This episode is about as close as we’re going to get to a Christmas special. It’s about brass bands and steel bands and handbell ringing bands. We’ll hear loads of music, some of which is bound to put you in the spirit of the season. So, get your scarf on, grab a cup of something wet and warm, and settle in for a fun and information-packed episode of the TOWNSOUNDS podcast - the last of this series.

This episode features contributions from: Rod Fisher from the Grange Moor Brass Band; Peter Crossley from Skelmanthorpe Brass Band; Thomas Benjamin and Phil Wood from the North Stars Steel Orchestra; Peter Fawcett and Dewsbury Minster’s Handbell Ringers.

TOWNSOUNDS theme tune

Because it demands enormous sacrifice really. If somebody joins a steel band or a brass band, they are basically giving up their life for it. Which means their spouses and their kids and everybody around them have to buy into it as well, otherwise your marriage isn’t going to last very long is it?

Welcome. You’re listening to the TOWNSOUNDS oral history podcast. And this episode is about as close as we’re going to get to a Christmas special. It’s entitled Brass and Steel and by Phil Wood’s intro you have probably already guessed that this episode is mainly about brass bands and steel bands but we’ll also throw in some handbell ringing bands. We’ll hear loads of music, some of which is bound to put you in the spirit of the season. Any avid listeners will note that our theme tune changes genre every month. I usually make the music myself but I can’t actually play any brass instruments. So, this month I thank Chris Ruffoni, Sally Edward, and Dave Jordan for playing for me. So, get your scarf on, grab a cup of something wet and warm and settle in for a fun and information packed episode of the TOWNSOUNDS podcast - the last of this series. We’ll have a shorter series next year, and if you listen to the end of this episode, you can find out how to get involved. Before that, here are the Dewsbury Minster’s Handbell Ringers performing Ode to Joy at Dewsbury Minster for the first Heritage Open Day event of 2023.

Ode to Joy performed by the Dewsbury Minster’s Handbell ringers

The bands featured in this episode are varied in style and instruments. Brass bands and steel pan bands seem a world away perhaps. But connecting them is the ethos, work ethic, and the plain logistics of the thing, as we will discover in this episode. Joining me to explain more is: Rod Fisher from the Grange Moor Brass Band; Peter Crossley from Skelmanthorpe Brass Band; Thomas Benjamin and Phil Wood from the North Stars Steel Orchestra; and the local expert on handbell ringing and author of Ringing for Gold, Peter Fawcett. Here he is now.

Because there’s sets of bells all around Huddersfield even today. If they were in any other part of the country, they’d be highly valued as cultural items. To say that Huddersfield is one of the cradles of it in History, it’s largely been forgotten.

We have all sorts of juicy information for today's episode - breakdowns, fights, theft and controversial decisions. Stick around to the end to hear the contentions and challenges of brass, steel and handbell band playing in Kirklees. We’ll get all around Kirklees today. Grange Moor and Skelmanthorpe in the east, the Holme Valley in the south, Dewsbury in the north, and Almondbury, right in the middle. We’ll briefly visit Deighton, Birkby and Liversage. We’ll even go slightly outside of the Kirklees region into Clifton, on the north-western border. It seems fitting somehow that I interviewed my first guest in a cold garage with no heating because my first interviewee, Rod Fisher plays for Grange Moor Brass band, who, for three years from 1937 practised every week in their own band room in the cold, before the heating was finally installed in 1940. Rod Fisher himself picked up and dusted off his cornet after a long hiatus. He started in the band’s training group but soon lifted through the ranks and now plays as a solo cornet player. Everyone I spoke to in the lead up to this interview said he was the man with all the knowledge. So here he is, passing that knowledge on to you. Whilst speaking we’ll hear the Grange Moor Brass Band playing ‘Gresford Miners’ Hymn’.

