Our Local Band
Thanks to some hard work over the past year and a substantial grant from Oldham Community grants Delph Band now has an extremely new smart set of uniforms, they were given their first airing at the North West Area Contest at Blackpool in March, but will be on show to the village for the first time on Whit Friday, will you all recognise your own band?
The uniforms delivered at the beginning of March, just in time for the area contests, must surely be the smartest sported by the band in their long history and are a far cry from the sombre black and navy of the early sixties, when all the band sported peaked hats. They later moved on to colourful maroon blazers, then to bright blue with the then fashionable frilled shirts and velvet bow ties. Another new set arrived in the early eighties, as the band entered the third section, this time the green jackets with silvered braid so familiar to us locals. Featured so many times in our magazine pictures and on the front colour, the green has become synonymous with our band and Whit Friday. However, time for a change again and this time a really new look, different from anything that has gone before. Finely tailored tunics made from good Yorkshire cloth by Handley's of Leeds, with impressive gold braid emblazoned on the back, they could be said to be in the style of Black Dyke or Brighouse, but on closer inspection they are individually 'Delph'. The tunics are slightly longer than those of the fore-mentioned bands and the colour, well some would like to call it Brighouse purple and others have said it mimicked 'Grimley'. However, it is neither, a new individual colour and style, which hopefully will herald the start of a 'purple' patch for the band. Indeed, they were off to a good start at Blackpool, being placed third out of fifteen bands in the second section, missing the National Finals in Dundee by just one point!

To go with their new image the band has commissioned a new set of ties, also manufactured by Handleys, again to an individual design. The Whit Friday committee were delighted that the band chose to modify our own logo from last year's sweatshirts and use the first bar of 'Hail Smiling Morn' with the village lamp replacing the treble clef as their badge. Handleys are also preparing a blazer badge, which will carry the same design. This embroidered logo will certainly be unique and could well be a talking point at the Whit Friday Contests. Both the band and contest are proud that they we are the only village where contest and band have close connections and the use of this logo has, it could perhaps be said maintained and indeed strengthened these links.

At the moment the band is probably playing at its highest ever standard, at the top end of the second section. However, several of its members must still consider its most memorable performance was way back in 1980 when Delph were 4th Section National Champions and the banner that hangs in the Band Club porch is the only National Championship Banner ever to arrive in Saddleworth. It is quite remarkable that twenty-three years on, there are still four members who took part in that winning performance and that they still have the same Musical Director.

In addition to the main section band, there is a training band that started from scratch two and half years ago and now has twenty players, along with a Youth Band, again built up from a handful of players, which hopefully will play on Whit Friday morning. Although the band has made steady progress through the sections during the last two decades, youngsters have always been encouraged to progress and Delph has seen players progress to top class bands such as Brighouse and Rastrick and Black Dyke.
As for its history, the band has plenty &endash; sadly not all well chronicled but according to Ammon Wrigley the band was founded in 1850 and 'was said to play well with helping wind'. In the first ever Whit Friday Contest at Stalybridge in 1884, the band was placed third. The two Stalybridge Bands being 1st and 2nd. However, by 1888, it would appear that standards had fallen somewhat, if the Uppermill contest adjudicator for that year is to be believed, as he tells them in their contest report that theirs was 'A poor miserable performance, from first note to last.' Thankfully, these days all bands receive much more constructive comments from the various adjudicators and we would hope the standard of playing is much better all round.
Although Delph Band is one of the oldest in the area, it has had many ups and downs. It has been wound up and re-started on several occasions, and from what records exist, it would appear that it lead a somewhat nomadic existence for its first hundred years. Rehearsal rooms have been in a room over Pickup's printers (now the home of Mr. and Mrs. Wharton in High Street), a room over the archway adjacent to the Bell Inn and when the band re-formed after the war they rehearsed in the now demolished Delph Mechanics. In the early days facilities were provided by the Wesleyan Chapel in their new extended Sunday School. According to 'A History of Delph Methodist Sunday School' when the rooms were opened in 1884, "Delph Band was to be afforded the privilege of the lower rooms, on condition that they play for us whenever we may require them." In those days the band would have been much in demand for village functions as there was much in the way of entertainment in the village. Programmes for all major events contained either the band's programme or a mention of items by Delph Band, this trend followed until the second World War took the male population away to fight for King and Country. The last fifty years has seen a great change in the movement and our village bands have become less involved in village life and been forced to look further afield in order to raise the money to maintain their existence. Recently the band have been fortunate enough to gain some prestigious bookings including entertaining the Commonwealth Games delegates at Tatton Park in the presence of Prince Edward, providing the incidental music for guests at a reception given by the Duke of Westminster at Heaton Hall and playing outside Manchester Town Hall during Commonwealth Games week again in the presence of the Prince Edward and the Countess of Wessex.

Such concerts serve to raise the morale of the band as well as benefiting their finances, so with such a successful year behind them, members are looking forward to taking one or two prizes on Whit Friday and given another successful contesting season, the prospect of promotion to the first section.

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