The Bishop's Stortford Flyer Magazine | Page 6

The Flyer Hertfordshire Concert Band Hertfordshire Concert Band, originally the Hatfield Concert Band, was formed on September 11th 1979 by George Hill. Although George wasn’t musical it had always been his ambition to have a band in the town. George approached a local music teacher: John Collinge, and through joint hard work George’s ambition for a band came to fruition. Of course this needed funds to cover music, stands etc. The band was fortunate to have both an anonymous sponsor and the support of both the local laundry and the local music shop, with the help of firstly Onslow School and later British Aerospace (then Hawker Sydney) the band was ready. Soon word spread and at it’s peak the band had almost 100 players plus a choir! Over 30 years later the band is thriving. Although smaller in number now, with 45 members and no choir, the band continues to develop and performs to a high standard. We play a varied repertoire of wind band music: typically a mixture of light classical music, marches, show and film music, and medleys of Big Band and popular music. In recent years highlights for the Hertfordshire Concert Band have included touring Holland; opening the Mellieha International Band Festival in Malta and performing at the inaugural flight of the 146 Jet Airline. Last year the band was delighted to perform at Wi