THE Somerset Brigade Band (SBB), under Bandmaster Major Leslie Lowe, JP, has been roundly applauded for its Music Festival that launched the band?s celebration of its 77th year of continuous service.

The festival was followed the next day by a spectacular parade to and from the morning service at the Somerset New Testament Church of God, and a luncheon at Somerset Cricket Club sponsored by the Band?s Ladies Auxiliary.

The band has other events set for the coming months, including the most extensive of its biennial tours that have taken SBB as far afield as Hong Kong, New York, Toronto and London.

This year the plan is to visit Portugal and London. Also at the end of summer, there will be an even bigger music festival, according to Bandmaster Lowe.

It will feature SBB massed in concert at the Ruth Seaton James Centre for the Performing Arts with the Bermuda Regiment Band, Bermuda Island Pipe Band, Salvation Army Divisional Band, North Village Band, which is well on the way towards regeneration under Major Toki Dill, Bermuda Philharmonic Choir and Toni Robinson among other participants who will perform not as individuals, but en masse.

SBB decided that the theme for Saturday?s festival should emphasise the role family participation had played in the continuity of the band?s success. The Lowe family was singled out to highlight the theme, with the event being under the distinguished patronage of the Speaker of the House of Assembly Stanley Lowe, who is a brother of Major Lowe.

The master of ceremonies was a nephew, pastor Daron T. Lowe of Radnor Road Christian Fellowship. A soloist was sister-in-law, Alice Lowe, who is an entertainer turned minister; she gave a powerful rendition of and A niece, Chantelle Lowe, teamed up in an interpretative dance with Tanaya Tucker, a granddaughter of former SBB Bandmaster Alan Tucker.

Another highlight of Saturday?s festival was the debut of the SBB Junior Band, which has been put in the hands of veterans Reggie Tucker and Maxi Maybury to organise.

?We want to show the country our band is viable; we have a training programme aimed at bringing youngsters into the band with the hope they will stay and SBB will live on for another 70 or more years.?

Saturday?s concert began with military precision, exactly on time, with a fanfare from the augmented SBB-titled It was written by Major Lowe.

And the programme ended on a similarly high note with a march, written especially for the event called The bandmaster said a month ago he was reflecting on the family concept of the festival, and most particularly how proud the two sisters and seven brothers were of the accomplishments of their sibling, Mr. Lowe, the Speaker of the House.

?I reflected how we always hear from all sides in and out of Parliament, the call, Mr. Speaker! Mr. Speaker!, to get his attention. It was that sound I had in my head and I tried to capture it in the rhythm that I put into the march.?

From there, the bandmaster told the standing-room-only audience, he built the melody and the structure of the march. It was then played for the first time in public.

When the sustained applause died down, Major Lowe called his brother to the stage and presented him with a photographic enlargement of the original manuscript, the corners of which were embellished with pictures of Speaker Lowe in his wig and gown. In due course, the march will be played on the road, and will be recorded along with other special pieces the band has in its repertoire.

Another feature of the programme worthy of note was the appearance of long-time SBB friend Dr. Mike McDonough, along with other members of the Bermuda Trombone Quartette, Bernard Pitman, Graham Maule and John Johnson. Dr. McDonough expects to leave Bermuda soon.

Renditions by the trombonists included and in tribute to the late Hubert Smith.

And there was the surprise tribute to Mrs. Lillian Levon of Devonshire, who was called up from the audience. The band was aware she was celebrating her 90th birthday that day, and in her honour they played an upbeat version of the old standard , as arranged by bandsman Hiram Edwards. Mrs. Levon?s late husband was a World War Two veteran.

The festival concluded with a tribute to SBB members who had passed on. They were saluted with J. Dawson?s arrangement of with its interspersions of the familiar military sounds of

Somerset Brigade Band was formed on February 12, 1930. Major Lowe was invited to be bandmaster some time after his retirement in 1990 as Director of Music of the Bermuda Regiment. He had served for 30 years in the Regiment. His predecessor at SBB was another regimental band veteran, Alan Tucker.