Band history
Blewbury’s band is more than 100 years old. It was founded in 1910, and we still have the rule book that was put together and agreed at a meeting on November 18th that year. It has operated ever since, except for the period 1939 – 1946 when many of the players were in the armed forces.
It was founded, as ‘Sonny’ Wilson remembered (Sonny was the Band secretary for much of the history of the band), “to keep the young men of the village off the street corners”. The rules imposed fines on players who misbehaved or were late – not rules that are used nowadays since they don’t need to be.
It has always been a village band, concentrating on providing music for fetes and suchlike in Blewbury and neighbouring villages as well as towns such as Didcot, Wantage, Wallingford and Henley.
Over the years, its Bandmasters and Musical Directors have insisted on a high standard of playing, but Blewbury is not a band that spends all its time preparing for competitions (since we’re a “non-contesting band”). The important objective has been to play a wide variety of styles of music – classical, jazz, musicals/shows, chart hits as well as traditional brass band marches – for the enjoyment both of our audiences and (importantly) ourselves.
You can read more in the book “The Story of Blewbury Brass Band” which was published in 2010.
Blewbury Brass Band 
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