “Prize Band” to its title
as was the custom of the time) and was in regular demand at local fetes, galas and
garden parties. The two world wars obviously took their toll on players but the band
struggled on, reforming again in peacetime.
During the long history of the band there have been many stalwarts who contributed
much to keep the band going. One such man was George Webster who joined the
band in 1920, aged 15. Over the years he held the position of bandmaster, treasurer
and librarian. In later years he was elected band president – a position he held until
his death in 1985.
When the band began contesting again after the Second World War they were
graded in the third section. They competed at the Spring Belle Vue contest in 1948
when the conductor was George Webster but things were at a low ebb by the mid
1950s, partly due to the toll taken by National Service on players. Things improved
with the arrival of a new conductor – Jack Carr – a cornet player and instrument
repairer who brought with him a number of experienced players from the recently
defunct Sheffield Transport Band. Under his direction they began to steadily improve
and became one of the most successful and consistent bands in the Sheffield area.
At that time the band rehearsed the upstairs room in the Hallamshire Hotel pub on
West St, in the centre of Sheffield.
It was in the early Sixties that the band first began to make its mark on the wider
band scene. The band was fortunate in having a young soprano player by the name
of Derek Ashmore who was also a talented arranger. Derek had joined the band in
1948 and it was his arrangement of Mussorgsky’s A Night on the Bare Mountain
which gave the band an impressive thirteen first prizes in own-choice contests under
the leadership of Jack Carr during the 1960’s. After Jack’s death in 1968, Derek took
over as conductor, holding the position until 1971. He went on to become a
successful arranger and publisher, forming his own company – Hallamshire Music.
In 1969 the band persuaded the Sheffield Parks Department to refurbish the Weston
Park bandstand in the centre of Sheffield which had been closed for 25 years. The
re-opening concert was a great success and band concerts on Sundays continued
for a number of years.
In the early seventies the band took the decision to change its name to City of
Sheffield Band. This was because the local council had created a new department
called the Sheffield Recreation Department and many people assumed the band was
in some way linked to the local council. Contest-wise the band had some success at
this time in the WD & HO Wills national finals at the Royal Albert Hall. Local music
teachers Murray Slater and Stan Roocroft followed Derek Ashmore as conductors
during this period which also saw the band secure sponsorship from a local food
manufacturer to become the Quaker Sutherland Band.
The band’s fortunes improved further with the arrival of conductor David Hirst, then
the young soprano player with the Black Dyke Mills Band. Under his direction the
band achieved victories in a number of local contests including wins at Sheffield,
Holme Valley and the Radio Sheffield ‘Bold as Brass’ competition – an entertainment
contest featuring dozens of local bands in the Sheffield and Barnsley area.
The band has rehearsed in a number of less than ideal bandrooms over the years.
After the room in the Hallamshire Hotel pub became unavailable in the late seventies
they moved to the staff canteen of the Quaker Sutherland factory at Darnall where
the tannoy, providing music for the evening shift, played constantly in the
background during rehearsals.
In 1979, Derek Ashmore returned and under his direction the band qualified for the
first time for the Second Section national finals in London. A new conductor Graham
O’Connor arrived in January 1980 and led the band to an impressive number of
victories in that year including the Yorkshire Area Second section, the Grand Shield
and the Pontins Championship. During that year the band gained a new sponsor and
new name: the Andrews Heat for Hire Band. The band moved its base to the firm’s
premises at Wincobank and, until a purpose-built bandroom was erected, the band
rehearsed in the vast warehouse surrounded by roaring industrial heaters to keep
warm.
The highlight of that year was the appearance at the British Open Championships at
Belle Vue. The band qualified with a historic win in the Grand Shield playing Thomas
Keighley’s The Crusaders an old-fashioned but tuneful piece dating from 1925 which
suited the band’s soloists and musicality perfectly. The test piece at Belle Vue that
September was as different as could be: Robert Simpson’s Energy – a complex,
almost mechanical work that required a great deal of hard work to bring off. In the
event the band achieved 11th place out of 24 bands – a creditable achievement in
that company for what was still a second section band. However this status was
about to change because the following year, the band was promoted to the
Championship Section for the first time in its history.
A number of conductors came and went during the 1980s, all helping to gradually
improve the standard – Dennis Wilby, Derek Ashmore and David Hirst again, and
Dennis Carr. It was Dennis who led the band to a second win in the Grand Shield in
1984, playing Le Roi d’Ys.
