Leyland Band in touch with history in moving Somme Commemoration concert
A silver encrusted baton used by the winning band in the National Comrades of the Great War Brass Band contest, held in Blackpool in 1920, was presented to conductor, Thomas Wyss, to lead Leyland Band in the final section of their tribute to the local Pal’s Battalions. The concert, held in Chorley Town Hall, Lancashire on Saturday evening, July 2nd was part of a weekend of events in Chorley to mark the centenary of the Battle of the Somme. The baton had been awarded to Mr. James Reynolds of Sheffield, himself a veteran of the War, for his services with a regimental band in the conflict, and was found by the organiser of the Chorley event, military historian, Stuart Clewlow, who made the presentation on stage. The history of the Nation and the history of the Brass Band movement thus combined in a most fitting commemoration of local service and sacrifice in the Great War.
Local dignitaries from the boroughs of Chorley and neighbouring South Ribble councils were led by Chorley M.P. Lyndsey Hoyle, who paid tribute to the fallen and their surviving comrades, and closed the evening with a speech praising the band for their playing, described by some as exquisite. The latter reflecting the spontaneous standing ovations which the band received, not only at the end of their performance, but on occasions throughout the concert.
The scripted concert, written by the organiser on behalf of the “Chorley Pals Memorial Committee” took the audience through the conflict, from the early expectations of a “war that would be over by Christmas”; the cheerful comradery of the recruitment of the “Pals”; and the dire realities of the battle at the front, especially that day on July 1, 1916, when more than 300 of the local youth of the area were mown down in an assault which saw the greatest number of casualties ever inflicted in one day on the British Army as the Battle of the Somme began.
Marches, hymns and relevant non-military pieces were intermixed in an extremely well-balanced programme. Particularly poignant was a new arrangement of a march specifically written for the “Pals” recruitment campaign, the “Pals March” originally written by Ralph Sanders. The original transcript was found in archives by the local organisers and a new arrangement was played on the night, with the audience brought to realise that this was probably the last piece of music the soldiers had heard as they embarked on trains to face their destiny.
Exhausted at the end of what was a lengthy and heavy programme, Leyland Band still left the stage smiling, knowing they had paid fitting tribute to those whose sacrifice ensured that they, in their turn, could play their music in peace.