Chris looks back on 30 great years
Chris Blair was the principal cornet player with Whitburn Band and was a member for around 30 years, from the age of five.
He performed when it became the first Scottish band to win a national title – the Third Section in 1954 – and gave his memories of that special day.
And he also revealed what it was like to be a member of the band during the Second World War.
Chris started playing in 1935 aged five and joined the band just a few months later, playing in his first gala day ay the tender age of fiveand-a-half.
He said the senior band had to shorten its stride because his legs couldn’t keep up.
Chris’ older brother was also a member of the band.
Chris enjoyed going to rehearsals at such a young age, and some of the older players took him under their wings.
He said towards the end of the 1930s the war came, which significantly impacted the band.
He continued: “It impacted the band in the way that, when the lads were called up, there was a shortage of players and we got assistance from Armadale band and Shotts and they joined the band.”
Chris went on to say that
sadly one of the players, solo cornet Willie Aitken, didn’t come home from the war and many other members didn’t return to the band.
He continued: “There was an atmosphere in the band, it was a wee bit desolate for a while.”
From 1945, the band became known as the Welfare Band and at that
time Chris changed his job on the railways to one at Polkemmet Colliery so that he wouldn’t have to give up playing in his beloved band.
And later on he was moved from the back row to the principal cornet chair where he saw the band triumph in important competitions, including the winning the National Finals in 1954.
Chris said: “The whole of Whitburn must have turned out and met the bus around about midnight.”
And the members had to “more or less fight our way in to the Welfare club” before performing their test piece to keep the crowd happy, something he is proud of to this day.
Chris said the band was very much a family affair, with fathers, sons, nephews and brothers all performing, something that still rings true today, keeping its sense of community.
Chris moved on from the band in the 1960s but continued a long career of performance outside the band through charity and with the gas board in Glasgow. And he says he “never regretted a minute” of his time with Whitburn Band.