Historic South Bank band needs fresh blood in survival struggle

Dwindling numbers means South Bank Brass Band - going for over 150 years - is struggling to survive and its future could be in jeopardy

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Ian Cooper

South Bank Brass Band

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Brass bands evoke memories of our industrial heyday, of hard physical graft and strong community spirit.

And historic South Bank Brass Band has been keeping the proud tradition alive for more than 150 years.

But dwindling numbers means the band is struggling to survive and its future could be in jeopardy.

The band was originally formed in South Bank in Victorian times, made up of men toiling in the area’s iron and steel industry.

“There wasn’t a lot for the men to do when they weren’t at work,” said band member Frank Bowman, 74, a retired bank official, of Brookfield, Middlesbrough.

“It was a means of keeping them occupied, possibly out of trouble. Brass instruments were more suitable for men who did such a hard physical job with their hands. Their hands were just no good for the finer instruments like strings.”

There is little documented evidence of the band’s history but, in a letter to an official from 1879, it appears that the band submitted an application to use local council facilities.

But the request was turned down on the grounds that “the Board thinks that there is considerable disparity between its dignified meetings and the creaking cacophony occasioned by the no doubt spirited but possibly discordant execution by the puffing trumpeters, tooting trombones and rolling drummers”.

However, the letter goes on to say that the band was able to hire the room at two pounds a night for their dances “which were no doubt vigorous affairs with increasing sweat and tempo as the night wore on”.

Today steelmaking on Teesside has been revived and South Bank Brass Band is still with us.

Frank said: “Ours is the only one left that was formerly connected with the iron and steel industry.”

But its membership is declining and it could be forced to disband without new recruits. Frank said: “I think if we go out of existence another piece of Teesside’s history will be lost.”