IN 2003, the Nestlé Rowntree Band celebrated its 100th birthday. A book published to mark that historic occasion began with a wonderful little ditty.

“In the beginning there was chocolate, and the chocolate was good,” it ran. “And so it came to pass that the chocolate factory desired a band and a band was formed – the year was 1903...”

Sadly, in the same year the band turned 100, Nestle decided it could no longer continue its support. Undaunted, band members approached Patrick Shepherd of the Shepherd Building Group.

Shepherd’s stepped up to the mark: and today, the band continues as strong as ever, rehearsing in a building at Portakabin and performing under its “new” name, the Shepherd Group Brass Band.

The chocolate connection may have gone. But the band today is very much the descendant of that first band, which started out in 1903 as the Cocoa Works Band.

The first mention of the band came in the June 1903 edition of Rowntree’s Cocoa Works Magazine. “It has been suggested that the formation of a brass band in connection with the works would be welcomed by many musical enthusiasts” ran an item in the magazine’s ‘Notes and News’ section.

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Early days: the Cocoa Works Band in 1904

“The project will have careful consideration if it is likely to meet with sufficient support to ensure its success, and we shall be glad to have the names of those employees who are willing to join.”

Clearly, enough employees came forward -– among them Anthony Lickley, conductor of the Grove Wesleyan band, with most of his band members – for the Rowntree management to consider the band worthwhile.

Instruments were bought, a committee was formed, and membership fees established: in 1905, they were set at 1d a week, or 4s 4d a year.

To begin with, the band was made up almost exclusively of Rowntree employees and there was a ruling that band members should not be allowed to play with any other band. The band’s minutes for March 13, 1906, recorded a dispute over this rule with a Mr Lowley.

“Mr Lowley attended the meeting and fully explained his views as to being allowed to play with the Artillery Volunteer’s and also with this band,” the minute says. “Our rules distinctly state that no member can belong to any other brass band.” It was decided to give Mr Lowley a week to decide which brass band he preferred to play with. His decision can be guessed at from the fact that, on 10 April 1906, he was recorded as being struck off the Cocoa Works Band register.

Nevertheless, despite such minor spats, the band quickly established itself. As Sharon Lang wrote in her centenary history: “Over the first ten years, the band established a number of regular engagements, from the first public concert at the Hospital Garden Party in September 1903, to the numerous garden parties for the workers in the grounds of the factory.”

The band also competed successfully at contests across the country: at Crystal Palace, Ilkley, Malton and Normanton among others.

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OLD HOME: The Nestlé Rowntree Band on ths steps of the Nestlé canteen in about 1992

The band’s name has changed several times down the years: to the Rowntree’s Cocoa Works Prize Band in 1908; back to the Rowntree Cocoa Works Band in 1930; the Rowntree’s Works Band in 1966; the Rowntree Mackintosh Band in 1977; and the Nestlé Rowntree Band in 1998. It has been the Shepherd Group Brass Band since 2004.

The name may have changed: but the sheer joy of being a brass band member continues.

“When you get it right, when you’re all doing your darnedest, you produce this brilliant sound,” says Audrey Brown, who plays tenor horn and has been a member of the band since 1987. “It gives you this tremendous feeling of joy.”

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Audrey Brown

It is a feeling of joy the band is keen to spread about, adds Sam Woodman, who started out as an 11-year-old beginner under Audrey’s tuition in 2003 and now plays the cornet in the senior band.

“We always welcome new members of any age and ability – beginners, children and adults,” she says.

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Sam Woodman

The band is now actually five bands: the ‘Brass Roots’ band; the Brass Academy band; the youth band; the concert band, which plays regularly in public; and the senior band, which plays at the most prestigious events.

Membership is just £1 a week, Sam says – and you get expert tuition plus instruments provided for use free of charge.

And you don’t need to worry about starting too late, she adds. If you’re getting on a bit and have never picked up an instrument before, you’re not going to become the best trombonist in the world: but you can easily become good enough to share in the thrill of belting out a stirring tune with one of the largest brass band organisations in the country.

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New look: the Shepherd Group Brass Band (or should that be bands?) as it is today