Talk:Callender's Cableworks Band

Incorrect information regarding the photograph of Callender's Band 1926.
the information regarding this photograph is incorrect on two points. It shows the newly formed "A" Band in 1926, Not the Senior Band. The conductor sitting in the middle of the front row is NOT Tom Morgan, but Charles Waters. Mr Waters was Bandmaster of the Senior Band from 1924. He conducted that band at many "run of the mill" concerts, and usually played 2nd or 3rd cornet when Tom Morgan, the musical director, conducted the band. He was the resident conductor of the "A" Band and according to my father, (who in the photo, is the 20 year old tenor horn player standing directly behind Mr Waters) was much admired and liked by his players. I was privileged to be taught the cornet by him for a couple of years about 6/7 years before he passed away in 1968. After Tom Morgan retired, Mr Waters became the conductor of Callender's until it's demise in 1961. This photo was posted, along with several others, by me on the Harrogate Band website (www.ibew.co.uk) which amongst other things, contains an exhaustive archive of old band photographs. — Preceding unsigned comment added by 86.162.188.128 (talk) 12:11, 10 November 2013 (UTC)


 * Thank you very much indeed for your very interesting comment. The photograph and text have now been amended to include your information.  I was recently inpired to create this article about Callenders Band after researching another article on Central Bandstand, Herne Bay. If your father has interesting memories of playing there, or at the cast-iron bandstand on King's Hall roof (now demolished, sadly) at Herne Bay, it would be very much appreciated if you could kindly write it here for us?  This is all part of the story of those historic places. --Storye book (talk) 20:43, 10 November 2013 (UTC)


 * Thank you for kindly adding the reference above (I formatted it to make it visible). It is now included on the article page, and your assistance is much appreciated.--Storye book (talk) 16:07, 13 November 2013 (UTC)

Callender's Cable Works Band.
Thanks for your comments re my information re the above band. I played with them for a year or so before their demise in 1961. Apologies for not signing my previous. Forgot!! Will do so on this one. 1. the picture of the Senior Band shown in a broadcast studio actually dates from December 1930, not 1932. there is an almost identical one for 1932, which shows the four "experimental" saxophones seated between the basses in the rear and the tenor horns in the front row. They were not in existence in 1930. Sadly, my father passed away in 1986.

To say that Callender's were the best band in the south of England is really like saying that Manchester United is the best football team in the north of England!! By 1927/28, they were among a handful of brass bands, such as Foden's, Black Dyke, Brighouse and Rastrick who were (and in the case of the others mentioned, still are,) the very best in the country. Given the pre-eminence of British brass bands, that means they were among the best in the world. Indeed, some afficionados of the time thought Callender's were the very best.

In 1924, the Callender's management, led by Mr Charles Pipkin, the general manager of Callender's Belvedere works, located in Crabtree Manorway, Belvedere, Kent, seemed to have made the decision to make their band a top class outfit. The band, largely made up of local talent, had won the "Grand Shield" trophy at Belle Vue in Manchester in 1924, playing the test piece, "Oliver Cromwell." In brass band terms, that was like winning promotion to the Premier League. However, they failed to capitalise on this until things changed dramatically late in 1926. Up to that time, one of, if not the best band in the country, St Hilda Colliery, from South Shields, had been pretty dominant in the realm of brass band contesting. There were, and still are two major trophies in brass banding. The National Championship and the British Open Championship. Prior to the Second World War, the national was held at the CrystL Palace, and bands played for the 1000Guineas Trophy. The Open was held at Belle Vue in Manchester. late in 1926, with the north hard hit by depression, Harold Laycock, one of the best trombonist s in the country, joined Callenders from St Hilda Colliery because, withe colliery having closed, the brass band authorities deemed that St Hilda's had become a professional band because their members were playing for money. This effectively barred them from future contesting. Laycock was followed by a small clutch of St Hilda players. Callender's could offer them employment and company housing, although this of course was a double edged sword. If they lost their place in the band, they could, potentially lose both their employment and their home. My father recalled that he could not remember this actually happening even though Callender's, in the shape of their somewhat martinet-like Musical Director, Tom Morgan, was not averse to dispensing with player's services if they stepped out of line. It was a very disciplinarian organisation. With the influx of new players, the band competed at the British Open, Belle Vue, in September 1927.The bands played the test piece "The Merry Wives of Windsor." The audience had been asked not to begin applauding until each band had finished it's performance. this was adhered to until Callender's played, when the audience broke into spontantaneous applause some bars before they finished playing. despite the verdict of what was (and is) a very knowledgable audience, the adjudicators placed Callender's 2nd to the Foden's Motor Works Band, who became Champions for that year.