Originally it was very north centred. Lancashire, Yorkshire, Durham. Those were the big areas for brass bands. Some towns could have as many as 10 brass bands. And a lot of them were actually run by coal mines, factories, and railways. They would have their own brass band very often sponsored by that organisation which they worked for. The employees saw it as a way to keep their morals in the right direction. Keep them out of mischief and it gave them something to do. It represented the organisation. They would help them by giving them a practise room, they might contribute to music and uniforms and that sort of thing. However, with Grange Moor, despite being in a big colliery area, was never a colliery band. They were proud of that fact that they were truly independent, self-funded, and earned their money through concert fees, prize money, and also, they ran events like teas with a dance afterwards that people could pay to go along to Well, the band actually started in 1854. At that time Grange Moor was a very small village. Members of the band were predominantly miners who worked in the small day holes which are like little drift mines. Also, there’d be some agricultural workers in the band. Probably only 12 - 15 members in the band when it first started. Now the miners were pretty tough men. It was not uncommon for them to fall out during rehearsals. So, the conductor would send them outside, tell them to sort it out and come back in as friends. That was quite common place. They were pretty tough men. Tough down the pits and tough in their social lives as well. The band developed from there. It got involved in all the community activities. Did a lot of work for the Churches for things like Easter festivals Whitsuntide, Christmas of course. The band was, by this time, competing. In fact, the first competition was in 1862. And interestingly one of the pieces of music they played there was called Martha from an opera. I’ve recently just found the original music to it so we know have rehearsed it. We’ve put it in the programme for the coming season. The band survived the war time years because miners were in a reserved occupation so they weren't called up for military service. And women started to come in to fill gaps at that time. We were then heavily into contesting. We had a couple of golden years in the 60s and 70 and won a lot of trophies. I think one thing that’s been very important to our band is that we have had these key families. Having families who encourage their children and grandchildren to play is an absolute godsend. The band in its history has relied heavily on 5 different families. We had one family called the Johnstone family between the 3 brother racked up 86 years’ service with the band. One was the conductor for 46 years from 1916. Some of these contests could have 10,000 or more spectators. Not many people are aware of this, there was a steeple church racecourse a mile away from Grange Moor, a series of races held annually, I think in January. It was such a big event that people from all over the North of England. They came by Horse and trap, they came on the train, walked long distances from wherever they lived. Massive crowds there which they would play to. They would go round with a collecting bucket. They made a lot of money through that.

Gresford Miners Hymn, performed by the Grange Moor Brass Band

SAM HODGSON 8:01

Yes, we’ve done three different park concerts. We also did one, oddly at Dewsbury bus station. Part of the Kirklees Year of Music. We opened the Year of Music at that concert, at one end of the bus station.

Brass bands, of course, are highly recognised, understood, and promoted in the Kirklees area, and in fact, most of the North of England and Wales. And, for some years, part of the local cultural budget in Kirklees went to supporting brass bands in the area. But in 1987 Phil Wood, then 28, joined Kirklees Council. He was responsible for the grant aid budget, which for years was going to the same musical organisations - brass bands, choral societies, the Gilbert and Sullivan society etc. But he knew that these local traditional forms were only telling part of the story of Kirklees music. He was introduced to Kelvin Benjamin who was running the North Stars Steel Orchestra. Steel pan music in Kirklees? Could this be the future of the grant aid budget. Here’s Phil to fill in the details.

Yeah, I had a chat with Kelvin Benjamin and I said “well, you know, look, how serious are you then, how far do you want to go? How far can you take this band?” and he said “well, I think we can go all the way, I think we can become British Champions. We need backing on a different scale. We need to get better instrument, we need to get more players, we need to bring expertise from Trinadad. We need a Trinidadian arranger. Somebody who will create a special piece of music we can play down there. We need a vehicle to actually go. You have to go on the road. You need your own trolley to carry you through the streets.” It’s a massive investment. You need to plan years in advance. I said “Well, if you’ve really got the determination to do this, I can't see any reason why we shouldn’t give you money because you’re going to put this town on the map.” So, I went to my boss and said “look, I know you probably don’t know anything about this music it’s probably completely invisible to you but it’s really, really serious, there’s people spending their whole lives on this and practising. It’s really complex and good music. And they really love this town. They are really proud to come from Huddersfield. So, between me and him and Kelvin we worked out a 3-year investment programme. We are going to give you X amount of money for 3 years. We never looked back from that point. We were placed last, the first time. In a way, that’s a rite of passage. The London boys are always going to put you down. See what you’re made of, see if you come back for more.

