I do like a good brass band!

I was lucky enough to be brought up in a household where music was important - playing it, listening to it at home, and experiencing it in the concert hall, theatre, or in the park, from classical to pop, Lieder to musicals. As a firm believer in the importance and power of music I ensured that each of my children learned how to play the piano and another instrument, as well as sing.

One Christmas-time, about 10 years ago, we were lucky enough to be in the Market Place when Hathern band were leading the carol-singing. My youngest was very taken with the trombones, and decided he wanted to learn to play one, so we started to have lessons through school (strangely, with the brother of the conductor of Hathern band!), and soon after this we started playing with the Hathern Training Band.

Hathern have four bands, and train players to a high standard such that they can be part of the Hathern Senior Band, currently, a Championship Section contesting band. There's more explanation over on their website, and a list of engagements.

Over the last month, the Hathern Band have been the focus of the Looking back section of our local paper, the Loughborough Echo. The history of the band is also on the website, but it is often the stories from past members and their families that help to fill in the gaps and bring the heritage of the band alive.

If you want to hear the band play in the next couple of weeks there are lots of Christmas events, like the Christmas Concert on Saturday evening, the 19 December, which features three of the family of bands. Then in January, the band plays its annual concert in aid of LOROS: always a great event!

Here are some photos of various sections of the band in action over the last 10 years (in no particular order), and some pics from the past as displayed in the Echo: