The History of Flowers Band

Army Heritage and the eARLY dAYS

The Flowers Band, based in Gloucester, is now in its 56th year. It was formed in 1968 as a result of the disbandment of the Royal Gloucestershire Hussars (Territorial Army) Brass Band. The Royal Gloucestershire Hussars Brass Band had established quite a formidable reputation in the brass band field, being very much in demand for concerts and other engagements, in addition to their Territorial Army duties. When they were disbanded, the bandmaster, Mr Eric Hopkins, and the players of the band were not content to see years of hard work go to waste, and so after negotiation with the Ministry of Defence, the instruments were purchased and most of the former R.G.H. bandsmen, together with other local players, formed the City of Gloucester Band.

The first rehearsal took place in an upstairs room in the former Talbot Hotel on Southgate Street in Gloucester, just a two minute walk from our current rehearsal space at Gloucester Academy of Music. New uniforms were purchased and the first public appearance was at the Gloucester Carnival, where they proved they had lost nothing of the smartness and pride that had been established during the TA days, and that Gloucester had a band of which it could be justifiably proud. As the band’s reputation grew, they were asked to perform further afield, and perhaps the most prestigious engagement of that first year was when they played on board an old paddle steamer on the River Thames in London, during a publicity cruise for a firm of Gin Distillers!

Early in 1969, the band moved from the Talbot to The Black Swan Hotel, which was run by a player in the band who provided them with rehearsal facilities in an outbuilding. The band went on to compete as the first English band in the brass band contest of the National Eisteddfod of Wales, as well as appearing in the Championship Section of the West of England Regional Championships in 1969, performing Diadem of Gold at the then Colston Hall, Bristol. Unfortunately, later that year Mr Hopkins resigned in order to return to his native Wales, which came as a real blow to the band.

The band moved quickly to secure a replacement, and that replacement was Mr George Beckingham. George was a member of a prominent brass band family in Gloucester. His father had been the conductor of a previous City of Gloucester Band (no connection to the present one), which had disbanded many years earlier, and prior to that bad been bandmaster of the Gloucester Salvation Army Band when they were among the cream of the Salvation Army bands in Great Britain. George worked with his uncles at the form of Wright and Round, the music publishers, and was playing with Cinderford Band, the top band in the area at the time. He took the post with City of Gloucester Band in December 1969.

The 1970’s

George’s methods were different to those of Eric Hopkins, and as often happens with a change of conductor, a few players left, but local replacements were found and the band continued to perform at local concerts and fetes, without showing too much evidence of the upheaval of previous months. A couple of years later, George was offered a job at a well known publishing house in London, which he took to further his career, but continued to commute to Gloucester to take rehearsals for a time, but by May of 1974, the impracticality of the situation prevailed and George resigned his position.

The following month saw the appointment of a conductor who had previous played in The Royal Gloucestershire Hussars Band, in the form of Ronald Bobs, who played with Foden’s M0torworks at the time. Ron commuted down to Gloucester from Sandbach for their weekly rehearsal. and let the band on a very memorable tour to Metz in France, the twin city of Gloucester, for the city’s centenary celebrations. Unfortunately, due to rehearsing only once a week, the standard of the band declined and this partnership ended in December 1975.

So once again, the band found itself without a conductor and several players moved on to other bands due to low morale, however a core group of players pressed on. In the following months several conductors were tried, however they did not seem the right fit until the arrival of Mr Vernon Thomas, a very fine tenor horn player. By now, the band were in the second section, and the few experienced players that remained were supplemented by many young ones, who, by the dedication of Dennis Grant, the band’s principal cornet player, had been taught to play.

George Beckingham returned to the area in 1976 and took back the reins of the band, leading them to the West of England Regionals. He found it was a different band to the one he had left, and the band went on to drop out of the contesting scene, meaning a relegation to the Third Section. By 1979 George had had enough. Morale was right down, engagements few and far between, and contesting seemed out of the question. The players were really demoralised.

The Resurgence

With no conductor, and morale at its worst, Principal Cornet Dennis Grant knew that urgent action was needed to secure the future of the band, and he had an idea. Living in the city was a former member of the band, Steve Walkley, who at the time of Eric Hopkins leaving, was 15 years old and playing principal cornet. Subsequently he left to take up the position of soprano cornet with the Cinderford Band, where he stayed until enlisting in the band of the Royal Corps of Signals. 1978 saw Steve relocate to Gloucester upon being appointed principal trombone of the Sun Life Stanshawe Band. Steve came along to a rehearsal one night, not knowing what to expect, and soon recognised the potential the band still had and agreed to take the position. Approaches were made to unattached players in the local area, and quickly some of the vacant positions were filled. Steve recognised that one of the big things that had been lacking had been incentive, and so it was decided to enter the GBBA contest that November. After much concentrated rehearsal on the test piece “The Ship Builders”, a commendable 4th out of 12 was achieved in the Third Section.

