Brass band notes
Landmark celebration for ‘living legend’ Ieuan
NEXT Tuesday, July 25, Ieuan Morgan MBE, will celebrate his 90th birthday at the Treorchy Businessmen’s Club with family and invited friends.
The world of brass bands has a number of outstanding personalities within its ranks be it as players, conductors, adjudicators or organisers, but there is only one man, through his charisma, leadership and driving ambition, who has managed to create a near professional sounding band from a group of school youths and taken them to the heights of musical success.
Having been a teacher myself I can only stand back and admire the huge achievement that was created by Ieuan Morgan when he trained a bunch of youngsters to become a band that was to represent Wales in the finals of the National Brass Band Championships of Great Britain which took place in the Royal Albert Hall, London, in 1962.
This unique success was gained after the band was carefully guided into the Championship Section from Class D in successive years by Ieuan Morgan.
In 1965, Ieuan became musical director of Parc & Dare (he had played Solo Euphonium with them since 1943) and over the next 20 years the band won every major title in Wales, including a hat-trick of wins at the National Eisteddfod in 1976, 1977 and 1978. They were prize winners in all the major band competitions at this time.
Most of the players and officials at Parc and Dare band during the 1980s were either past or present pupils of Ieuan’s from the Treorchy Comprehensive school and seven of his expupils went on to become professional musicians along with his two sons.
The success of the Treorchy Comprehensive School band was colossal and they were the best in Wales and in the Butlins Youth Championships of Great Britain over nine years they won three 1sts, five 2nds and one 3rd prize. What a record!
While at Bryn Celynnog Comprehensive School their band, under Ieuan, won the Open Youth Championship of Great Britain three times as well as achieving success at many other Welsh Youth Championships and the Glamorgan Youth Eisteddfod.
The Lewis Boys School where Ieuan also taught became Glamorgan Youth Eisteddfod winners and National Eisteddfod winners in Classes C and D.
They were also Welsh Youth Champions and were runners-up in the National Youth Championships of Great Britain. All three schools under Ieuan’s guidance appeared on TV and did broadcasts.
At his retirement concert alongside a band of more than 70 players plus the Treorchy Male Voice Choir the guest speaker was the Open University’s Professor Trevor Herbert, himself a Cwmparc “lad” who had played in the band.
The Professor described Ieuan as “an outstanding man who changed my life as he changed so many others through music”.
Following this Treorchy Male Voice chairman John Morse said to him: “You are a legend in your own lifetime and how proud the Rhondda must be to call you her own.”
The Dedicated Service Award is to honour and recognise outstanding service and achievement in the field of brass bands and Ieuan Morgan received this award in 1995.
An article written at the time by John Owen stated: “The contribution of Ieuan Morgan to the brass band movement in South Wales is immense and unequalled. It would be difficult to quantify just how many bands have benefited from the hundreds of pupils he has guided and moulded over the past 40 years.”
The last word should belong to Malcolm Pickin, who was the Principal Cornet of Treorchy Secondary School Band at the time of their journey to the finals of the Brass Band Championships at the Royal Albert Hall, 1962:
“Ieuan Morgan, born in Cwmparc 1927, commenced his musical career with the Parc and Dare Junior Band and eventually achieved his ambition of attaining his position of solo euphonium. In the early 1950s he took over as tutor and conductor of the Junior Band and from this position was encouraged by Mr Percy Griffiths, Headmaster at Treorchy Secondary School to further his ambitions into the teaching profession.
“Such was his success he steered the band to Championship status and being placed second to Cory in 1962, the two bands represented Wales at the National Championships of Great Britain at the Royal Albert Hall.
“When you consider the Treorchy Youth Band were against the likes of Black Dyke Mills, Brighouse and Rastrick, Grimethorpe and Fodens etc, it was a fairytale come true.
“His success also brought recognition, being placed as musical director of the Mid Glamorgan Youth Band and course tutor in charge of the Ogmore by Sea courses and his successes did not go unnoticed and was awarded both The Iles Medal and MBE for outstanding service to music for its Nation and Heritage.
“An outstanding musician and gentleman, what a wonderful contribution to our Nations’ musical history. The Brass Band movement salutes you.”