The second Stalham Fringe Festival was held on the recent Bank Holiday in North Norfolk, where choirs, jazz bands, African drummers, a ukelele band, pop dance groups, a ceilidh band and even some Egyptian dances provided wonderful entertainment for the crowds.

Bang in the middle of it all was Stalham Brass Band under director of music Tim Thirst MBE — performing on its home East Anglian turf 170 years since it was formed.

Mobile studio

Standing alongside the band was its mobile music studio. Run by a charity set up by Tim, it seats up to 20 players and travels to schools in North Norfolk giving weekly free brass tuition and free loan of instruments to children aged 7 — 16.

Over the years these new players have helped keep the Stalham Band on the road too, whilst Tim has notched up an incredible 57 years of playing — the last 20 also as MD.