Mandeep Samra from the TOWNSOUNDS team also spoke to Thomas Benjamin, the brother of Kelvin. He told us a little about the origins of steel pan and how it translated into the North Stars Steel Orchestra. Whilst he talks, we’ll hear the North Stars Steel Orchestra performing Bach’s Minuet in G Major.

Bach’s Minuet in G Major performed by North Star Steel Orchestra

It all started in Trinidad. What it was, it was. Because they had oil in Trinidad, right? The war was going on so there were loads of spare oil drums and nobody had any use for them. Some genius came up with the idea “We can do something with this”. They started sinking the drums. And found where they could get a note. And so, it went on. It developed and developed into what it is today. Everywhere you go, in Europe or Japan or wherever, there’s a steel band there. My brother worked at ICI. We went to some event and we didn’t have equipment. No sponsor. So, he went and spoke to the manager at ICI. From there it developed and we started getting more stuff from Zenica. We used to play in a room. Whenever anyone retired from work, they used to invite us to play for that person who’s retiring.

Thomas told us more about the humble beginnings of the band. The determination of which led to the popular band it eventually became.

It started before I did. They started putting money together. They didn’t have any money in those days. Everyone would put £2 in a kitty to try to get the instrument. After that, when they did get the instrument, they had no place to practise. That’s where Mr Babs came in. They asked Mr Babs. There’s a room upstairs, you can have that. We got our first booking. He take us to Lord Mayors Parade. At that time there was no Huddersfield Street Carnival. About. 1976. After that we started putting money together to get transport. To get booking and all that. To get a certain amount. It was all voluntary. Nobody was getting any money out of it. Just for the love of it. We went to Oldham and saw a big transit van. We bought that. It did get us about. I’ll tell you one story about that. We were going up to Emly Mast. We couldn’t get there because it broke down. After that, things started picking up bit by bit by bit. This is where Kirklees helped us a lot. Kirklees found us the Deighton Centre. They gave it to us at a reduced rent. A quarter of what it was supposed to be. We stayed there for years and years and years. There was nothing like that in Huddersfield at the time. Apart from the 1957 one, we didn’t know about that. In the end it paid off big style because we put Huddersfield on the map. When we had a big event like London panorama and all that, we had about 60 or 70 players. People used to come all the way from Newcastle just to listen to us. It was a big adventure. This man had a lot to do with it, you know.

And the band truly did go on to do some big things around the country. Phil Wood again:

If somebody were looking for a steel band to play somewhere unusual or grand, we wanted to be… We would always put our hands up for it. Playing the centenary of the labour party at the Old Vic for Tony Blair. We played Shakespeare's Globe just after it opened. We were the first steel band to play at the new Shakespear’s Globe theatre. Played at Royal Festival Hall. Played the jubilee. That’s the North Stars thing, I thought we should go out with a bang and I think we did. That last big project with Dennis Rollins. That was memorable, wasn’t it? Again, we were setting a new challenge. Doing something that no other steel band in Britain had ever done before. We collaborated with a completely different style of musician. A jazz-funk trombone player. Well, Britain's best jazz trombone player, Dennis Rollins. From the Jamaican background but brought up in Yorkshire. He’s come from the brass band tradition but he’s famous around the world as a jazz trombonist. We got to know him. Our musical director at that time was a local white guy, Jeremy Platt. Who is head of music at Shelley high school. He managed to translate a lot of non-traditional music for the band to learn. He was keen to bring in a jazz improviser. We got to know Dennis Rollins and it just so happened he had always had an ambition to play with a steel band but never knew how that would work. So, we provided that bridge. It was a complete clash of cultures in a way. Two completely different ways of playing and thinking about music. But we thought, we are going to do a national tour. We’re going to play the best venues and top jazz festivals. And we were going to do something we’d never done before which is pay all the musicians and give them the proper rate for the job. And we did it. It was massive. It was the biggest challenge, I think, for all the musicians that they’d ever had. I’ve got an interesting review. There’s a review from Marsden Jazz Festival. A sceptical music reviewer thinking this is not going to work. He admitted he was wrong, that it really works.. I think everybody felt so great.