Also in that year the band reverted to a former name as sponsorship ceased and the
band became the City of Sheffield Band – supported financially by Sheffield City
Council. The council also provided rehearsal facilities in the former Carbrook School
in Attercliffe – the bandroom was a lofty classroom on an upper floor of the otherwise
deserted Victorian school; egg boxes had to be attached to the walls to try and
deaden the ringing acoustic.
City of Sheffield Band went through several more conductors: Roy Roe, Steven
Sykes and Derek Renshaw and still steadily continued its improvement but then yet
again, in 1988, the name was changed this time acquiring the name under which it
would make its reputation – Stocksbridge Engineering Steels. The new sponsor
was a massive steelworks in Stocksbridge – a town ten miles to the north of
Sheffield, (the original Stocksbridge Works Band attached to the firm had folded in
the early eighties).
New rehearsal facilities were provided in the firm’s training centre in Stocksbridge,
new instruments and uniforms followed. The band was now up-and-coming and
ambitious but needed a top conductor with a proven track record to compete against
the best. Ray Farr, formerly of Grimethorpe and Yorkshire Imperial was engaged and
he took the standard of playing to new levels, using his expertise to win a number of
entertainment contests.
He was followed in 1989 by Hugh Megarrell. If Ray Farr taught the band to play like
a top band then Hugh Megarrell taught them to think like one. It was under his
leadership that the band had the most successful period in its history, qualifying
twice for the London finals – by coming third in the Yorkshire Area in 1990 and
second in 1991 with a magnificent performance of Journey into Freedom. Also that
year the band qualified yet again for the British Open with a third place in the Grand
Shield.
For the next few years it established itself in all the major contests – the British
Open, the English Masters and Spennymoor Entertainments, achieving some good
results although never quite managing to break into the frame – the number of
seventh places became increasingly frustrating. The band also made a number of
fine recordings during this period, as well as broadcasting on Radio 2’s Listen to the
Band.
In 1992 the band was invited to take part in the Lords Mayors Parade in London. As
it was rare to invite a brass band (the organisers usually only invited military bands)
the rules stipulated that all bands should consist of 40 players, so extra players had
to be recruited for the occasion. New high collar uniforms with hats were ordered and
even a Territorial Army drill sergeant was recruited to put the band through its paces.
In the event, in competition with professional military bands, Stocksbridge received a
certificate of commendation for its marching and presentation.
More conductors followed throughout the nineties: Chris Houlding, John Anderson,
Kevin Bolton, Graham O’Connor and there were trips to Germany and Holland.
Major recordings and concerts also followed with such internationally renowned
soloists as Evelyn Glennie, Philip McCann and Derek Southcott. During this period,
due to company restructuring the name was altered to UES Stocksbridge.
In 1995 by an ironic quirk of fate the band found itself relegated to the First Section.
Ironic because the band had possibly the finest line up it had ever had, including a
team of soloists – Richard Marshall, Billy Rushworth and Pete Roberts – that most
bands would kill for. But a string of low placings in the Yorkshire Area made this
inevitable. This had little impact however as the band was still competing in all the
major contests in the calendar and bounced straight back up for the following year.
Also in that year the band made history by becoming the first brass band to
successfully apply for a National Lottery grant to buy new instruments, followed by
an appearance on live TV on the National Lottery show. However the highlight of the
year was an exhausting but highly successful 21 day tour of Australia, giving 12
concerts coast to coast. The trip was made at the suggestion of former Bb bass
player Andy Lincoln who had made a previous tour with the CWS Glasgow Band.
The sponsorship and massive organisation of the tour was handled by the man who
was at the time the band’s flugel player and band manager John Lee.
At the end of that eventful year the band was approached by a film company to take
part in a film being made in Sheffield about the plight of redundant former
steelworkers. A ‘steelworks’ brass band was featured in many of the scenes. There
was little indication in the long hours spent waiting around on those less than
glamorous film locations what a major success The Full Monty would be or that, in
the long term, the surrounding publicity would ultimately be the saviour of the band.
Unfortunately it was shortly after this extremely busy year that the band began a
slow decline. There were a number of reasons for this: the pressures and
commitment of competing and running a band at the highest level, changing working
patterns and poaching from other bands. But in short, too many players left in too
short a period, morale was low and the band was unable to recover. An
announcement from the steelworks that, due to a change in ownership, they would
no longer be sponsoring the band was simply the final nail in the coffin. Early in
1997, down to around half a dozen players, Stocksbridge effectively folded. Three or
four players clung on however. With a view to discussing a possible merger they
began rehearsing with the nearby Barnsley Building Society Band keeping the spirit,
at least, alive and with the intention of one day resurrecting the band.
