Northbourne Centre

We were the second band in a two concert series organised by Didcot Arts and Community Council. The Northbourne Centre, which is now home to all sorts of community activities, was formerly St Peters Church, built in 1868 to serve the new community of North Hagbourne, or Northbourne as it became known which sprang up to provide housing for workers on the Great Western Railway. These 8 streets of "Didcot New Town" were a complete, self contained community by 1900 separated by farm land from the Hagbournes and Didcot. Blewbury Brass Band has a historic link with Northbourne as we inherited the instruments and uniforms of the Didcot Silver Band, which was based in Northbourne. The bands shared players, just as we now do with Wantage, in the 1920s and 1930s.

(Historical information from Brian Lingham's pages at http://www.didcot.com/info/history.htm)

For a quiet Sunday afternoon, perhaps not so quiet after we arrived, we had a good turn out. The big film music was especially popular. You can't beat Rogers and Hammerstein. This was possibly the first time the A board had seen the light this year.