The North Stars Steel Orchestra broke up in the early 2000s and are no longer operating. Kirklees still dreams of a new steel band. But moving swiftly on from brass band and steel pan. Let’s hear about some handbell ringing in Kirklees. We’ll start off with another piece from the Dewsbury Minster’s Handbell Ringers. Handbell ringing has a history in the area that goes back hundreds of years. Here is the leader of the modern handbell ringing group, Ronalda, introducing some pieces for us to now hear.

As a complete contrast we have 3 nursery rhymes. Bobby Shafto, Oranges and Lemons and Polly Put the Kettle On.

Dewsbury Minster’s Handbell Ringers performing nursery rhymes

We’ve already had some extensive knowledge on the podcast episode so far. But our next guest has so much information on the history of handbell ringing that he has published a book about it. Entitled Ringing for Gold: Hand-bell ringing, the Living Tradition, this book by Peter Fawcett is a mine of intimate, intricate and interesting information about handbell ringing. In speaking to him you realise that all the information in the book is also contained in his head. Dates, details and drama all there. Lucky for us, we have him here to tell us all.

I looked at a book about Clifton and it was said that Clifton used to have Handbell ringers and it was said that the set of handbells were still in the village. I used to work at Kirklees Hall for Lord and Lady Armitage so I enquired. Stanley Hutson goes to Armitage. “How will I find him?” “Look for the little dog”. It was boxing day, 1995 and I found this bloke with a little dog. I asked him and he said “Clifton handbells are in Lister’s Wine Bar, bottom of Clifton Common”. I was expecting a dozen. I went down there and there were about 150. The bells themselves were in good condition. They were cast in 1909 and hadn’t been used since 1916. I got the mill owners permission to take them away, took them up to Clifton and got them going. That was 1976. I had a stroke of luck in that there was a traditional handbell ringer who played in 1930’s with Almondbury. I invited him up to Clifton. He joined the senior band. He was really, really good. He was incredible. He had a great style of moving his wrists. Absolutely fantastic.

That’s how it all started for Peter and his handbell ringing revival. But the history goes back many years. Peter’s whole interview is packed with tantalising information about handbell ringing and Irish music. And he has recently released a book about gardening. I strongly recommend listening to the whole of his interview at the West Yorkshire Archive Service. But until then, here are a few highlights. I’ll let Ronalda introduce the next piece which will play whilst Peter talks.

The next piece is our current favourite. In August we had a visit from the Antiques Roadshow film crew. They’d heard about our historic bells and wanted to see them and play them. We played Twinkle Twinkle Little Star, then Bobby Shafto working towards the piece will play next - Oh Dear, What Can That Matter Be? Marty wanted to show off. The crew spent all morning with us filming. They will only use 4 mins. It will be shown next year in February / March time on BBC. More fame for our fabulous Dewsbury Bells.

Dewsbury Minster’s Handbell Ringers

In 1939, my research showed that there were at least 9 bands between Liversage, Ecclesfield and Saddleworth. But all of them were operating independently. They didn’t know of the existence of the others. In this whole region, if I hadn't reformed, as they call it, Clifton, there would be no handbell ringing in band form at all. There was a set of bells at Honley Parish Church. They were being used in the 1860s 70s 80s. Next thing I knew, after all my publicity in the 1980s I heard from a friend of mine in Sheffield. A guy pulled up and opened his boot and there were all these Honley Temperance Bells in his boot. He never revealed who he was. But he offered them to a few other people. Anyway, a man bought them. He donated them to a blind school. It was in the Examiner. He got a call from Honley Parish Church. “How did you get hold of our bells?” So, in actual fact I think they had been stolen. A similar thing must have happened at Almondbury. When I was there in 1978 there were 2 sets of bells. They opened the store room and it was packed out with bells I knew in there the Shelley Bells they were from 1860 to about 1882. They were in there as well. It was full on this store room, I remember seeing them on racks Every one of them disappeared like, you know?

And right up until this day, there are regional differences with how you play handbells right up until this day.