That could easily have been the end of the story as few bands ever recover from
such a bleak position, but in September of that year, two of these players: Alan
Brentnall and Trevor Goodison gathered together some more former members to
discuss what should be done. After all, there was still an excellent bandroom in the
Stocksbridge Victory Club, an extensive library and a nearly new set of instruments
which shouldn’t all go to waste. It was decided to try and resurrect the band. A
number of resolutions were made at that time: no-one wanted an immediate return to
the pressures of contesting at the top level of banding, with its ruthless hiring and
firing and intensive rehearsal schedule, no players would be paid so no-one would
join solely for financial incentive. It should also be friendly and fun – hopefully
combining the standards of a Championship Section band with the family feeling of
the lower sections. The intention was to return to the spirit of that initial declaration
by Inspector Bestwick that the band should “give pleasure to all who would listen
whilst playing for their own pleasure and recreation.”
In the absence of a sponsor it was decided to keep the name of Stocksbridge as this
would continue the ties with the local community, plus it was the one that at least had
some reputation – few people would have now heard of Sheffield Recreation and
another band had now hi-jacked the title City of Sheffield. Derek Renshaw, the
former principal cornet player and conductor agreed to take the baton. Derek had
family connections with the band going back the 1960s, his late father Lew had been
the band secretary for over thirty years. The first rehearsal of the new band
consisted of thirteen players and there was an open door policy inviting anyone to
come for a blow.
Gradually, over the next few months, the bandroom began to fill up again. The band
still needed financial security however and an appeal was put out to local businesses
for a sponsor. The nationwide publicity generated from this appeal came about solely
as a result of the band’s participation in The Full Monty with articles appearing in The
Big Issue and even the News of the World! The press angle was inevitably to draw
comparisons between the plight of the characters in the film and the poor former
steelworks band in crisis. The publicity brought an invitation to participate in the
London Parade Festival which included a live broadcast on Radio 5. This caught the
attention of Archie Norman, then chairman of ASDA stores and an offer of
sponsorship soon followed. One of the local ASDA stores in Sheffield had
incidentally been one of the locations used in the film.
The band went from strength to strength during 1998, attracting players from far and
wide – no stars, no prima donnas, just a solid base of former members and some
keen, committed new bandsmen and women, all proud to play for Stocksbridge. An
invitation to visit Bochum in Germany in April proved to be a great morale booster
and helped bolster the new team spirit. After such a lay-off however it was a long
hard slog to try and regain the standards it had once had but slowly the work came in
and standards improved.
Then in January 1999 it was decided to test the band by entering a contest. This was
a major step and there was some trepidation as the new band was untried and had
not competed in over two years. In the event, playing Connotations, the band won
first prize at the Rochdale Contest. Not a major title, no giants were slain, but the
victory did wonders for morale and confidence and for the first in a long while
Stocksbridge could call itself a band again. At one time, many players thought they
would never see the day when the band would compete again, let alone win a
contest. Some setbacks followed – relegation from the Championship section was
inevitable as the band had missed competing for a year but on 12th March 2000 the
newly re-named ASDA Stocksbridge Band ragained somthing of its old form, winning
the First Section of the Yorkshire region – conducted by Derek Renshaw – thus
qualifying for the finals at the Royal Albert Hall for the first time in nine years.
In November 2000 the band celebrated its centenary. Around 150 former players
and conductors were traced and invited to a reunion concert to celebrate a hundred
years of banding (under whatever name it might have had at the time) at the
Stocksbridge Victory Club. A programme of music was carefully chosen to represent
the various periods in the band’s history and included Journey into Freedom and A
Night on the Bare Mountain – heard, for the first time in many years by about a
dozen members of the 1960s era Sheffield Recreation band. This was an occasion
to meet old friends, re-tell old stories and to look back on an eventful century of
banding. More importantly it was a chance to celebrate not only the musicianship
and friendship of all those bandsmen, but also the perseverance and tenacity of
those who had ensured the band’s success and survival.
In the early part of 2001 the band launched a season of Sunday evening band
concerts at the Victory Club under the title of ‘Stocksbridge Band Club’. The intention
was to base the concerts on the informal lines of other band clubs such as Dobcross
and Glossop and a number of lower section bands in the area were invited to take
part. These evenings proved to be highly popular, not only with local bandsmen and
women but also the local community. Funding the venture itself, the band intends to
continue this annual event.
Stocksbridge began its second century in winning form, taking the Yorkshire Area
First Section title for the second year running. A busy concert schedule followed,
including a highly memorable joint concert with the Lake Wobegon Band from
Minnesota, USA, playing to a packed audience in the Victory Club.
