Potterspury Excelsior Prize Brass Band |
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Extracts from Potterspury - the story of a village and its people The village band was in existence in the late 1800s, and in 1904 entered a contest organised by the Gentlemen of Dunstable. The band travelled to the contest on a horse-drawn cart and won the first prize - a silver plated cup. The contest was never held again, so the band held the cup which is now kept with the church plate for safe keeping. Between the wars, in the summer, the band would give regular Sunday evening concerts on the green by the
cross-road on Watling Street, opposite the Anchor pub. The band ceased to play during the Second World War but started again in 1946. By 1953, with Reg Atkins
as conductor, the band was very active, playing at numerous village fetes in the area and leading church parades for
Remembrance Sunday services, when they would march four abreast via Sanders Lane, Blackwell End, Watling Street, High
Street and Church Lane (with no parked cars in the way!). There was of course much rivalry between Pury and Yardley bands and Pury used to say that one Christmas when Yardley Band went round playing carols they played outside one 'house' where the collectors could not find the door. They walked round it several times before they realised it was a hay rick!
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