Bourne Town Band

Bourne Town Band pictured in the late 19th century.

There has been a brass or silver band in the town on at least three occasions but for some reason, they never lasted and this may have been because of the outbreak of the various wars during the 19th and 20th centuries when musicians were called up for military service. This would seem to be the explanation because the bands we have had foundered during the Boer War 1899-1902, the Great War of 1914-18 and the Second World War of 1939-45 and there has been no band in the town since then.

There is evidence of a silver band in Bourne during the early 19th century because one of the musicians who played in it was Joseph Tye Flatters. He worked as a professional photographer, most probably for his father-in-law, a partner in the grocery and drapery business Rodgers & Hester which operated from shop premises in the market place on a site now occupied by the National Westminster Bank and also included a photography service. He was well known in the town, a bell ringer at the Abbey Church and he also played trumpet with the town band.

Joseph emigrated to Canada in 1871 with his wife Frances and their three young children and he took with him the engraved trumpet that he had played with the band. He settled at Aylmer, near Quebec, where his descendants live today and the trumpet is one of their prized possessions and has recently been handed down to his great great grandson, Jeffrey Guertin, aged 27, who works as an industrial engineer in Toronto, and so Bourne will be remembered here for many years to come.

A second band was formed in 1887 and after several months of practice, was sufficiently proficient to play carols in the market place on Christmas Eve. The prime mover was Mr Alfred Stubley, a local tradesman, who began appealing for support with a notice in the local newspaper on 22nd July, having discovered that there were several able musicians living in the area who might be recruited. "The movement", forecast the newspaper, "is popular and has every prospect of success."

By September, 22 men, all possessing their own brass instruments, had agreed to join and had started practising for their first concert under Mr Stubley who became the first conductor but was later succeeded by Mr F J Clarke. The instruments included cornets, trombones, tenor and baritone saxhorns, euphoniums, bombardon, base and side drums. They played at several functions during the following weeks but the Christmas Eve carol concert was their first major public success. By the following year, the success of the band was assured and they were appearing at a variety of functions, after cricket matches and during church fetes, and giving promenade concerts at the Abbey Lawn, a musical entertainment then popular in Britain and which soon became a regular feature in the social life of the town. Although the band appeared at most civic functions free of charge, they were paid a fee for many other private engagements and during 1889, for instance, £50 was raised in this way.

In 1896, the entire band enrolled in H Company, the 2nd Volunteer Battalion, the Lincolnshire Regiment, which was based in Bourne, and thenceforth became known as the Volunteer Company Band and their conductor, Mr Clarke, was appointed bandmaster.

The band however did not survive the First World War but there was still a great enthusiasm in the town and another Bourne Town Band was formed soon after the men returned from the front. An inaugural meeting was held at the Angel Hotel in September 1921 when a management committee was appointed and the provision of uniforms discussed.

It was resolved that they should follow tradition and call it Bourne Town Band and the following were elected to the committee: the vicar, Canon John Grinter, Councillor G H Mays, Mr E Wherry, Mr E A Foley, Mr F W Nash, Mr J Reade and Mr R Carvath. It was agreed that the bandmaster should be Mr Richard Newton Pattison, a local tailor and trumpet player, who was well known in the town for sounding The Last Post every November on Remembrance Day Sunday in the Market Place where the service was held before the War Memorial gardens were opened in 1956. The meeting was told that between £80 and £90 would be needed to equip the band and it was resolved that the money would be raised by subscriptions or donations and that the entire town be canvassed and an account for this purpose was opened at Lloyds Bank in the Market Place.

The newly-formed Bourne Town Band pictured circa 1924 on
the vicarage lawn with Canon Grinter in the centre.

The money was raised, the uniforms and instruments purchased, although many band members already had their own, and the following year Bourne Town Band was giving its first concerts and was subsequently in great demand at social functions and parades. Apart from the concerts held by the band, a typical social occasion at which they appeared was at a garden fete at Cawthorpe House on Friday 27th June 1924, when local businessman Mr Edward Pearce was presented with an easy chair in recognition of his 20 years of service as treasurer of the Bourne Institute. The band, under the conductorship of Mr Pattison, played popular selections throughout the event and they also provided the music for the dancing with which the evening's programme concluded. The band was a particular favourite of the vicar and he frequently made the vicarage lawn available for concerts during the summer months that were well attended over the next few years.

However, the band again failed to survive and as members left for military service following the outbreak of war in 1939, they were forced to close down and this time it was not reformed.

Bourne Town Band leading a parade down South Street. The photograph dates from the late 19th century although the occasion is unknown but because of the large number of children dressed in their best clothes, it was most likely one of the many Sunday School parades held in the town at that time. The thatched summer house on the right was in the grounds of The Cedars, now Bourne Eau House.