Burry Port Town Band

Burry Port Town Band is a traditional brass band located in Burry Port, Carmarthenshire, South Wales. The band was founded in 1896 and has a rich and proud history.

The band provides music for a wide variety of events across Wales, the United Kingdom and beyond. Its commitments include concerts, contests, broadcasts, corporate functions and local charitable events. Since the turn of the millennium the band has competed in the premiere (championship) brass band league and are the current Welsh League Champions (2009).

History

The first written report regarding the band was in 1896 when it was originally formed as The Elliots Smelting Works Band. The band quickly established itself playing at local fetes and marches, raising money for both itself and worthy causes.

Disbandment and Reformation

Just before the outbreak of the Second World War the bands' fortunes took a turn for the worse and they disbanded. Decades later in 1972, a group of local enthusiasts held a meeting in order to re-establish the band. Old INSTRUMENTS and a library of music were discovered. These, together with some new purchases, a place to rehearse and a keen group of volunteers, were the seeds of the band's rebirth.

Contest Achievements

In the pre-war days the band was successful at contests, and a distinct highlight of this was the band representing Wales at the Crystal Palace in London. This trend has continued with the modern band. The past 20 years have been the most successful period in the band's history. In the 1990's Burry Port won every trophy in the Second Section (including the Welsh championship twice in succession); won most of the trophies in the First Section, and the Welsh championship twice succession, and also represented Wales in the National Brass Band Championships of Great Britain at Birmingham (1997) and Nottingham (1999).

In 1999 the band achieved championship status in the Welsh League, and from January 2000 has competed in the National Championship Section. Since that time the band has enjoyed considerable success including becoming Runner Up National Eisteddfod Champions (2000), Runner Up Champion Band of Wales (2000) and eventually Champion Band Of Wales (2001) and National Eisteddfod Champions (2002). The band has also been crowned Champion Band of the Welsh League on four occasions (2001, 2003, 2005, 2009), British Senior Cup Champions (2005) and qualified on numerous occasions to represent Wales in the National Championships of Great Britain at the Royal Albert Hall, London.

In Concert

In addition to their success in competition Burry Port Band has also enjoyed considerable success on the concert stage, having shared the spotlight with numerous high profile Welsh artists including numerous leading male choirs, MusicAL theatre star John Owen-Jones, soprano Shan Cothi and Royal Harpist Claire Jones. In 2008 the band featured in the science / arts crossover The Planets with Professor Mark Brake, and is now working on The Red Lady of Paviland, a project supported by the Arts Council of Wales, the main feature of which is the commissioning of a new Cantata for tenor soloist, harp, mixed choir, children's chorus and brass band written by Welsh composer Andrew Powell, with libretto by poet Menna Elfyn, based around the story of The Red Lady itself.

World Military Music Festival

In the summer of 2009 Burry Port Band hit the headlines in the UK and world media through it's participation in the World Military Music Festival, held in Tripoli, Libya. The band performed as part of a world class cast of military and civilian performers, comprised of brass and military bands, medieval flagwavers (Sbandieratori Italia) and dancers (Waza Afrika Kenyan Dancers; Russian State Ballet Company and Nalmes State Academic Dance Company). 16 nations from 5 continents (Algeria, Australia, Austria, Egypt, France, Italy, Kenya, Libya, Malta, Mexico, New Zealand, Pakistan, Russia, Senegal, Tunisia, UK) were represented in the show.

  • 5 Website of the Burry Port Town Band