40 years ago this week the Hanwell Band announced that they had appointed a new Musical Director.

Dynamic

It was reported that their new ‘dynamic’ young conductor started his musical career aged 7, before going on to come fifth at an international song writing competition aged 14.

Two years later he gained his first diploma and played the Vaughan Williams Tuba Concert at Aldeburgh with the Redbridge Youth Orchestra — making his own brass band and orchestral conducting debut a year later.

Following his studies at the Royal Academy of Music he had gone on to play tuba on a freelance basis, and had just returned from Spain with the London Symphony Orchestra.

All this and it was reported that he had already found fame by playing on many pop recordings, including a recent Tommy Steele double LP, as an ‘oom-pah’ tuba4BR

Oom-pah tuba

All this and it was reported that he had already found fame by playing on many ‘pop recordings’, including a recent Tommy Steele double LP, as an ‘oom-pah’ tuba.

It was stated that the band was ‘looking forward to great things’ under his baton, with the combination’s first contest appearance being the Belle Vue British Open in September.

Whatever became of a certain Bramwell Tovey....