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Brass band marks Covid-19 memorial unveiling

Hsin-Yi LoSouth East
Claudia Sermbezis / BBC A man with white hair and black rimmed glasses looks at the camera and smiles. He is wearing a white shirt, dark tie and dark suit jacket. In the background is a bandstand and a grassy area with people standing on it in the sunshine.Claudia Sermbezis / BBC
Andrew Wilson, musical director of Mole Valley Silver Band, said it was a great honour to play at the bandstand

A new bandstand installed in Surrey as a memorial to Covid-19 victims has hosted its first concert.

The Dorking Bandstand in Meadowbank was first thought up during lockdown.

The chairperson of the Dorking Bandstand charity, Stephen Williams, also intended for it to be a community venue for the benefit of the town.

Andrew Wilson, musical director of Mole Valley Silver Band, said: "It is a great honour to be the opening act on this magnificent bandstand."

Claudia Sermbezis / BBC A bandstand in a sunny park with metal fencing and poles around the sides, a pale wood cladded roof and a golden cockerel on the top. A band is sitting on chairs and playing inside the bandstand, and there is a crowd on the grass around the edges.Claudia Sermbezis / BBC
John Dwyer said that the bandstand was a valuable asset to the community

Wilson said that performers in the band ranged in age from 15 to 84, adding that the bandstand was "by far the best" of the four or five they played on throughout the year.

Williams told BBC South East that the key thing about the bandstand was its accessibility, with four entrances.

"The use of a bandstand is limited frankly only by your imagination," he added.

Claudia Sermbezis / BBC A man in a dark shirt and dark suit jacket looks at the camera smiling. Behind him there is a bandstand and people on the grass in the sunshine.Claudia Sermbezis / BBC
Dorking Bandstand charity chairperson, Stephen Williams, said the bandstand was intended to be a community venue

John Dwyer, who plays second cornet for the band, said before the event: "Musicians in north Surrey and beyond, and families of those who died from Covid, have reason to be grateful to the charity that drove this project to its successful and satisfying conclusion."

For Dwyer, the new bandstand also means more opportunities for local bands to perform, hoping this will inspire more youngsters to learn music.

"Music could bring so much joy in your life," he said.

"My first experience of music was listening to jazz as a youngster, so I decided to learn the saxophone."

Handout A brass band, all dressed in maroon shirts and black trousers, is sitting down for a photograph. Some of them are holding instruments.Handout
The Mole Valley Silver Band is due to perform at the Dorking bandstand on Sunday

Dwyer said he was unable to take lessons as his parents could not afford the instrument, as well as thinking it might be too noisy for the neighbours.

"I didn't learn music until I was 31 and now I am nearly 80-years-old," he said. "Being in the band has been such a delight, it's changed my life.

"Wherever we play, the most satisfying sight is the looks on the faces of children who've never seen a brass band or heard its music before."

Dwyer said the band's history goes back more than 140 years, and it has been through a few ups and downs including being interrupted by two world wars and undergoing several transformations before becoming the Mole Valley Silver Band in 1974.

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