Associate Director of the National Methodist Youth Brass Band
Comments:
Graham has always been involved with music. He started to play the piano at the age of 7 and the recorder at 9. He took up the tenor horn at 13. At the age of 18, he started on the guitar. In 1970 he joined the Acton Hall Brass Band and in 1972 he started teaching music at England Lane Junior School.
Along with Denis Wilby, Graham founded this Band back in 1976 based at the school, when it was known as Knottingley Schools Band, where it included children from several local schools. He has relentlessly been the mainstay of the Band, giving up much of his valuable time to Band events ever since then, like twice weekly rehearsals, Saturday morning brass instrument tuition sessions, regular weekend band five-a-side matches and of course the concerts themselves. He also spends a great deal of time in background preparation work, putting concerts together and preparing all the music, often re-writing or re-scoring pieces to suit the Band's requirements. Without Graham's unstinting dedication over the years, this Band would certainly not have survived, nor reached the levels of excellence we have today. We all owe a great deal to Graham.
Graham has the ability to bring out the best in all the musicians, which enables the Band to perform at a level which far exceeds the normal for a Band made up mainly of younger people. Most of this is due to Graham's skill and patients with the rest of us!
But as well as being the strength behind KCB, he also does much the same job for the National Methodist Youth Brass Band as well.
Having retired from his deputy principle post at school in 2002, Graham hoped at last he would have a little time to spare, to work on the house and garden, which he so enjoys. But he remains so active and involved in his many activities, including charitable work, church activities, bowling, sport and fitness sessions, and of course all his musical activities, that the garden is having to play second fiddle to everything else. But it is progressing, slowly. Graham remains so busy, I'm surprised he finds time to sleep!