Since then the band has had a variety of sponsors including Hawthorne Brewery and Message Maker in the early 1980’s, f0llwed by Flowers Brewery from 1986. Much success was gained under the ‘Flowers’ name in the contest field. The band rose up the ranks to the Championship Section ladder in 1985 where it has since established itself in the top 10 of the Brass Band World Rankings table.

In 1998 the Flowers brewery closed. In the same year the band won the title of the Grand Shield which gained it a place at the British Open Championships held in the Symphony Hall, Birmingham. This is a feat the band repeated in 2007. In 2005 the band announced a new sponsorship deal with insulating concrete form manufacturers PolySteel UK Limited.

In January 2006 the band won the most lucrative prize in banding, The Butlins Mineworkers Open Championships, which netted the band £6000 and the CISWO Championship trophy. The band was the 2007 ‘Champion Band of the West of England’, an accolade which it has previously held in 1991, 1994, 1997 and 2000. The continued success of the band has led to fifteen appearances at the ‘All England International Masters’ held at the Cambridge Corn Exchange where it maintained a consistent 5th position in 2001, 2002 and 2003 and took the runners up spot in 2006, beating the European and World champions in the process.

The Flowers Band records regularly for Radio 2’s ‘Listen To The Band’ and has appeared on BBC 1’s ‘Songs of Praise’. Flowers have recorded several CD’s, A Bouquet From Flowers (1992), Wonders Of The World (2004), The Incredible PolySteel Band (2007), Celebration (2018), DA Vinci (2023), plus numerous other recordings with Brett Baker (principal trombone, Black Dyke Band) and Aspirations with Shoichiro Hokazono. They have also appeared as guest artists with British electronica duo Goldfrapp on their Mercury Music Prize nominated album “Felt Mountain”.

In August 2008 the sponsorship with PolySteel UK Ltd came to an end and the band reverted back to the well known and respected Flowers name.

The Holland Era

In 2009 the band won the Yeovil Entertainment title for the third consecutive year. In addition, the band qualified to appear in the National Brass Band Championships at The Royal Albert Hall in October representing the West of England, gaining it’s highest ever position of 7th.

Flowers Band have been the most successful band at the West of England Areas over the past decade, with wins in 2014, 2015, 2016, 2018, 2019 and 2024.

Conducted by Paul Holland, his 8-year tenure from 2009-2017 marked the most successful period in the band's history. Under his baton, Flowers achieved victories at the Grand Shield, French Open, five victories at Butlins Mineworkers Championships, a hat-trick of wins at Yeovil, six Area titles as well as their highest ever results at the National Championships, British Open and Brass in Concert Championships.

In late 2018, Paul Holland returned to the helm, leading Flowers to victory at the 2019 West of England Championships and the 2019 French Open. The band then went on to achieve 5th places at both the British Open and the National Championships in the same year, as well as 3rd places at Brass in Concert in 2019 and 2021. The band also won the Butlins Mineworkers Championships in 2020 and 2022. In 2022 the band equalled their highest result at the National Championships, being awarded 4th place.

2023 brought contesting success at Brass in Concert, achieving 3rd place with the highest points the band has ever achieved, best ‘New Commission/Arrangement’, and Emily Evans winning ‘Best Soloist’.

2024 has been the bands most successful contesting ever. It began with a victory at the West of England Championships in 2024, a great way to start the year. This was soon followed by another win at the 2024 French Open Contest. The band began the autumn contest season with a 2nd Place at The British Open Championships. This is the best result that the band has ever received at a major championship, and it qualifies Flowers to represent England at the 2026 European Championships in Linz, Austria. A truly historic result. October 2024 brought around The National Championships of Great Britain and saw Flowers receive their first ever ‘Major’ title. It was an emotional moment for the band who have aspired to this for so many years, and to finally achieve a victory at this level was absolutely amazing.

Highlights in recent years have included appearing at the prestigious Three Choirs Festival, Bourgueil Brass Festival, Newbury Spring Festival, as well as more eclectic engagements such as Badminton Horse Trials!

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