Petworth Town Band hoping for full house at Christmas concert

Bandmaster Martyn Streeter said he would like to see more support from the town. The concert is on Saturday, December 21 at 7pm at St Mary's Church, Petworth, GU28 0AD.

“The programme is basically Christmas music, pretty much all Christmas music. We've got some really exciting pieces. We’ve got some modern and we have got some old and we're also being joined by a group called ReChoired from Turners Hill. They are a very modern choir and very similar to Petworth Town Band. They are a really friendly group and they enjoy what they're doing.

“They came along last year but the link was through my daughter-in-law who sang with the choir a few years ago in and around Crawley. My wife and I went to see them and they just fit in so well. Their ethos is the same as ours – modern and not dirgy and just really enjoyable music.”

And that is the image that Martyn really wants to put across. He suspects there are people that just think ‘Brass band… boring!’ when that is absolutely not the case as far as Petworth is concerned: “We do lots of different stuff. We do a huge variety. We play pop music and we play music from the films and from theatre. And to be honest because we play in such a variety of styles, we are getting younger people coming along to our concerts and also coming along and joining the band.”

Certainly the band has changed with the times: “The history of the band is that we are one of the few bands in West Sussex that are still performing regularly. The band has its roots going back to the early 19th century and throughout those years it's continued as a band but over the last ten to 15 years we realised that the band could not just survive as a brass band. We decided to include instruments such as saxophone and clarinet and flute so we are definitely not boring! It is all about the enjoyment and having fun and we really have got a wide age range and range of abilities. And I often hear from one or two people in Petworth saying that Petworth is really lucky to have a town band. We are appreciated by a few people but there are still an awful lot of people in Petworth that don't support our concerts and I would really, really love to see them support this Christmas concert in the church. We want to get Petworth behind us and we want to have a full venue on December 21.”

Tickets are available on https://www.eventbrite.co.uk/e/petworth-town-band-christmas-concert-tickets-1067276636149

Martyn suspects there are lots of people out there who would love the band if only they knew about them and others who would love to join: “A couple of weeks ago we had a lady join us that had played with the band 25 years ago. She came back and that's fantastic and I'm sure there are a lot of people out there. It costs nothing to join the band. We provide instruments and music and uniforms. And we also have social events. It doesn't cost members anything at all. All we ask is commitment to come along and play with us. We rehearse on a Monday and really it's an hour and a half of free music lesson for everybody. Everybody get so much out of it.”