Worksop Miners Welfare Band

Bands in the Mining Industry


No study of Brass Bands in the area could be complete without reference to the many colliery bands formed following the sinking of collieries in the Nottinghamshire, Derbyshire and South Yorkshire Coalfields. 

Owing to the geographical location of Worksop within Nottinghamshire and the concentration of mines to the West of Bassetlaw, the distribution of Bands is inclined to follow that area. 

It is either an accident of history, geology or the machinations of the former National Coal Board which places Worksop in the South Yorkshire Coalfield. This is not to say that there were no Town Bands and Village Bands elsewhere within Bassetlaw, though few if any achieved a high degree of success in competition. Nevertheless they provided that local community spirit and identity which served the residents of those areas in all the ways a Brass Band does.

No account of local bands would be complete without reference to the World Famous Creswell Colliery Band, who won the British Open Championship in 1947, under the baton of conductor Harold Moss. The band had been striving for this success since 1940 when they came second; third in 1943, and second in 1944. The band subsequently made a considerable number of radio broadcasts and recordings, and on one occasion playing for His Majesty King. George 6th. 

Creswell Colliery Band outside the Royal Albert Hall in 1948

 

A comparison drawn between the situation at the turn of the century and ninety years later shows a dramatic reduction in the number and distribution of Bands in the area, due in part to the decline of the mining industry. Most Colliery Bands were supported by the mine owners and later by the Coal Industry Social Welfare Organisation (CISWO) and the former National Coal Board. It is said that in the early years the mine owners bestowed patronage on their bandsmen in giving them comparativly light or surface duties. Others who did not wish to encourage a band did precisely the opposite!

Many Bands sustained themselves using instruments which were provided by CISWO, who could and do insist on their return if the Band severed their connection with a colliery or the mining industry. Instruments have always been expensive by comparison with the level of wages/salaries pertaining at any one time. The financial difficulties of the Worksop Band in the 1920's is evidence a local band trying to maintain independence.

Closed Collieries

Other Local Bands