Major Peter Parkes had a long and distinguished musical career serving  in the Duke of Cornwall's Light Infantry, the Royal Tank Regiment, the Royal Engineers, the Grenadier Guards and the Royal Army Medical Corps. He then followed in the footsteps of many other famous military musicians by taking a leap into the unknown and moving into the world of brass bands.     

But let us go back to the beginning and ask, 'When did it all begin?'

It is over fifty years ago that what can almost be described as a local institution closed in Brighouse. An establishment that had been open for almost a century and was known across the generations. 

'...Wanted: Two solo cornets for country band, constant work for good strong labourers available in the local iron and steel works, single men only, good footballers preferred...'

Not the kind of advertisement you would see today, but in 1909 banding was a bit different then.

The name of Raymond Forrester may mean little to some readers, but to those of my generation he is remembered as one of the longest serving swimming baths attendants at the Brighouse swimming baths in Mill Royd Street. He is shown in this photograph many years after his retirement.

Diamond Creek is a suburb of Melbourne, Victoria, Australia. This township is a little over fourteen miles north-east of central Melbourne, just north of Eltham, where Arthurs Creek joins Diamond Creek. Settlement was attracted to it rather later than the more open areas of the Plenty River and the Yarra River, and the first European inhabitants were mostly timber getters and paling splitters. At the 2016 census the population of Diamond Creek was 11,733.

The Brighouse Corps of the St John's Ambulance Brigade Band - 1949.

Sunday Bandstand is broadcast through 14 licensed community radio stations - 9 in the UK and 5 overseas. The show has been on air with Wigan FM for almost five years.

Welcome to Wigan FM: The Happy Station
Wigan FM is an internet radio station serving the people of Wigan and is available Worldwide. We broadcast 24 hours a day 7 days a week therefore there will always be something on air for you. Here at WiganFM we don’t just stick to one genre of music, we cover a wide range of different styles from the 50’s right up to the present day, from brass bands to the top 40. We also provide news and sport for the UK and Worldwide events. You can listen to us direct from the website or on the TuneIn app by searching for WiganFM.com

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Enjoy the show...

Lee Mount Brass Band was highly esteemed by Halifax people and with good reason, for it had distinguished itself by winning the 1,000 guineas gold cup at the Crystal Palace in 1901 and numerous other contests. 

When the men went to the war, the ranks of Burra's Coronation brass marching band were left empty - the trumpets, drums and trombones were silent. 

The Ring O'Bells hostelry on Commercial Street. This was demolished as part of the town centre improvement and re-development scheme between 1969 and 1974.. Now I wonder who the small boy is that has been caught on camera on this image of 45 years ago?