St Sebastian Wokingham Band recently celebrated their 80th birthday with a special anniversary concert at their local St Sebastian's Church in their small home town.

Reflection

The programme of music performed reflected the musical journey the band has taken through each decade sine its formation in 1931 and included works as diverse as the overture ‘The Arcadians’ by Lionel Monckton to ‘Walking with Heroes’ by Paul Lovatt-Cooper.

A number of presentations were made on the night to for meritorious service, with Graham McKillop, Nigel Smith, William Martyn, Ken and Cameron Lake receiving well deserved recognition – the latter for an incredible 64 years of loyalty and service.

Annual player awards were presented to Lisa Hubble and David Yates.

This was a very successful concert performed on our home ground, reaffirming our links with the parish of St Sebastian’s WokinghamChairman, Lisa Hubble

Successful links

Chairman Lisa Hubble told 4BR: "This was a very successful concert performed on our home ground, reaffirming our links with the parish of St Sebastian’s Wokingham.

The band was originally formed in 1931 to provide music for outreach services for the church, and it was very satisfying for both the parish and the band to rekindle those links by playing in the church."

Lisa added: "It was a privilege to be able to honour the service given by our band members past and present, some of whom have been loyal to the band for a great many years — all together the current members have amassed 399 years service.

A great night was had by all. Here's to the next 80 years!"