It’s worthy of a television programme and all started a few months ago when the committee of Shepley Band decided to audit its music library with the objective of reducing the amount of music that it held scored for brass band.

It started as a simple task but in amongst some relatively recent music scores for brass band we started to come across some real gems. Interestingly, a lot of the music carried the stamp of ‘Denby Dale Brass Band’, which we knew disbanded around the late 1950’s and some pieces carried the stamp of ‘Shepley United Brass Band’, which we knew to be Shepley Bands name around the 1900’s. What’s more, all this was original music and much of it had been glued onto more robust pieces of brown paper. The brown paper was clearly waste from the local woollen mills as there were many handwritten notes about cloths, weaves, etc. on the back of the paper. We could also tell from the instruments the music had been scored for that some it dated back to the late 1800’s. So far we’ve also discovered beautiful handwritten parts and arrangements that we think were done by a bandsman called Johnny Garrett (or maybe a John William Garrett) who according to a local history book we’ve come across, was a miner who lived in Kitchenroyd in 1901 and played for Denby Dale. And, we know there was another John Garrett conducting that band around 1935. How were they related and where did they live?

So as well as auditing the library our curiosity was raised as to where some of this music had come from, which bands had played it and through the music could we start to fill some of the gaps in our knowledge of Shepley Band in the 1800’s? Hence investigation has started and we’re slowly collecting bits of a jigsaw and we’re piecing it together without the benefit of a picture on the box! We have copies of two photographs courtesy of Shepley Magazine of Shepley United Brass Band and a fine gentleman who we know to be Elijah Moorhouse who was a blacksmith and lived on the Knowle around the early 1900’s. Through a first search in the Huddersfield Library archives we’ve come across a newspaper report of a brass band contest organised by Shepley Band in 1896 – and the article mentions the previous contest was some twenty-four years earlier – which puts a band in Shepley around 1872. But we know there’s so much we have to learn – how was the band formed – was it associated with a local mill – or maybe one of the quarries or the brewery?

The ‘old’ Shepley Band disbanded around 1926. We wondered why until one day our Musical Director visited the War Memorial. So many names on that memorial we know were members of the band or closely related to band members. No doubt there was little enthusiasm to continue the band after such tragic loss. We know we need to get a little more organised in our research – but we’ve come across references to music written by G.N. Senior of Cliffe House, The Shepley Hymn and the Sovereign Anthem dated 1926 – no doubt to commemorate the 100th anniversary of the foundation of the Senior Brewery.

We’re developing a real sense of our history by coming across photographs and articles of ordinary villagers, just like us, who were playing in St Paul’s church, taking part in regular village festivals and making music for entertainment and enjoyment over a hundred years ago. The band is proud to be continuing these simple traditions.

Can you help us build a better understanding of our past?  Any bit of information will help us to build a picture of Shepley Band during the 1800’s or 1900’s. Do you know any more about Johnny Garrett? Wouldn’t it be great if we found copies of the Shepley Hymn or the Sovereign Anthem that we could play once again in a future concert?

If you’ve got a Shepley Band story for us please call Judith on 07799 623129, John on 01484 606908 or drop us an email at info@shepleyband.co.uk