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When his grandson walked in with a euphonium and said he was joining a local brass band, it was a moving moment for Kenneth Hill, of Chaddesden, for, back in the 1920s and 30s, his own father, Alfred Hill, also played the euphonium for the Derby Derwent Silver Prize Band. Here, Kenneth recalls the heyday of the band and some of the amusing incidents which befell his dad and fellow musicians.

During the dark days of the Depression between the two world wars, it was a great struggle for many to survive. There were no benefits or welfare systems; people had to manage as best they could.

My dad was fortunate in that, although he had been unemployed for several years, he had the ability to play a musical instrument.

Derby Derwent Silver Prize Band members Alfred Hill, Harry Allen, Albert ? and bandmaster Mr Robinson

Dad played the euphonium and, along with some other unemployed pals who were also musicians, formed a band – Derby Derwent Silver Prize Band.

They were very good. They would practise every Sunday in a hired room at the Smithfield pub on Meadow Road, Derby. Customers would come out of the bar and lean on the cattle market bridge, pints in hand, to listen to them.

They would play at such places as Derby Arboretum, Darley Park and the Baseball Ground – and even secured a week’s booking, playing on the seafront at Cleethorpes, in Lincolnshire.

Dad would tell us of his escapades during these times, such as the time they went to play at Osmaston Park Whitsuntide Treat and had to play suitable music to accompany events like the egg and spoon race and the sack race.

All went well until some “bright spark” suggested that the band ran a race while playing their instruments. Dad declined on the grounds that he thought it would be dangerous.

However, some members took up the challenge and ran with great enthusiasm until the musician who was leading tripped and fell while playing his monster bass, cutting his mouth, chipping his front teeth and causing quite a nasty-looking bend in the end of his instrument. An ambulance was sent for and he was carted off to the hospital more in humiliation than pain.

That, however, was not the end of the story because a small child in the audience then swallowed a tin Whistle and an ambulance had to be sent for again.

He was also carted off to hospital to the accompaniment of his mother’s high-pitched wailing. Fortunately, they were all able to return to the event later on.

On another occasion, when the band was playing at Monsal Dale, one key member was disappointed because, having sprained an ankle tripping over a piece of dry stone wall, he thought that he would not be able to take part.

Derby Derwent Silver Prize Band

But someone somehow managed to acquire an old wheelchair and he was pushed along, merrily playing his cornet, until the person pushing suffered a momentary lapse of concentration at the top of the hill that runs down into Litton Mill, near Tideswell, and let go.

Sensing impending disaster, the musician flung his cornet into the soft safety of the hedgerow as he speeded past before tipping over into the ditch at the bottom of the hill.

Luckily, no further damage was sustained, other than a few twisted spokes and shattered pride.

When things got really tough, my dad, Alfred, would go and see his older brother, Ernest, who had appointed himself consultant entrepreneur to the family.

Together, they would go to a nearby orchard, where you could buy the apples off a particular tree, which you picked yourself. They then took the apples to Derby Market to sell.

The apples, not being of any recognised variety, were polished and displayed to their best advantage. One time, a rather snobbish lady asked Ernest what variety they were.

He replied with the first thing that came into his head: “Why, lovely juicy Wellingtons, of course, madam.”

To which, she responded: “Oh, my favourites. I’ll take 2lbs of those,my man.”

Dad always said that the most generous and kind people the band played for were the Derbyshire miners who, although they had very little themselves, would go out of their way to help anyone.

So, when the band instruments had to be sold later, he though it was very fitting when they were bought by Stanley Colliery Band.

In my opinion, the brass and silver bands that are left, like Black Dyke Mills, Grimethorpe Colliery etc still make the best musical sounds. Although some people were very poor in those days, Dad always talked of them as happier times.

The strangest thing happened about two years ago when one of my grandsons, who knew nothing of his great-grandad’s life, called to see me.

Walking through the door, he said: “I’ve decided to learn music at school, Grandad” and he was carrying a euphonium, which he now plays regularly in a brass band at Ilkeston.

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County:  Derbyshire

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