R.N.Z.A.F. BAND

Evening Post, Volume CXL, Issue 138, 8 December 1945, Page 11

R.N.Z.A.F. BAND

CURTAIN RUNG DOWN

DIRECTOR'S PROMOTION

This week the curtiiin was rung down on one of the most popular organisations this country has ever khown, the Aii' Force Band, and With it name the announcement of the promotion of the director bt music and bandmaster of the band. Flight Lieutenant Gladstone Hill, to the yank of squadron leader.

The disbandnient of the baud and the posting to the reserve of the director took place without any ceremony, which robbed the Wellington public of an opportunity to see and hear the men in action for the last time.

Squadron Leader Gladstone Hill was commissioned in June, 1940, to disband the old Air Force Territorial Air Force Band and re-form it on an enlisted basis. On September 14. 1940, the band made its first public appearance, playing at the North-South football match at Athletic Park. It immediately" caught the public imagination, which it held until the last.

In October, 1940, the band commenced touring the Dominion in aid of patriotic funds, its first appearance being at Hastings. During the first three and a half years, Under the unbroken control of Squadron Leader Gladstone Hill, the band toured New Zealand

many times and raised over £17Q,000 for patriotic besides making numerous recruiting tours for the Air Training Corps and air crew. The band did a wonderful job in connection with the "Bombs for Bombers" loan and later for Liberty and Victory loans But it was not only m the spectacular work of its marching and drum corps that the band was successful It established a name for itself as a musical organisation which compared with similar bands overseas. Competent visitors, especially members of the American forces, were loud in their praise of the band's musical prowess. DIRECTOR'S REVIEW. Squadron Leader Gladstone Hill today paid a tribute to the men, some of whom had been in the band from its inception. One of the difliculties, he said, was changing personnel. Over 80 men had passed through the ranks, and from a marching and musical point of view changes like that were a serious thing. Especially was that so in connection with ceremonial marching displays in which the band specialised. The change of one man would, sometime?, affect every rank in the band. From a musical point of view, the director of music said, the band's success proved that, .with training and opportunity, our bandsmen were the equal of others. The Air Force did not have a monopoly of the musical i talent in the Dominion; far from it. {This country was rich in musical ability, especially the boys who had I been taught during the war period. I What the Dominion was suffering from ■was lack of trained teachers and baiuli masters. Mr. Estail had pointed out ■this fact at the civic reception in Wel- '. lington last Monday. Here again it ; was kick of opportunity for study and ; (.raining that was the trouble. Here, Squadron Leader Hill thought, was an opportunity for .the New Zealand Brass Bauds' Association to formulate some scheme that would provide for the training for promising young bandsmen. Until the Conservatorium promised by the National Broadcasting Service was an established fact, an arrangement could be made with the New South Wales Conservatorium of Music in Sydney.

"Musical progress in the band world," concluded Squackon Leader Gladstone Hjl). "can only be along some such lines. Bands are an integral part of the civic life, and it is "the duty of all concerned to take uti active and co-operative interest in the work of the bands and bandsmen, those who give so much of their time to the public Weal."