The Aldbourne Band will be blowing their own trumpet, after receiving more than £7,000 of National Lottery cash to tell the story of their organisation.
The Heritage Lottery Fund has awarded Aldbourne Band Heritage Project £7,700 to secure and publish the 153 year history of the band, which was originally formed in 1860 and is currently ranked at 48 in the world.
The project will digitise photos and documents, collect reminiscences and deposit them at the Wiltshire & Swindon History Centre and in the village of Aldbourne for future generations to access.
Summaries will also be published online and made available for presentations, events and for schools’ local history work as part of the All Our Stories project, a new small grant programme, launched during April 2012 in support of BBC Two’s The Great British Story.
TV presenter and historian Michael Wood said: “We British love our history, and no wonder: few nations in the world, if any, have such riches on their doorstep, and so much of it accessible to all of us.
“It is really tremendous that the people of Aldbourne have been inspired to get involved to tell their own story and to dig deeper into their own past.”
Gavin Dixon, secretary of the Friends, said “We are delighted to have been awarded this grant and we can’t wait to get started.
“The Aldbourne Brass Band is now 150 years old and there are many stories to be told. We know that artefacts, documents and photographs exist and our aim is to gather and capture the history and stories of the band to ensure they are available for future generations.”
Anyone with memories, old programmes, photographs, newspaper clippings, magazine articles, old instruments, notices or banners should contact the Heritage Project Manager, Gavin Dixon, secretary of the Friends of Aldbourne Band, at heritage@aldbourne-band.co.uk
The Friends of Aldbourne Band have also organised a Memories Open Day on Saturday, April 27, from 10am to 1pm at the Aldbourne Memorial Hall at which people can share their memories.
Meanwhile, the Aldbourne Band will be in concert at the Theatre on the Hill, St John’s Marlborough on Saturday April 20, playing music with Italian connections.
For more information about the band, log on to www.aldbourneband.org.uk or join the Friends of Aldbourne Band on Facebook at www.facebook.com/friendsofaldbourneband