Flookburgh Silver Band - Allithwaite Carnival June 23rd 1938

Back Row E. Wilson, W.J. Nickson, G.S. Bellas, J.L. Moyle, T.M.Robinson

Middle H.M. Manning, T. Wilson, H. Wilson, H. Wilson, J.C. Davis, A. Couperthwaite, A. butler, S. Benson

Front W. Stephenson, L.C. Stephenson, W. Dickinson, W. Dickinson, Junior

October 18th 1938 “That 100 letters of appeal be sent out on behalf of the uniform fund.”
The first new uniforms were ordered in 1939, therefore would only be worn once or twice before the war. On Tuesday the 7th of February 1939 a Mr. Evans of Beaver & Co. Ltd. came to a meeting in the Hope and Anchor Hotel to discuss styles and material etc. Arrangements were made for Mr. Evans to take measurements on Sunday February 29th. The uniforms chosen were a sort of Airforce Blue with red or perhaps nearer pink trimming, the tunics having a row of gold buttons down the front and high collars which fastened at the front with two hooks and eyes, as army uniforms were at that time. There was also a webbing type belt which had a 3” square gold plate with a gold button inset. On the back of the plate were again, two hooks with which to fasten the belt. After having written this, it was noticed that at a meeting on the 14th of February it was carried, “That the Airforce Material be chosen for the uniforms.” There was a special Bandmaster’s uniform and one for a boy, namely Jim Dickinson. After the war this boy’s uniform was inherited by Jack Manning and altered to fit him by the then chairman Mr. Joe Moyle and his wife and was proudly worn by him on his first engagement with the band on Remembrance Sunday 1946.
There were many Whist Drive / Dances at which the admission was usually about 1/- for each of the events i.e. 1/- Whist drive and 1/- or sometimes 6d for the dance. On one occasion in October 1939 it was carried that; “The secretary order 100 paper hats and 1000 streamers for the dance. The band organized the catering for supper and the cost per person was ls:3d (61/2p). Raffle tickets for a cake and a bottle of port were 1d each (1/2p).

Just before the war, the bandroom was a large room above the Hope and Anchor and indeed was so until about 1947 and we know it was only from 1939 because it is stated in a minute of February 2nd 1939 that; “Mr. Moyle and Mr. Cropper should interview Mr. T.Bailey (Landlord of the Hope & Anchor) with a view to obtaining full use of the bandroom.” It is assumed that the upper room of the Hope & Anchor had been used for some time but now it was the official bandroom. A minute of a meeting held in the bandroom at the Hope & Anchor on the 11th of February 1947 says that; “The present bandroom at the Hope & Anchor should be retained at the fee of 2/6 weekly”, although the school was used for the classes through the Education Authority while the old bandroom was still retained.
After 1947 the infants’ school became the bandroom. The rehearsals were then run as night classes through the education system and Jack Jacobs came from Barrow as conductor and teacher. He started off with a class of about twenty boys out of which came three players, two of whom stayed for just a few years then after perhaps the mid-1950s only Jack Manning, who at the present time has been in the band for fifty years, remained.
By April 1940 it was becoming obvious that the band was having difficulties due to the fact that many of the players had gone into the armed services. A meeting was called for the 9th of April in the Village Hall to discuss the situation. There is no account of the outcome of that meeting. The last recorded meeting before the break because of war war took place on the 10th of June 1940.

Throughout the Second World War there was no band as most of the players were away in the various armed forces but as soon as they began to trickle back, in 1945, it was reformed.

Band in First Uniforms - 1950s

Back Row S.Bland, L.Moyle, J.Manning, R.Metcalfe, W.Nickson, J.Fogg, R.Butler, H.Garnett

Middle J.Wright (chairman), J.Dickinson, W.Bland, Unknown (Barrow), H.Sutcliffe, C.Robinson, H.Wilson (Ted).

Front F.Butler, M.Robinson, W.Dikinson, H.Manning, A.Cowperthwaite, F.Benson, T.Wilson, L.Stephenson.

After the War

The first meeting after the war was on July 25th 1946 but the band had been rehearsing, albeit with only about nine players, for some months or perhaps a year before that date. Joe Moyle was again elected chairman, Fred Benson secretary and bandmaster Septimus Benson. Mr. J.B. Smalley was elected President and Mrs. Smalley one of the vice presidents. The annual subscription was set at 2/6 for adults and 1/- for the under 16s.

