Fairey Band

The Fairey Band is a brass band based in Heaton Chapel in Stockport, Greater Manchester.

Its name comes from Sir Richard Fairey and the Fairey Aviation Company, famous in later years for the Fairey Delta 2 aircraft - the first aircraft in level flight to exceed 1,000 mph, and had an important contribution to the shape of Concorde and its droop nose.

Fairey Aviation

The Fairey Delta 2

The band was formed in 1937 as the Fairey Aviation Works Band by workers at the aircraft factory. This was at a time when the company was producing aircraft that would see plenty of action in the first few weeks of World War II, although sadly few of its aircraft would be of sufficient calibre to pose a real threat to German aircraft. Its aircraft mainly carried torpedoes for the Fleet Air Arm, especially the old-fashioned yet versatile and destructive Fairey Swordfish. Fairey were taken over by Westland Aircraft of Yeovil, chiefly due to its innovative Fairey Rotodyne.

Sponsorship

It became known as the Williams Fairey Band when Fairey Engineering was taken over by Williams Holdings in 1986. This company was bought by the American Kidde fire safety company in 2000, although the band retained the Williams Fairey name. The sponsorship by Kidde finished at the end of 2002. In 2003, they were sponsored by FP (Music), a subsidiary of Fosters Partners (Asia). At the beginning of 2010 the band acquired a new sponsorship in the shape of the British brass instrument maker "Geneva Instruments" and became known as the “Fairey (Geneva) Band”. This arrangement ceased during 2011 whence the band reverted to its original name of "The Fairey Band".

Contest Record

The band has been very successful at the major national contests since its inception in 1937, however this was curtailed following the loss of company sponsorship in 2002. Following several lean contesting years, and a considerable rebuilding process, 2010 saw a remarkable resurgence in the bands fortunes. They achieved overall victory in the Tameside Whit Friday march competitions and an invitation to the 2011 European Brass Band Championship in Montreux courtesy of their victory at the 2010 English National Brass Band Championship. Further success followed with runners up spots at the 2010 British Open and Brass in Concert Championships, and a 3rd place at the National Championship finals at London's Albert Hall.

Full contest winning record:

National Champions of Great Britain: 1945, 1952, 1954, 1956, 1965, 1986, 1993, 2002, 2003

British Open Champions: 1941, 1942, 1945, 1947, 1949, 1950, 1956, 1961, 1962, 1963, 1965, 1979, 1987, 1993, 1998

English National Champions: 2010

All England Masters Champions: 1996, 1997

European Champions: 1994

Brass in Concert Champions: 1996

North West Area Champions: 1947, 1951, 1952, 1954, 1959, 1963, 1978, 1980, 1984, 1986, 1992, 1996, 1997, 2001, 2014, 2015

BBC Television Champion Brass: 1976, 1977, 1979

BBC Best of Brass: 1978

Granada Television Band of the Year: 1979, 1980

BBC Radio Band of the Year: 1987, 1988

Musical Directors

• Harry Mortimer
• Leonard Lamb
• Kenneth Dennison
• Walter Hargreaves
• Roy Newsome
• Major Peter Parkes
• James Gourley
• Howard Snell
• Alan Withington
• Simon Stonehouse
• Philip Chalk
• Russell Gray
• Garry Cutt

See also

• Acid Brass

References

External links

• The Fairey Band
• WFEL - the company that used to be Williams Fairey

Video clips

• Collection of clips
• Festmusic der Stadt Wien with Fairey's history
• Festival at Delph in 1998.
• Acid Brass at the Innocent Drinks Village Fete in 2007.
• Innocent Village Fete in 2007 with the Blaydon Races in Regent's Park.