How town band evolved to make 50th anniversary

WATLINGTON Concert Band is celebrating its 50th anniversary this year.

The band was founded in 1975 as Watlington Youth Band by Phil Sperrin, who was a peripatetic brass teacher at the town’s primary school.

He teamed up with parent Ron Bettles to create a training band for children, many of whom went on to play for the Chalgrove Brass Band for which Mr Sperrin was the conductor.

When Mr Sperrin left in 1986, Gerry Hird took over as conductor. He and his wife Angela were both active in the local music scene.

She ran a music group at the primary school while he taught in Chinnor and at Lord Williams’s School in Thame.

In 1997, the couple moved to Dorset, leaving the band with just four members. However, thanks to the intervention of Lady Margaret Mogg, then the band's president, musician Dave Pullen stepped in to lead.

Mr Pullen, a brass band player with no prior conducting experience, brought in friends and family to revive the band and it was renamed the Chiltern Band Watlington RBL, reflecting its close ties to the Royal British Legion.

Over the next few years several musicians joined after the Henley Town Band disbanded. But where Henley had been a wind band, this prompted another name change, becoming known as the Watlington Concert Band.

Since then, the band has gone from strength to strength, performing at local fetes, concerts, and Watlington’s annual remembrance parade.

One of its most popular traditions is the Christmas Eve carol service, which began with the youth band playing under the town hall for parents and has since grown into a major community event.

When Mr Pullen retired, the band began working with army conductors, further enhancing its musical repertoire.

James Symington took over as musical director in 2023. An army bandmaster, he graduated as part of the Coronation Class of 2024 and was posted to The Band and Bugles of The Rifles.

Outside his military duties, he is also a composer, having written the Suffolk Folk Song Suite for a wind band.

General Sir John Mogg was the first president, with Lady Margaret Mogg taking over after his death. Following her passing at 104, her daughter Tessa Mogg became president, continuing the family’s legacy of support.

To mark its 50th anniversary, the band has launched a new logo, designed by BYXP, incorporating elements of Watlington’s heritage and musical tradition.

It is also holding a special 50th anniversary concert next Saturday at 3pm at St Leonard’s Church in Pyrton Lane. The theme is Classical Hall of Fame.

Sarah Pullen, the band's secretary who plays the cornet, has been a member since the beginning.

She said: “My godfather was Phil Sperrin. In 1975, we all started learning and that is when they then formed the band from the primary school. I was one of the first. I started playing when I was six and I am 56 now. This is my home and my husband David took over as conductor, which he did for 25 years. It is fantastic for the band to reach 50 years and that is largely because we have such great support and encouragement from the community.

“There are a couple of things that the band do each year that are really significant. It plays at the remembrance parade every year, which is taken very seriously by everyone in the town.

“Fifty years ago we started doing the carols in the High Street on Christmas Eve and that has become a real Watlington tradition now. It is just phenomenal the number of people who come out to sing for an hour.”

The band currently has about 35 members, which is the largest the band has ever been.

Mrs Pullen said: “People join us because we have got a good reputation. We have a fabulous conductor with army conductors coming in. That makes a big difference. We can play literally everything and our concert that is coming up is a serious concert, with all classical type music.

“Then, in October, our concert is going to be big band and swing. We play classical, wind band right the way through to Ed Sheeran pieces. The genres are very wide. That is James's job to make sure that the programme that we put out is varied. We couldn’t go to a fete and play a Mozart piece as it wouldn't go down very well.

“The band is a family and there is such a lovely atmosphere when we practice, and we make great music together.”

Mrs Pullen thanked the Mogg family for their continued support of the band helping to promote it.

Mr Symington, 33, who studied trumpet and composition at Junior Trinity College of Music, taught music at a music academy in Suffolk after graduating.

His army career began in 2014 where he distinguished himself by winning the Hollice Education Award during initial training. As a member of The Band of The Parachute Regiment, he won the Army Benevolent Fund’s March Composition Competition with his piece Men at Arms.

Mr Symington said: “I am very proud and honoured to be the conductor of such a wonderful band. The main thing that is a pull for everyone is the community, everyone is friendly. The band is just getting better and better and better.

“We have a lot of adult learners and they are all really successful with their instruments. I would encourage more people to take up musical instruments, it is never too late.

“The repertoire has been varied, from classical wind band repertoire to some jazz music, and big band playing. With our next concert, we are going to celebrate our 50th with a classical music spectacular. It is really important to me that we did this concert because this is where the genre started.”

He added: “The joy that you get from conducting musicians that are invested in the music and invested in getting better is almost indescribable. As a conductor, we don't make a sound at all. I wave the baton around and, hopefully, in some gesture that evokes feeling and character from a musician, they respond well.”

For more information on the band and to buy tickets for the anniversary concert, visit tinyurl.com/halloffamewatters