The principal cornet player from the time that the band was reformed was Sydney Bland, an excellent musician who remained in that position for about twenty years. For fifteen of those years the line-up of first comets was Sydney Bland, Jack Manning and Leslie Moyle, the latter being a hard working stalwart of the band and secretary for many years. Sydney had played with Arnside Band before the war and by the standards of the band at that time he was outstanding. Having said that, he would probably have made an excellent dance band trumpeter as he had a natural flair for free playing. He could double and triple tongue which was rare then and in fact only he and Bill Dickinson could do this. With the standard of music played now it is essential for all players, even Basses, to at least double tongue. Syd had a good ear and could busk well but was always terribly nervous at contests which he dreaded.
Barrow Steelworks Band offered to give a concert in aid of funds for Flookburgh Band. This was accepted and it was held in the Village Hall on the 6th of October 1946. Two vocalists offered their services on that evening, those being Mrs. J. Rainford and Alfred Couperthwaite.

After 1947 the infants’ school became the bandroom. The rehearsals were then run as night classes through the education system and Jack Jacobs came from Barrow as conductor and teacher. He started off with a class of about twenty boys out of which came three players, two of whom stayed for just a few years then after perhaps the mid-1950s only Jack Manning, who at the present time has been in the band for fifty years, remained.

Grange Bandstand - Coronation Year 1953

Septimus Benson

Septimus Benson or Sep as he was always known, was a fisherman who was what would now be called “a character”, about whom many stories have been told. He was the principal cornet player before the war but did not play after it. He conducted for a while and started to teach a class of youngsters. Sep used to hang a cornet on a string from a beam and his pupils were expected to be able to produce notes from the instrument without touching it. This was to demonstrate that one did not need to use pressure on the lip to be able to play a brass instrument.
Sep was a very stiff, stocky man with a round face and bull neck. He walked or sat perfectly erect and blinked a lot. He was a broad spoken and outspoken man who always used the local dialect with some choice Anglo-Saxon expressions thrown in. On one particular evening he had been fishing and consequently arrived a little late at the rehearsal. As he approached the room the band was in full flow and he obviously didn’t like what he heard. On arrival into the room he said: “That was awful, Y’ want to ga outside an’ lissen to yersels.” On another occasion when he was conducting a slow legato piece of music he was not satisfied with the way the music was going, so to demonstrate what he wanted he said; “Y’ want to ga t’t church an’ lissen t’t horgin.” Of course the phrases would be smoother on the organ - it doesn’t have to breathe.
On one occasion when he mis-read a piece of music he said; “Nay it’s our Lizzie’s glasses, it’s time she gat some new ‘uns”. He obviously wore his sister’s spectacles.
He always wore ankle length lace-up boots as did most men at that time, and at the back of each was a tab through which one could put a finger to facilitate pulling them on. Written on these tabs on Seps boots were the words “Little Gent” and as he conducted he lifted his left foot from the floor and tapped to the time of the music whereon the Little Gent flapped up and down, much to the amusement of the players.

There appears to have been difficulty about a bandroom around this time as there is mention of the possibility of a room at the Power Station (Flookburgh Farm, now called Stockdale Farm) and at the Station Hotel where the garage was vacant. There was also a proposition in January 1951 that the secretary should write to the council about permission to erect a hut on the bowling green.
Mr. Robert Bowker who lived at 94 Main Street, Flookburgh, which was then the “Dole Office”, was treasurer for the band for many years. His name appears as far back as 1924 and he may even have been treasurer before that. On his resignation in January 1949 he was made an Honorary Life Member and so far as can be seen he was the first person to be awarded this honour.

Bill Dickinson

Bill joined the band in 1930 and played for sixty three years which is a tremenous record. He started on cornet but soon moved to the euphonium where he remained for the rest of his years in the band and was the principle euphonium player for nearly sixty years, playing his last concert in May 1994, just three months before his death. He was an excellent musician with a superb tone and also a very modest gentlman. Although several euphonium players came along in his time, none could match his quality and thereby take his place as principle player. Bill was made a life member and a suprise celebration party to mark his sixty years as a player was held at the Armadale Hotel on Sunday the 18th of November 1990.

He was also made a life member of C.B.B.A. in 1991. He died on the 9th of August 1994 and a memorial concert was held at the Grange Hotel from which £200 was raised for the charity, Leukaemia in Children. It was suggested that a trophy should be donated to Cumbria B.B.A. this was duly paid for and presented by his widow, Mrs. Elsie Dickinson and named The Bill Dickinson Memorial Trophy.

His father had been a bass player and founder member of the band but died in 1939. Bill's brother Jim who played cornet and later tenor horn, was also secretary for a number of years and, for a while, bandmaster. Their uncle, Robert Howson, was a founder member and their cousin Lawrence Stephenson was a Bb Bass player for forty years.