meanwhile, Callender's had built up quite a formidable musical organisation. In the mid 1920's they had formed the "A" Band. made up of competent young players, by the 1930's, they were almost as good as the Senior Band. It is this band that were the winners of any contests after 1929, because not only had the Senior's stopped contesting at local level, th(ey were far too good for the opposition, but after 1929,in an atmosphere ofonsiderable acrimony, they ceased contesting all together. In addition to the "A" band, there was a "B" band made up of aspiring young players as well as a learner s class. Almost all brass bands would give their eye teeth for such an organisation, where money appeared to be no object.

The reason behind stopping contesting, was mainly due to the result of the 1928 British OPen Championship. A little earlier, Callender's had been placed 2nd at the National Championship at the Crystal Palace, to the Carlisle StStephens Band, the test piece being Denis Wright's composition, "TheWhite Rider." Within a month, they competed at the British Open Championship, with the bands playing something of a brass band classic, "Lorenzo" by Thomas Keighley. Again, despite the verdict of many of the audience and the fact that that soprano cornet player for Foden's Motor Works Band making a horrid mistake in the very exposed soprano solo section, Foden's were once again proclaimed champions by the adjudicators with Callender's again placed second.

It was all too much for the Callender's management. They felt that the way in which contests were judged and the competency of the people being named as adjudicators was decidedly flawed. They soughttochange the system by calling a conference of the best bands of the day. Althoughtwoconferences were actually scheduled, the other band representatives were Luke warm to making changes and the process had incurred the ire of John HenryIles. Iles was the promoterof both the National and British OpenChampionships. Callender's appear to have been just as annoyed with him as he was with them. A special open meeting was called of both the Senior and "A" bands, and it was decided, that, having been placed 5th at the 1929, nationalChampionships, the Senior band would no longer attend any contests. They continued to remain a first class band right up to the second world war and attracted some excellent players. You mentioned Jim Thompson, but in fact he only played bass for Callender's for a very short time. It was his brother, George Thompson who was one of the star Callender products. A competent euphonium player, George played e flat bass for Callender's and my father recalled him as being a terrific player. Having gained his LGSM, he later moved on to conduct the Hanwell Band, and in the late 1950's he took over the conductor ship of the Grimethorpe Colliery Band and won the British Open Championship with them in 1967. Thompson passed way in 1984, but Grimethorpe remain a top band to this day.

Despite making a huge number of broadcasts for the BBc, appearing in the 1930 Lord Mayor's Show, visiting Calais and being invited to tour Australia (why they did not is unknown) the years 1939/45 were more or less the death knell for the bands. The war saw a number of players return to the north of England, whilst some older players like Harold Laycock retired from playing. Then, in 1945, Callender's Cables were merged with the larger Merseyside based cable makers, British Insulated to become British Insulated Callenders Cables or B.I.C.C. Charles Pipkin the band' s president became managing director, but by now was near retirement. The "A" band the "B" band and the learners went to the wall and although the Senior band carried on it was never again the force that it once was. In 1961, the directors of BICC made it known that they would no longer allow the band to perform under the BICC name and after a brief attempt to go it alone as the Belvedere Band, the end had come. Michael Evans. — Preceding unsigned comment added by 86.162.188.128 (talk) 19:27, 11 November 2013 (UTC)


 * Thank you very much indeed for all that wonderful information. Wikipedia discourages editors from adding such a large amount of information to an article page without third-party references (newspapers, official websites and so on) although I personally believe that anyone reading your information here on the talkpage is likely to accept this piece on good faith. Therefore I think it should be left here on this talkpage until the same information can be found on an official website. About signing your comments - to do that, you need to register with Wikipedia so that you can choose your own unique username. You then sign your comment with four tildes like this ~ and the system will automatically sign with your username and the date. --Storye book (talk) 20:47, 11 November 2013 (UTC)