Barrow Steelworks Band celebrated its 100th birthday in 1989 having entertained generations of townspeople and passed on its proud musical tradition to members young and old.
In 1989, The Mail reported that the band was formed in 1889 by Nimrod Wood, the organist at St James’ Church, Barrow.
Band members practised in a room over the Queen’s Hotel in Duke Street.
Barrow Steelworks Band in 1989
The band won first prize in a brass band competition in Workington in its first year of existence.
It grew and flourished and moved from the Queen’s Hotel into the steelworks wages hut.
By the 1930s the Barrow Iron and Steelworks Band was a formidable force, not just locally but nationwide.
Barrow Steelworks Band members Gareth Hillbeck and Chris Jackson celebrating the band receiving £1,000 from Barrow's Neighbourhood Forum at the band's rehearsal at Barrow Library in 1995
Band members raised funds by selling raffle tickets each week with a prize of ten shillings for the winner.
Perhaps the band’s crowning achievement came in 1933 at the Junior Annual Championship festival for brass bands, held at Belle Vue, Manchester.
Conductor Arthur Baker, of Dalton, took a young band to the competition, where it was up against top brass bands from all over the country.
Barrow Steelworks Band playing at Dalton Abbeyfield Society's national 40th anniversary garden party in 1996
But it came away with first prize, taking the 100 guineas gold championship challenge cup back to Barrow.
The young band were the toast of the town. Headlines in The Mail proclaimed: "Barrow band sweeps the board, phenomenal success at Manchester, youth wins the day."
The band changed its name to Barrow Steelworks Band in the 1950s when the ironworks closed. In the 1960s the band was in the doldrums and the number of musicians was at a low ebb. But members rallied round and it kept on going.
JOIN: Members of Barrow Steelworks Band were joined by pupils from Dane Ghyll School for a carol singing event in Barrow Museum
In 1983 the steelworks shut down but the band continued, moving to the children’s library in Ramsden Square where it still practised each Monday night in 1989.
In October 1989 the band celebrated its 100th anniversary in style with a centenary concert at the Lisdoonie Hotel, with a specially-written Centenary March in the programme. A forerunner of the band was The Rising Star Life Boat Crew.
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