I have fond memories of the Clarendon School Brass Band which I belonged to from 1955 to 1961. I recently visited my mother and she showed me some black and white photographs of the band, including close-ups of Roger Elliott (bandmaster) and some that were taken when we visited Mainze in Germany circa 1959.
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Front row second from left I am sure is Robert Ratcliffe who lived 2 doors down from me.
George Parnaby. Just read your note re Neil Palmer and have trying to get in touch as I was in the Clarendon band at the same time during 1959/63. He was chummy with Robert Whitby who is doing the good word in Costa Rica where I have been in contact. ‘Our Oxhey’ have my permission to give out my email address if you have any info. The last I heard was that he was teaching at Harrow School.
I played with Neil Palmer with Engelburt Humberdink at Blackpool we both studied at the Royal Academy of London
Back row third from left is, Ian Mckinnon.
Great to see that so many people have such warm memories of their school days and the school band. I played with the band from around 1965 to 1969 and played in many concerts and shows with Roger Elliott. I have since had a career in music as a pianist and composer and owe him a great deal. The boy in the second row down – third from the right is Neil Palmer who has been a professional trumpeter since those early days. I played in various concerts with him and Roger ( plus Viv Allen from Warren Dell ) and know that he toured with the Beach Boys among many other engagements. I also worked with Steve Coltrini on occasions. Great days.
I recognise Ernie Hyde, he is top left of the picture
Mr Elliott was a fantastic teacher, I got the love of classical music from him, he taught us to listen to the music & pick out the instruments in the orchestra.
I was in the band until 1964 The chap with the valve trombone is John Thorburn. I played bass next to Tony Denyer with whom I would like to make contact if that is possible. Bob Freeman
I think that the little fella in the extreme bottom right of the photograph is Roy Rumball, one of a large family that also lived at the top end of Hayling Road in the 1950s and early 1960s. Possibly Tony O’C. or Bernard Y. could confirm that for me.
Just to confirm that it is my brother Frank in the photograph with Bernard York.
I think that the fellow band member with Bernard York is Frank O’Callaghan, older brother of Tony (with cymbals) in the group shot. Others in the group shot I recognise are are; Ian McKinnon, Chris Clark, David Seal?, Pete French, Kevin Gear, Tony White and Vernon Dukes. All left Clarendon in 1962/63.
The picture of the complete band was taken by my father George Denyer. It was to be put on the front of an LP record that the band made at that time.
Second from the left back row is Anthony Denyer third from left middle row is Neil Palmer and forth is Robert Whitby
How could I possibly have forgotten one of the best players in Roger Elliott’s Brass Band, Stephen Coltrini, who played the drums and is standing on the left hand side of the picture? He was the first member of the Band to be selected to play in the National Youth Orchestra, aged 16 in 1963. The well-known Coltrini family lived at 265, Hayling Road, near the junction with Gosforth Lane.
I’ve seen the colour image before, as a copy was loaned to me by bandsman Tony O’Callaghan for my chapter on The Irish in South Oxhey 1944-2011, in David Reidy’s forthcoming book on the Social and Economic History of the Estate. Tony is seated on the right of the second row, holding the cymbals. On the extreme left of the third row, next to Bernard, is Vernon Dukes, who used to live in Ashburnham Drive. The photograph was taken outside the new Anson Block, Clarendon School, in the summer of 1961. In the black and white picture, taken in the late Fifties, the fellow player with Bernard York could be Tony O’Callaghan’s elder brother, Frank, who used to live at 311 Hayling Road. I had the pleasure of meeting Bernard York again at my brother Peter’s 50th Birthday Party celebration, held at Newcourt, Exeter, Devon, in late October 1995.