4BR has been informed of the death of Charles Frederick (Bud) Fisher MBE.

He died peacefully, aged 92, in hospital surrounded by his family on Thursday morning, 15th March.

Great figure

One of the truly great figures of the brass band movement, his influence and teaching of young players was an inspiration to generations of players and music lovers.

Lesley Bentley, Secretary of the Leicestershire Brass Band Association told 4BR: "Bud Fisher was an inspiration to all bandsmen, players and conductors that knew him.

Serving with the Royal Leicester Regiment, he was a contemporary and friend of the late Major Peter Parkes and began conducting the Loughborough Band in 1950.

Buds work with young players is legendary, spending almost every spare hour in the Bandroom, teaching hundreds of players. He not only trained musicians, but through his caring, disciplined approach, trained them for life.

Amongst those who benefited from Buds work are Martin Winter, Bryan Allen, Murray Greig and Richard Bissell, who along with many others joined the professional ranks. Few Bands in Leicestershire or indeed the Midlands do not have a Bud Fisher trained player in their ranks.

Loughborough Band owed all to Buds Youth policy with the Youth Band winning the Midlands Youth Championships on 6 consecutive occasions, and the National title.

Loughborough Band came from the 4th Section, under Bud, to the Championship Section taking 7th place at the Royal Albert Hall playing Blitz, when the Band was virtually the same as that competing in the Youth Section.

Many Bands in this area now have Youth Bands, thanks to the example of this extraordinary man.

When awarded the M.B.E. in 1980 he was quoted as saying, 'we were lucky because of the tremendous amount of talent available to us over the years'.

What he failed to say was that it was he himself who trained all this talent!

A true gentleman, we shall not see his like again."

Funeral

The funeral will take place at Loughborough Crematorium on Friday 23rd March at 3.30pm.