But the crowning success was victory in the National Championships First Section
contest at the Preston Guild Hall on the 23rd October, the first time the band had
ever won a national title. In November the band were invited to a reception given in
their honour by the Lord Mayor of Sheffield where each member was presented with
a certificate and a trophy to commemorate this fine achievement.
2002 saw the band consolidating its position in the Championship Section with a
busy concert calendar and some successful contest results. There were a number of
changes of personnel, some players opting to change instruments to accommodate
the new arrivals. In December 2002 the sponsorship deal with ASDA came to an end
and the band began a search for a replacement. Any worries that this might have
become a period of unrest were quickly dispelled at the area contest.
The Yorkshire Area in 2003 proved to be another landmark in the band’s history, a
first-rate performance of the controversial test piece Prague earned the band second
place and qualification to the National finals. To qualify for London in such company
was a remarkable achievement and tribute to the band’s policy of achieving success
on its own terms by supporting and developing its own ‘home-grown’ players. The
achievement was doubly satisfying for conductor Derek Renshaw as the 2nd prize
trophy was engraved with his father’s name. Lew Renshaw was the former band
secretary and after this death, ten years previously, the band presented had this
trophy to the Yorkshire Area committee to be awarded in his memory.
The summer of 2003 was spent fund-raising for the trip to the National finals. A
series of concerts were held in the Victory Club and a team of local supporters also
rallied round to contribute to the total. The test piece for the finals was Elgar’s
Enigma Variations – a piece that was far more musically demanding than the usual
run-of-the-mill test pieces. The band played well and was placed 13th out of 20
performers – perhaps not a result to cheer over but not one to be ashamed of either.
It was disappointing not to be placed higher but this was still the band’s second best
ever result in the Nationals.
But after this high point the following couple of years were a pretty lean and
unsettled period for the band. William Rushworth took over as conductor to be later
followed by Stan Lippeat. With the closure of the Victory Club for renovation in early
2006 the band lost not only its home but a lucrative source of income from the
concerts it promoted there. Times were so hard that the band was reduced to
rehearsing once a week. But it was during this period that the band appointed a new
Musical Director – David Nesbit – a professional tuba player with great experience of
the brass band and orchestral worlds. Under his leadership the band began to
rebuild and faced 2007 with a new optimism. This was rewarded in March with
victory at the Yorkshire Area First Section and two months later with first prize in the
Senior Trophy competition in Blackpool. The band rejoined the Championship
Section in 2008 but unfortunately suffered immediate relegation back to the 1st
section in 2009.
2008 brought another new Musical Director in Miles Davison – who had played with
the band in the early 90s on solo horn. Miles led the band to 5th place at both Butlins
and the Yorkshire Area. In 2009 he was superseded by another previous player –
David Holling.
Also during this time, due to a lack of suitable rehearsal rooms in Stocksbridge, the
band decided to leave the area and relocate back to Sheffield. The sponsorship links
to Stocksbridge had long ago disappeared and with the breaking of the geographical
links the band took the decision to revert to a former name – City of Sheffield Band.
In 2010, after an unsettled 4 years in temporary band rooms, the band finally found a
permanent home in a modern, spacious room above Harrison’s Bar on Regent
Terrace in the heart of Sheffield. Now the suitcases and boxes could at last be
unpacked and the pictures and souvenirs hung on the wall. This was, in effect, a
return to its roots as the new rehearsal room was only a short distance from the
band’s original home the Hallamshire Hotel. The establishment of a permanent home
brought to an end a difficult and unsettled few years that had had begun with the
closure of the Victory Club. The return of a number of former members, as well as
some new blood, gave the band a welcome chance to reflect and rebuild.
In 2011 former player and conductor Derek Renshaw returned bringing a new sense
of purpose and professionalism. With a settled and experienced team the trophy
cabinet soon began to fill up again after some fine results in the contest field.
November 2011 brought yet another change of name. Strong links had been
establish with the union Unite through the band’s involvement with the Durham
Miner’s Gala – the band had led the Unite contingent for the past 2 years. This led to
a formal sponsorship and the band became Unite the Union Band.
Victory in the First Section at the Yorkshire Area in March 2012 brought qualification
for the national finals and promotion back to the Championship section. The test
piece Vivat by Tom Davoren suited the band’s strengths and the performance at the
Cheltenham finals gained a standing ovation (including the composer himself) and
the title National First Section Champions of Great Britain. It also earned a Best
Instrumentalist prize for Solo Baritone player Steve Machin.