Brass band’s parade is scuppered... by potholes
FoR 50 years the hartland carnival march has been accompanied by the sprightly sound of the town’s brass band.
But this year for the very first time, the band will not be marching. They have been stopped i n their tracks by poltholes.
Concentrating on their instruments and reading music means they will not be able to pay attention to dodging holes in the road.
Residents of the north Devon coastal town say their roads are so pitted that it is has become hazardous to drive and cycle.
Leaders of the hartland Town Band say the craters and divots pose even more of a threat to their ensemble because members can’t look down as they march. Chairman Charlie Jeffery wrote to Devon County Council and the local parish council telling them the band was pulling out of this year’s carnival procession in August. It is the carnival’s centenary.
The hartland Town Band was founded before the Great War and was reformed in 1961.
Since then its 25 or so members, many in their seventies and one as old as 89, have looked forward every year to completing their hour-long lap of the village as the highlight of the summer carnival. Flugel horn player Rosalind Toase, 39, said Mr Jeffery had no choice but to pull out. She added: ‘It’s the centenary of the carnival and it’s really important the band marches, but if one of us was to put a foot in a hole we would probably end up losing a tooth and having our instrument damaged beyond repair.’
District councillor Brian Redwood urged local authorities to repair the roads. he added: ‘To think that hartland Town Band may not be in this year’s procession is unbelievable.’
Devon County Council said i t had tripled i ts resources for dealing with potholes but didn’t have the funds to fill them all, though work was due to begin on the most damaged street in hartland.