The forgotten brass bands which brought music to the Powys valleys

However during the 19th century the entire country also embraced brass bands which were formed by musicians in their communities and entertained at civic and cultural events.

Some groups had political causes or formed to champion moral crusades, some had represented factories while some were formed in schools.

In Powys alone more than 100 such bands existed during the 19th century with the sudden boom likely a benefit of the Industrial Revolution which saw workers afforded more recreation time as well as the rise of the bands formed from the many religious congregations.

Rhayader Town Band. Picture courtesy of David James/CARAD.

One of the first brass bands in Powys was founded by one such group in Caersws in 1839.

The Rechabites had championed total abstinence from alcohol and formed brass bands to promote their cause.

While the Caersws Rechabites Brass Band did not last long, it would not be the last such band in Powys formed by the influential International Order of Good Templars group.

The group established itself with a Tent in Rhayader.

Among their meeting places had been the Fleece Temperance Hotel, an alcohol free establishment, where members planned how to teach the young about the perils of alcohol.

A Rhayader branded temperance tea cup. Picture courtesy of CARAD.

The name Rechabites comes from the Old Testament in the Bible, and describes a nomadic tribe that never drank alcohol.

They organised insurance and saving schemes for the poor, as well as establishing the Band of Hope which would include more than three million children across the country by 1900.

In the meantime the sound of brass bands resonated across the valleys of 19th century Powys.

In the same year as the Caersws Rechabites Brass Band was established a group was also formed in Welshpool which was still active in 1891.

Presteigne was home to the first band in Radnorshire in 1844 after a successful appeal for instruments and the group were still active some three decades later and later succeeded by the Presteigne Juvenile Band in 1905.

Newtown Silver Band bandroom. Picture Jaggery/Geograph.

Machynlleth Brass Band formed in 1846 and the new Town Band formed in 1860 which served the town until the 1930s.

Knighton Brass Band was formed in 1849 with 15 members and existed until folding in the 1930s and reformed in 1945 and played until 1949.

At the same time brass bands were formed in Montgomery, Llanymynech, Llansantffraid, Carno, Llanfyllin, Gregynog, Llanerfyl, Bettws, Tregynon, Llanwyddelan, Llanbrynmair and Llanfair Caereinion.

Brass bands of factories in the area congregate in Newtown in the 1880s. Picture by Newtown Local History Group.

As the century wore on bands were formed in Hay, Builth Wells. Dulas, Glasbury, Llanstephen, Llanwrtyd wells and Talgarth.

Newtown Brass Band was formed in 1861 and became the Silver Band in 1890.

Upon the folding of the Pryce Jones Band in 1904 the Newtown Silver Band had purchased their former rival’s instruments and continue to exist to this day.

Newtown Silver Band. Picture by Penny Mayes/Geograph.

Meanwhile Llandrindod Wells Brass Band was founded around 1878 and a second band formed in the 1890 with the Llandrindod Wells Temperance Band playing until the 1950s with a successor band formed in 1969.

Rhayader was home to two bands throughout the 1880s with one reforming in 1897 to celebrate the Jubilee and later succeeded by the Rhayader Volunteer Band and later the Birmingham Water Works Brass Band made up of employees of the Elan Valley Dam scheme.

Elan Valley Band. Picture courtesy of David James/CARAD.

The builders of the Vyrnwy Dam had also formed their own band in 1883 which coincided with bands being formed across the Tanat and Cain Valley throughout the next decade.

Llanidloes Brass Band made its debut on Christmas Day 1885 but in 1901 their instruments were seized by the town council over an unpaid debt who then established a new town band which existed until the 1990s.

Today only a handful of brass bands survive.