Band seeks help to play in national finals

A brass band celebrating its 125th birthday has qualified for a national final for the first time in 65 years.

Reading Spring Gardens Brass Band, based in Woodley, beat 15 other bands in the London and southern counties regional contest. Now they’re appealing for help.

“We’re very excited and pleased that we came second, qualifying us for the National Brass Band Championship of Great Britain in September,” said their secretary Rebecca Devaney.

“It’s been a long time since we did the competition. We’re now fundraising to cover the £1,500 costs of taking part in the final at Cheltenham racecourse’s big conference centre.

“The entry fee is £400 and we need to cover coach travel, music, percussion equipment hire and other costs. Anyone who can help us can support our crowdfunding campaign.”

The band has about 20 regular players. Last week they officially welcomed two new members, one playing the cornet and the other the bass trombone.

The test piece for the final is Smoke Sketches by Daniel Hall.

“We’ll probably start looking at it in July,” added Ms Devaney, who is also charity trustee of the band.

Reading Spring Gardens Brass Band practices, under its conductor Matthew Ruel, at Coronation Hall, Woodley, on Thursdays from 8pm to 10pm. It is the oldest surviving musical organisation in Reading.

Ms Devaney, an archaeologist who does self-employed artefact analysis and lives in Tilehurst, said: “Our band was one of four or five brass bands in Reading at one time, due to the industrial nature of the town. Bands were connected to factories.”

Ms Devaney’s life has been steeped in brass bands. She is from Yorkshire and her grandfather was a miner.

“I’ve seen a lot of brass bands. There was always one at every concert at the church,” she said.

In the 1890s, a women’s sewing circle raised funds for brass instruments for the Spring Gardens Wesleyan Mission Concertina Band,. In 1899 it became a brass band.

■ To help the band’s fundraising visit: crowdfunder.co.uk/p/readingband

■ For more on the band, search for its Facebook page or visit: readingband. com. To apply to join, email: contact@ readingband.com