Half a century of outstanding musical excellence and dedication was celebrated at the Royal Northern College of Music in Manchester on the weekend, as family, friends and brass band supporters enjoyed a concert in honour of KNDS Fairey Band cornet player Brian Taylor.

Fittingly the band which he joined as a 15-year-old in 1974 rose to lead a standing ovation as he walked to the stage to sit in its ranks under the batons of conductors Phil Chalk and James Gourlay.

Prior to the event, Lancashire Youth Band whom Brian has enjoyed a long association gave a mini concert under MD Neil Raisbeck to welcome guests.

Gourlay flies in

Such has been his contribution to the Stockport band that James Gourlay flew in from Pittsburgh to share the conducting duties with MD Phil Chalk. Brian was the principal cornet when Jim led Fairey to its last British Open success in 1998.

Also making the journey from Dorset were Tony and Margaret Greenham, now in their late 80s. For over 40 years, the band has given a concert in Beaminster hosted by them, forming a close friendship with Brian over the years.

They were delighted to present him with a specially engraved decanter after Mark Peacock had led the audience through a banding 'This is Your Life' of his remarkable career.

Major victories

This has seen four British Open and National Championship wins, a brace of Granada Band of the Year and All England Masters victories, a European title, Brass in Concert, English National, BBC Best of Brass and ten North West Area successes amongst others. No one could quite add up quite how many Whit Friday contests successes he has enjoyed.

Nearly all came under some of the most famous conductors in the banding world — from Walter Hargreaves and Major Peter Parkes to James Gourlay and Allan Withington.

Respect

Such has been the respect he has been held in that many 'rival' players have become lifelong friends — including Alan Morrison, who it was revealed lost out to Brian in the audition to claim the principal cornet seat at the band.

Alan returned once more to play cornet alongside his great friend for the event, whilst others were also noted, including the late Ray Peacock, a man Brian dubbed as his 'second father'.

Such has been his contribution to the Stockport band that James Gourlay flew in from Pittsburgh to share the conducting duties with MD Phil Chalk4BR

Music

The music chosen for the concert also reflected the great contest successes, including the overture 'Le Carnival Romain' on which Brian was principal cornet under Walter Hargreaves when the then Fairey Engineering Band won the 1979 British Open in memorable fashion.

At the close of the concert, current and former players continued the celebrations in the RNCM bar before moving on to other hostelries as the stories and reminiscing continued long into the night.