By PETER GILLMAN
In control: David Cox, the Croydon Symphonic Band’s musical director, wields a mean baton
What do you do if the orchestra you want to join turns you down?
The answer’s easy. You start your own orchestra.
That, in a nutshell, is what Sue Thom did back in 1973. She was 16 when she auditioned to become one of two clarinet players with the Croydon Youth Philharmonic Orchestra. Sue admits she was nervous and may have “fluffed” some scales, but she still felt deflated when she was rejected.
No matter. With the encouragement of her parents, Sue formed the Croydon Symphonic Band which, 53 years later, is still going strong and contains no fewer than 16 clarinet players among its 60 members.
The CSB is due to stage a concert at Croydon’s Fairfield Halls on June 24, a sign of its progress and ambitions.
The Croydon Youth Philharmonic Orchestra, meanwhile, is no more, although its related body, the Croydon Symphonia Orchestra, is going strong. Nonetheless Sue (now Sue Reeves), feels that the CSB deserves more recognition for its achievements and contribution to Croydon’s cultural life.
Sue was partnered in her enterprise by a fellow clarinettist, Derek Reeves. They were married in 1977. With the addition of a treasurer, they acted as a potent organising force for the band. It soon had 30 members, all like Sue looking for somewhere sociable to play that did not insist on auditions. They were also happy playing in a band, which differs from an orchestra in that it has no stringed instruments, such as violins or cellos. It has three main sections: woodwind, brass and percussion, and is usually known as a wind band.
Founder members: Sue and Derek Reeve helped to form the CSB, and later married
The band’s first music director was a former Army musician who played the oboe and selected short pieces in what Sue calls “the brass band tradition”. A key moment in the band’s development came in 1980 with the appointment of an imaginative music director, David Cox. Cox was also a clarinet player. His wife Jackie is now the band’s principal flautist.
“We started off playing run-of-the-mill military stuff that everybody expects,” David recalls. “But we gradually extended our repertoire to include modern composers who are writing for wind-bands.” Even so, the music remains “extremely accessible”, David says.
In the running of the band, the respective responsibilities are clearly delineated: the committee and Sue handles the admin and David (as music director and conductor) runs the music, which includes selecting the repertoire.
As was evident during a lively Wednesday evening rehearsal at Christ Church hall in West Croydon, David wields a stern baton. “I have my ways with them,” he says. “They will come to order when I need them to.
“Most of all, we have fun. We make music and enjoy the music, and the social life and community of the band are extremely strong.”
The band’s busy social life, organised by its social secretary, includes post-rehearsal visits to the nearby pub and meals out together.
Over the decades, the band has some notable achievements to its name. It has conducted regular overseas tours, to Belgium, Germany and France, including two appearances on stage at Disneyland Paris.
Social scene: weeknight rehearsals in a West Croydon church hall are usually followed by a visit to a local pub
It enters the National Concert Band Festival, taking part in the finals (participation by invitation) on 11 occasions. The band is especially proud that at the 2023 NCBF finals in Manchester, it won its seventh gold medal.
For many years the band staged concerts at the Arnhem Gallery at the Fairfield Halls. In 1998, it took the plunge and performed in the Concert Hall for the first time. “It was a big leap,” says Sue – not least because of the daunting financial commitment involved in hiring the hall.
For its 50th anniversary concert at Fairfield in 2023, the band commissioned a work from the leading wind-band composer Philip Sparke, who wrote a 10-minute overture called Fair Field Festival.
So high are the rental and equipment fees charged by the venue management that the band’s Fairfield appearances usually have to be subsidised by the revenue from other concerts, membership fees, donations and charity funding.
The band is looking forward to returning to Fairfield in June, playing an enticing selection on the theme of “Around the British Isles” which will include Henry Wood’s Fantasia on British Sea Songs, familiar from the BBC Proms; Holst’s Folk Song Suite; An English Country Garden, by Percy Grainger; and The Padstow Lifeboat (Malcolm Arnold).
At a recent rehearsal for the concert, music director David Cox kept the band on its musical toes. When it played Greensleeves, he instructed: “If you are playing the melody, don’t romanticise it too much, because you get out of sync with the others.” During another piece he warned: “If you do miss those quavers, you do have to rush to catch up.”
Despite the financial commitment, the band feels it is only right and proper that it should play at the Fairfield Halls, now beginning to regain its lustre following a long closure caused by its renovation, plus covid. It is, in any case, just about the only Croydon venue that can accommodate a 60-piece band and the resounding noise it makes.
Recruitment drive: the CSB is seeking new musicians – and doesn’t hold auditions
Sue and Derek admit to feeling a little aggrieved that the band is not accorded greater recognition in Croydon. When the council prepared to reopen the bandstand in Wandle Park in 2012, with Croydon’s civic mayor performing the honours, they somehow assumed that Croydon’s very own band would be invited to play. No invitation arrived.
“We waited and waited for a phone call,” says Derek. “It never happened.”
So Derek took the initiative and called the council to suggest that the band took part, and the council agreed. “We invited ourselves to the opening,” Derek observes. He contrasts this with the band’s experience of touring in Germany, when they visited a town of 5,000 people and were greeted by the mayor, who promptly escorted them on a tour of the local sights. ,
The band now performs at the Wandle bandstand every summer – the next date is July 12. The acoustics of playing in the open air can be challenging but Sue says that the concerts “are very light-hearted, and members of the public are encouraged to bring a picnic.”
The band remains keen to attract recruits, particularly for fourth horn and percussion players. It does have an impressive age spread but especially welcomes younger players.
It still does not audition prospective members, but leaves it very much to their own judgement, as Derek explains. “When we get new people, I tell them you’re here for the night and if you enjoy it, you’re welcome back next week.”
For Sue, after 53 years the band’s allure is as strong as ever. “Playing with the band allows me to forget – or at least, put to one side – the trials and tribulations of life. The power of music when played in a group is definitely therapeutic and sometimes very emotional. It is also about community and a shared enjoyment of playing together.”
Back in 1973, she says, she became part of a group of music makers.
“Now I cannot imagine my life without it.”
- To find out more about the band, and how to join, go to https://www.csb.org.uk/
- To book tickets for the Fairfield concert on June 24, click here
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- Coleridge-Taylor’s old band preparing for fresh set of encores
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