Reefton Silver Band
As ingrained among miners as the grime of the ground they worked, was a love of band music. With their smart uniforms and gleaming instruments, bandsmen were the rock stars of their time.
The earliest reference to a band in local newspapers was in September 1872 when “a juvenile kerosene tin band” featured in a parade as two unpopular West Coast politicians were burned in effigy. Forming a genuine brass band took longer, but once it was on the march there was no stopping. Although the “town band” took part in the 1877 New Year celebrations, it must have been a temporary organisation, for in August that year the Inangahua Times announced that another attempt was being made to form a brass band, with “every probability of the attempt proving successful.”
Four friendly societies had each promised Five pounds toward the cost of instruments anduniforms, expected to be over Fifty pounds for a band about 12 strong. By October members were “making satisfactory progress towards efficiency.”
As most had formerly belonged to the Ross band, little practice was required for a “most creditable debut” in early December at the Heather Bell Lodge annual celebration. Meanwhile a second band, comprising 12 or 15 “raw recruits” was mastering “simple pieces” under the baton of Herr Schmidt, and by 1880, the upstream mining township of Blacks Point had its own band as well.
A Reefton Amateur Brass Band was formed in 1883. Events that benefited from the band's performances included the hospital fete, fire brigade concert, children's picnic, assorted amateur concerts, and the horse races. When the Reefton band, (also known as the City Brass Band), put on a “concert and Ethiopian entertainment” in aid of its own funds, the Times reported that “the room was crowded, in fact no such attendance has been assembled in Reefton for many a day.”
Bands travelled up to Boatmans for odd concerts and cricket matches, but when foundations were laid there in 1887, the northern mining township boasted its own band, playing “several selections in good style.”
Band music did not charm everybody, a reporter commenting that one performance “would have been listened to with greater delight, if distance had lent charm to the ear.” However, when mine lay-offs seemed likely to affect band membership, the paper declared that “the band has become quite an institution in our midst, and its disorganisation would, we are sure, cause a feeling of general regret.”
By 1890 the Times could proudly claim : “As regards brass bands, we believe that Reefton compares favourably with any town in the colony, and we doubt if any town of a similar size can boast three bands of the prficiency of the Reefton Volunteer, the Blacks Point and the Salvation Army bands.”
In 1901 the Reefton City Band and the Blacks Point Band combined to form the Inangahua Brass Band. In 1915 the band made a decision to purchase silver instruments, for the substantial sum of 581 pounds. The band changed its name to the Inangahua Silver Band and is still performing at some local functions.
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By Alan Hunt
2013
The band hall started its life as a cement storage shed at the racecourse. The building was dismantled and transformed substantially in 1903 by Messrs Angus McMasters and J Green. It has fine acoustics because of its dome shaped ceiling and tongue-in-groove lining, while photos of bands dating back to 1884 watch over today's practices on Wednesday evenings.
Over the years the Hall has also hosted many social functions, such as 21st parties, engagements and wedding breakfasts, as well as Saturday night dances
January 2020
Reefton 1998/99 New Years Eve
to view click here
Holmes show 2007