The origins of the Band are vague but it seems that around the middle of the 19th century some Petworth men used to walk to Arundel to play in the Band of The Sussex Volunteers and then decided to start a Band of their own. The Band did well in the early part of the 20th Century and won a lot of prizes at contests under Bandmaster Tiplady.

Between the wars the band continued to flourish and was an important part of the community of Petworth as it still is today. In 1946 the Band was reformed under Bandmaster Percy Savage. With great patience and no funds he managed to kindle an interest although at the time there were very few instruments or music, as much had been sent for salvage during the war.

(It is known that on Christmas morning 1947 about eight members played carols around the town. They included two violins and a clarinet, an odd ensemble for a brass band. This oddity is continued today as the band is a mixture of brass and woodwind instruments.)

During the 1960's the band fell on hard times but thanks to Bandmaster Bert Pratt it kept going and is prospering today. Generous help was given by Commander de Pass (Vice President) who backed the band whilst it purchased new uniforms.

Lord Egremont, our President, together with the National Trust, provided the Band with a room in Petworth House, where we still rehearse today.
 
Throughout the 1970's the Band grew stronger under Bandmaster Fred Standen, then George Lunn who was one of Percy Savage's boys in the 1940's. He learned to play in Petworth Band and went on to become Bandmaster in the Royal Marines. Tony Deacon who led the Band for about five years followed George.

For many years now the Band have performed under the enthusiastic leadership of Bandmaster Martyn Streeter, and Musical Director Paula Streeter. With their combined efforts the Band has grown into its present form with over fifty members ranging in age from 6 to nearly 80.
 
There is provision for learning an instrument as a complete beginner and instruments are loaned to members at no cost. Many band members joined when their children started playing with the band and have gone on to become staunch supporters and players. At the beginning of the 21st century the band made an unsuccessful application to The National Lottery for funds to purchase badly needed uniforms and instruments. Lady Mersey (Vice President) formed a Committee and raised sufficient money to purchase uniforms and a set of instruments which we use today.
 
The Petworth Town Band is much in demand at local events and the range of engagements includes; Remembrance Day, Fetes and Carnivals, Kite Festival in Petworth Park, Cowdray Gold Cup Polo, Christmas Carols, St George's day and annual concerts in Petworth.
 
The Band is one of the few bands that still plays on the March and this can be seen on Remembrance day and at the Gold Cup Polo where the band have played for many years.

The aim of the Petworth town band is to encourage all to enjoy playing music together and is a friendly and welcoming group of young and old. New members of any standard are welcome to come and see us for themselves

Petworth Town Band

Everything a friendly , enthusiastic and entertaining town band ought to be .....                 
                     

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Before the great war

1982 - Prince Charles at Cowdray

1990 - who can you recognise?

1995 - who can you recognise?

Percy Savage re-started the Petworth Town Band in 1946. He struggled to kindle an interest with a few battered instruments and some rather tattered music folders. In those early days George Baxter and Frank Sadler were a great help to Percy, they had both been band members before the war. Percy was a fine musician and had played with the Friary Band and the Royal Engineers. Percy was bandmaster until the mid 1950’s when Bert Pratt took over, Percy stayed as an instrumentalist.

Bert Pratt was bandmaster from about 1955 on through the 1960's when the band went through a bad period with very poor attendance at rehearsals. Bert tried to keep interest going and worked hard to ensure the band had a future. If he had let the band pack up then, there would have been no Petworth Band today. At one point in the early 1960's, when Bert was feeling the strain I took over as Bandmaster/Secretary for a year, always supported by Bert.

In 1972 I heard that George Lunn had finished his time with the Royal Marines and had settled in Chichester, working for the GPO. George had joined Petworth Town Band as a lad in 1946 at the same time as me and had soon after joined the Royal Marines boy service. In 1948 he had become a Royal Marine and completed his full time there, ending up with Bandmaster status. I contacted George and invited him to take charge of us. This he did for two years and with his professional ability was able to put new life into the band. I always found that he was able to get you to play better than you thought you could. Unfortunately with the shift work with the GPO, after two years George found it difficult to continue.

Fred Standen took over as bandmaster in 1975. He had been a band member for many years and was a versatile musician, able to play any of the brass band instruments as well as piano and piano accordion. I will always remember our evenings at Heyshott on bonfire night; the band used to lead the torchlight procession down through the village to the fire, then play a programme outside the Unicorn for about an hour. Then after generous refreshments from the landlord, we used to go inside where Fred with his accordion, Denny Clements on trombone, Bill Sykes on fiddle and Jock Clarke on drums, used to play music of all sorts for about three hours, fuelled with a continual flow of ale. It was Petworth Town Band's social event of the year.

Fred called a spade a spade but through all the years that he was bandmaster, I never once saw him embarrass a member with lesser ability.

Tony Deacon became Bandmaster in the early 1980's. He was also bandmaster at West Chiltington which could cause a few problems but it all worked out quite well and some of us used to go over and help them out and vice versa at times. In 1987 Tony resigned to concentrate on the West Chiltington band.

Barry Coles was Bandmaster from 1987 to 1988. Barry had been in the army as a bandsman and was a fine cornet player. He organised some engagements including a concert at Lurgashall Village Hall. Unfortunately Barry had to pack up in 1988 through pressure of work.

Martyn Streeter became Bandmaster in 1989, a position that he still has to this day. Through all these years Martyn will have experienced quite a lot of changes in the band both in the members who have joined and then moved away, the wonderful set of instruments that we now have, the uniforms and a band room that I'm sure is envied by any other band in the south of England. I am sure that Martyn would say that much of his work as Bandmaster has been made possible by the support of his wife, Paula as Musical Director and whose enthusiasm and spirit has helped so much to keep the band going. Also for many years before Martyn became Bandmaster, he spent many, many hours teaching youngsters to play and enjoy music and give them a start on what can be a wonderful hobby.

One person who should be mentioned along with these Bandmasters is Jimmy Young. Jim is a fine musician who joined the band when I did in 1946 and also played with Northchapel Band and I think, the Haslemere Band. Jim was always there to help the Bandmasters. He was always willing to conduct at band rehearsals and at engagements which he often did. Jim filled the post of Deputy Bandmaster under several Bandmasters.

We now have Martyn and Paulas' sister-in-law, Sarah Thorp who helps out and lifts some of the load from Martyn and Paula by conducting at some rehearsals and engagements.

All of these Bandmasters have had to work hard to hold together a group of amateur musicians (musicians can be temperamental) but I am sure that they all enjoyed passing on their knowledge of the joy which is music.

An old stalwart and committed member of the band for almost 50 years, Roy Randall, used to say when we were a bit worried about an approaching concert, “It'll be alright on the night” and it usually was.

John Grimwood M.B.E.