MILITARY BANDS.

Ashburton Guardian, Volume 60, Issue 304, 1 October 1940, Page 3

MILITARY BANDS.

REVIVAL IN BRITAIN. SEQUEL TO ANZACS’ ARRIVAL. In a dispatch received by the Australian Trade Commissioner in New Zealand from Kenneth Slessor, official correspondent with the Australian Imperial Force in England, he talks of the revival of band music in Britain caused by the hands with the Australian and New Zealand troops in England. Mr Slessor writes:

“Age cannot wither that remarkable old gentleman, ‘Coloney" Bogey,’ to whose legendary strains the Australian and New Zealand troops first came marching to Britain. The sounds of the colonel’s gay history mingled with the gusts of ‘Waltzing Matilda’ and ‘Australia Will Be There,’ rang through the country when the 8.8. C. broadcast a, description of the landing of the dominions’ troops. This has made Britain hungry for the exhilarating music of military bands. The two battalion bands with the A.I.F. in England are the first the British people have heard in many grim months, since the War Office, under the stress of war conditions, ceased the payment of grants for regimental bands.

“The electric effect of the Australians’ background of hand music whpn the landing was described through the radio lias brought home to the nation the stimulus it has been missing. There was an immediate public appeal for the revival of military music in the streets, complete with brass instruments. Letters to the newspapers urged the Army to swing into step behind its bands again. One writes in the,‘London Daily Telegraph’ said: ‘Listening to the broadcast of the Australians and New Zealanders, I was thrilled to hear the military band. Our troops have been marching long enough with the aid of their own vocal music, Let’s now get our military bands going as in the good old days.’ “The War Office lias not been long in taking the hint. This week it announced resumption of payment of grants to regimental hands. The'streets were crowded with delighted admirers when the Royal Artillery Band broke the long silence playing at the head of a detachment of troops on a church parade. ‘There is something about, a military hand in its full glory of shining euphoniums and rattling drums which says more to the people about patriotism than a hundred written pages,’ said ‘The Times’ commenting on the revival of military bands. “The A.I.F. battalion bands, which started the revival, are still followed by packs of rapturous small hoys as they blow their way through country lanes. Thanks to the opportunity for intensive practice on the voyage from Australia and New Zealand, these bands have now reached professional pitch. Many of the bandsmen were professional musicians in civil life. “The hands were at*their best when the King recently visited the Australians, and they helped considerably at the stirring march past.

“At one camp the men are no longer awakened by the bugles’ bullying note but by a blood-rousing reveille from the battalion band.”