How Ellington Colliery Band are Celebrating Their Centenary
In celebration of its centenary year, Living North meet Morpeth's Ellington Colliery Band
With members from Morpeth, Tyneside and beyond, the band was founded in 1925 in the mining village of Ellington. Closely associated with the local colliery, rehearsals took place on the site until Ellington Colliery closed in 2005, and the band has been based in Morpeth for more than 10 years now.
‘We take part in many events in the town and really feel part of the community, but we also play further afield, providing live music for many events throughout the region,’ says band manager John Colvine. ‘We also perform at private functions such as weddings and formal dinners.’
It’s a registered charity and all its band members are volunteers. The money they raise goes towards the running of the band and their charitable objectives, including music education. ‘The reduced music provision in education has meant that there are fewer brass musicians being taught in schools,’ explains John. ‘This has led to a drastic reduction in the number of brass bands in our region. Our solution has been to train our own, something that we have been doing for many years. Over 60 percent of our band is “home grown”. We want our brass band to survive and we want to continue to train anyone who wishes to learn to play a brass instrument and to provide music for our community.’
This objective is supported by their ‘Brass Roots’ programme, where anyone can learn to play a brass instrument. ‘Tuition is provided by a group of dedicated volunteers from the band who have many years of experience of brass tuition. A loan instrument is also provided,’ John adds. ‘We try to keep this as accessible as possible by not having a fixed subscription and only asking for voluntary contributions. We currently have around 24 members in our Brass Roots band where the aim is to have fun, make music, make friends and become a part of our main band. There is no age limit, our membership is between eight and over 60 years old.’
To celebrate their centenary, the band will be holding events throughout 2025. ‘There is a concert taking place in May where we will be premiering a new composition commissioned for our centenary,’ says John. ‘A centenary event will be taking place in Ellington where a commemorative plaque will be unveiled adjacent to the existing miner’s statue.’ The band is also putting together a digital archive so that future generations can find out more.
Ellington Colliery Band currently rehearses in the old youth block at King Edward VI School in Morpeth, which they are very grateful for, however, they are seeking their own facility, or to have sole use of a suitable space to continue to grow their work in the community. ‘If we were fortunate enough to obtain our own rehearsal space we would like to expand our training provision and increase the number of learners in our “Brass Roots” programme,’ John adds. ‘We also want to start an adult daytime band for people who may have played in the past, or never played before, so that they can enjoy the physical and mental benefits of playing music.’