The tradition of handbell ringing was built up of different techniques. They were simple techniques at first. Because they were only using a dozen bells. But when they had competitions at wakes (1700s) they got more bells. By 1855 at the British open they were using 32 - 54 bells. In 1866 they introduced 3 of each. By 1900 the standard set of bells would be 165. That’s what Crosland Moor used. Gradually as they got bigger they put them on tables. They had the idea “well, we’ll have some special mattresses made”. I had a new set made on the mattress firm Cambridge Road that was another amazing thing. He said ‘I made some of these for Crosland Moor in 1950s.” Same man! The technique when you play off the table you pick the bell up and you put it back on its side. Previously to that they had the bells mouth down, with the handle stuck up in the air. When the revival started it was a national revival all over the country In other areas the tradition never developed to be on a table. They’d carried on playing just in hand. They'd never seen anyone play it off a table because it had developed in the competition bands in the North of England.

Finally, we will return to where we began with the brass band. This is our outgoing positive message from Peter Crossley of the Skelmanthorpe Brass Band. Here I have taken some highlights from his interview, which I think make the brass band scene a quite tempting one to get into. So, whether you haven’t started playing yet, are learning now, or are already accomplished – consider the brass band. The Skelmanthorpe team has a community band, which takes on and trains people of any ability. In this interview was conducted in 2021, you’ll hear Peter talking about that too.. Whilst he speaks, we will hear the band playing around the Christmas tree in Skelmanthorpe, taken from their YouTube channel! Check it out, along with lots of other videos after you have finished listening to this podcast.

Every time we perform, we are out as a band. It’s a big family. It's a tremendous feeling. You’ve got to perform your very, very best. I had one young player who said “I think I’ll sit with you because you seem to be the calmest.” I said “that’s called age”. A lot of youngsters playing between 6 / 8 years old through to my age and older. Between us we have –80 plus players. It’s a lovely environment. We did a performance with Shre. With Indian music. That was fabulous. We played with Katherine Jenkins and Alfie Bow, Aled Jones. The Skelmanthorpe band is in the championship section and recently over the last few years it’s been held at the Huddersfield Town Hall. Then the top 3 usually will then perform in the national finals. If it's at the championship it's at the Royal Albert Hall. If it’s in the first, second, third and fourth sections then they currently play in Cheltenham. We’re a village band, we’re not a professional band. When you’re working and you get home at whatever time. Going to rehearsals sometimes you’ll go ‘’sigh’. It’s a team spirit. Just like a sports team for a competition, it has to work as a team and gel as a team. I have been known to rehearse every night of the week for the last couple of weeks. It is a commitment but it's usually well worthwhile. We put on an excellent performance and everybody’s happy. I think it’s the team and the family. I’ve travelled several hundred miles to get home. By the time I got home and had dinner, I’m thinking “I’m too tired for this and got to rehearsal”. But then someone who will remain nameless will give me a kick and say “you need to go” and when I go it’s like elation really, you have two hours of solid concertation in your music. Everything you’ve done at work and everything you’ve done at home disappears for those two hours. From a social point of view that’s been great, your totally immersed in the music. There’s all sorts of lovely bits like that. I’ve mentioned the concerts we did, the likes of Katherine Jenkins those were really wonderful to be part of. The Kimbers Men is one I have always really enjoyed, we’ve played them in Huddersfield Town Hall. The best one was at Shepley folk festival. It was a great concert. Everybody that was part of the concert took it in the spirit it was meant, it was great and there was some very emotional music that hye sang as well We have recorded several CDs over the years. The last one we did was an Christmas album with all the teams from the Scunthorpe community Several tracks from the very learners, the youngest ones, through to the team I play with as well.

That’s it for this series of the TOWNSOUNDS podcast. I’m glad to announce that we have just secured support for another couple of episodes, which will be coming out in early 2024. They will cover music venues, and musicians as parents. If you know someone who has an interesting story to tell regarding any of these topics, please get in touch with either Samh.song or Let’s Go Yorkshire on Instagram or Facebook. Until then, we wish you a very happy winter break.

This was a ‘Let’s Go Yorkshire’ and Samh song production. The host and producer was Sam Hodgson. The podcast has been supported by; Kirklees Year of Music 2023, Kirklees Council, and the National Lottery Heritage Fund. TOWNSOUNDS explores the musical histories of Kirklees to uncover untold stories through the voices of local people living musical lives. For more information on this podcast, please visit musicinkirklees.co.uk