Chris Helme
The funeral details of Derek Garside, who was one of the most respected and admired cornet players of the post Second World War era will take place on Thursday 29th August at 10.45am.
The funeral service will take place at the Central Methodist Church, Commercial St, Brighouse HD6 1AQ
Followed by a service at Park Wood Crematorium, Park Rd, Elland HX5 9HZ
On the 22nd of October 1994 for the first time in more years than I care to remember I went to a band concert. Not just any concert mind you but one of Brighouse & Rastrick's noted annual massed band concerts at Huddersfield Town Hall. Taking part in what was the fiftieth season of these annual get together events in Huddersfield with B & R, in what was billed as a celebratory concert was the Williams Fairey Band. But that, however, wasn't the only and I suppose the real reason for wanting to go to this particular concert. I wanted to hear the legendary cornet soloist Mr Derek M. Garside - one of the finest cornet players of his generation and a man who began his illustrious playing career in his hometown of Brighouse.
Derek Malcolm Garside was born in 1930 the, youngest son of Percy and Florence Garside. Shortly after Derek's ninth birthday his father asked him what he wanted to start and learn to play. This was asked as though it was expected he would play some kind of instrument, just as the rest of the family did. He gave the answer 'a trumpet' but he soon started on the cornet which was given to him by a family friend.
1941/42 he joined Clifton and Lightcliffe Band, from there he joined the cornet section of Brighouse & Rastrick. In 1947, aged 17, he was invited to be the principal cornet for the C.W.S. (Manchester) Band, under the direction of Bandmaster Fred Roberts. He was offered employment with C.W.S. Derek then showed his virtuosity, as a soloist on almost all of the recordings the band produced and his ability as a principal cornet. Derek passed away on July 28, aged 94.
On this show we are celebrating his life as one of the finest cornet players the brass band movement has seen.
The countdown is on my new book Lost Brighouse and District will be published on August 15, 2024
The book is £15.99 - For postal copies the p/p is £4.44 (Total £20.43)
Lost Brighouse & District presents a fascinating photographic history and will appeal to all those who live in the area, or know it well, and those who remember it from earlier times.
The Brighouse and District Heritage Newseum summer issue (number 25) is now available.
The magazine is still priced at £3.95 and can be purchased at the following outlets: Bailiff Bridge Post Office; Hipperholme Newspaper shop; Kershaw's Garden Centre; Harrison Lords Frames and Art shop, Bradford Road, Brighouse; Kitson's Newsagents Commercial Street; Secret Tea Rooms Bethel Street; Woodhouse Stores and Post Office, Woodhouse Lane and the Rastrick Paper Shop Church Street, Rastrick.
Copies can also be bought on line by clicking th ADD TO CART - it is £3.95 - £2.25 p/p = £6.20
PLEASE NOTE All previous copies of the magazine are also available.
I am away for the next few weeks and back the first week in August. Please check on my website https://www.chrishelme-brighouse.org.uk/index.php/sunday-bandstand for all my past shows. These date back to the summer of 2014, so you have plenty to listen to whilst I am away.
Happy listening....
The death has been announced of David Read MBE. Long regarded as the foremost brass band contest adjudicator, he also enjoyed a remarkable musical life as a renowned player, conductor and educator. He passed away peacefully on Thursday 27 June, aged 90.
I wrote a potted life story of him just over 20 years ago. I will be publishing it again as it was written all those years ago with David's help on my website. Choosing a title for my story was one of the easiest I had to create in those days simply calling it '...David Read, the quintessential British Bandsman…’ which I felt was the most appropriate and best way of describing him.
We are featuring a track on this show in commemoration of him from a recording of him conducting the Cambridge Co-operative Band in 1983.
Sorry, no new concert today...Normal service will resume on Sunday, July 7, 2024...
Zdenek Fibich (21.12.1850 – 15.10.1900) was a Czech composer of classical music. He composed two string quartets, a piano trio, piano quartet and a quintet for piano, strings and winds), symphonic poems, three symphonies, at least seven operas , melodramas , liturgical music including a mass and a large cycle (almost 400 pieces, from the 1890s) of piano works called Moods, Impressions, Reminiscences and much more.
He is far less known than Dvorak or Smetana - explained by the fact that he lived during the rise of Czech nationalism in the Habsburg Empire. Smetana and Dvorak gave themselves over to the national cause, consciously writing Czech music which the emerging nation strongly identified, Fibich’s position was more ambivalent.
To the world of brass bands his 1893 piece of chamber music 'Poem Op 41 No. 4' which he wrote for violin and piano is the one we know best. It is often described as 'wonderful and romantic'. This work is featured on today's show - enjoy.
