A Brief History of the Development of Brass Bands in Great Britain.
by Lindsay R. Paterson.

Abstract

Vital community music making or irrelivant and outmoded; where does the traditional British-style brass band stand at the start of the New Millenium?

Brass bands have witnessed many changes over the last 150 years. While it is rightly assumed that Great Britain is the historical centre of banding and this paper concentrates primarily upon the development of banding in the British Isles, other countries, bands and individuals will be mentioned herein as deemed appropriate by the author.

It may benefit today's players to examine the history of this so-called "movement". By viewing the past, the modern brass bander can gain a greater appreciation of a musical form now enjoyed throughout Gt. Britain, northern Europe, North America, Japan and Australasia.

Brass Bands did not first appear in a form that we would readily recognise today. The Harvard Dictionary of Music (1970) may not be incorrect in defining Brass Bands as simply “a group of brass instruments”. However, the actual instrumentation that would now identify what we refer to as the “traditional” British-style Brass Band, has seen many decades of development and evolution throughout much of the 19th. Century. However, this is not to state that that brass instruments have not been associated together prior to this period of history.

Early instrumentation

The ancestor of the Trombone (or Sackbut in old English) first arrived in England in Tudor times and was played mostly by foreigners, many of whom hailed from Venice. From the early 1500’s, Trombones held important functions of playing chamber, dance and processional music. Later in the century they came to support sacred music and, at times, were actively involved in church liturgy. Apart from royalty, provincial employers of trombonists were the “waits” who were initially formed during the Middle Ages to act as watchmen. Part of their function developed as instrumentalists who would play to “raise alarm or.... herald a distinguished visitor”. The somewhat tenuous role of waits in the later development of seminal brass bands will be discussed later. By the early 18th. Century, the Trombone had fallen into disuse, only to be reintroduced into Britain in 1784, once again in the hands of imported musicians.

Unlike the Trombone, natural Trumpets and Horns were not fully chromatic, given the absence of valves at that time. They played only the natural harmonic series. Trumpets lent themselves admirably to militaristic uses and slowly gained in popularity with the decline of the Trombone. They found a lasting voice in the music of Purcell, Clarke and Blow.

Early instrument groupings

The earliest military-style bands which featured brass and woodwinds appeared in the 1600’s, but they gained greater popularity mid way into the next century. They usually consisted of 6 to 12 players who would play from a selection of percussion, trumpet, clarinet, fife, flute, horn, bassoon, serpent and (sometimes) trombone.

Church bands came about in rural areas, doubling and supporting song parts. This was due to the 1644 Puritan ban upon church organs. While not every organ disappeared, instrumental ensembles were the logical step to redress the widespread lack of accompaniment for the liturgy. Neither did every church form it’s own band. Instrumentation mainly consisted of strings and woodwind, brass was rarely utilised. However when organs began their general reappearance from the late 18th. Century, displaced musicians moved in a more secular direction, possibly laying the foundation for latter day community ensembles.

“Bands” were often cited as being an important part of community life and celebrations in the first decades of the 19th. Century, but little if any detail survives concerning their actual instrumentation. Herbert (1988) offers an interesting possible background to the three main present-day band movements in Britain :
- the present day BRASS band is roughly the modern equivalent of the City Waits;
- the Salvation Army is the modern day church band;
- the modern Military/concert band is descended from the original British Army bands.

While the first point may carry some validity, the other two are maybe a little tenuous. True, one can draw what seems to be obvious similarities in the ethos of old church and Salvationist bands, however the first Salvation Army ensembles came about with the voluntary introduction of instrumental playing by members themselves and NOT from any known link to established groups from the established mainstream church.

The British Army influence cannot be ignored in the formation of community bands. The two most striking, and lasting, similarities are the presence of marches in the present day repertoire and the general wearing of uniforms by bands at every level of ability. When soldiers, with their attendant bands, were sent to areas of unrest during the turbulent social period of the Industrial Revolution, the workers who went on to form the early bands were obviously impressed with what they saw in the military music scene, (if not the brutal methods employed to put down the disgruntled populace!). There is more than a hint of irony that Manchester’s Free Trade Hall, venue for more recent British Open band championships, is sited upon the former St. Peters Field, place of the Peterloo Massacre in 1819. It must also be noted that army musicians returning from the Napoleonic conflict would have moved back into civilian life with an ongoing interest in music making in a band context.

By the early 1800’s, few “waits” survived and those that did by 1835 were obliterated by the Municipal Corporation Act of that year. However, there seems little evidence to propose that former city waits had any pivotal influence upon early brass/pre brass groupings.

Early military, church and village bands provided “an important legacy for the eventual development of the brass band movement” in that “a tradition of literate, instrumental ensemble music making outside the professional, middle-and-upper class enclaves in which such activity had previously been centred”.

Pre ‘brass-only’ ensembles

Over many years of banding activities, there has been debate as to who is the “oldest” band. An immediate problem was, and still is, the lack of reliable evidence to substantiate a claim of longevity. The other problem is the actual instrumentation at time of formation.

Several top brass bands have their roots far back before all-brass ensembles. Besses o’ th’ Barn Band started life as Clegg’s Reed Band in 1818 (although Howarth suggests the 1790’s), and later changed it’s title to Besses o’ th’ Barn Military Band. Black Dyke Mills Band, arguably the most famous brass band in the world, began in 1816 as a brass and reed group in the Yorkshire village of Queen’s Head (now Queensbury) with one John Foster as a member. Foster ultimately founded a textile mill in 1854 and took on the struggling village band as part of his weaving enterprise. By the late 19th. Century, other bands were also claiming a distinguished lineage. The Stalybridge Old Band commenced in 1814, competing in the first know contest in Sheffield in 1818. The New Mills Old Prize Band started in 1812 as a brass and reed ensemble, as did the Coxlodge Band in 1809.

Brass only ensembles

The main reason for the absence of all-brass groups early in the early 19th. century was probably the lack of chromatic flexibility in many brass instruments. Keyed bugles, such as Halliday's (1810), could provide a certain amount, however there was a heavy reliance upon clarinets and flutes to provide the lead melody lines. Even into the first half of last century, it was not unheard of to have clarinets adding flexibility to the lead lines of a "brass" band, as indicated by some published repertoire of the era. The invention of the piston valve around 1815 by Blumel, and it's subsequent development by Stolzel, led to considerably greater flexibility in playing. Original documentation for this period is sadly lacking, but it appears that the first mixed bands to convert to brass only did so in the early to mid 1830's. Even then, standardisation of instrumentation is something that was not achieved until very late in the century. Furthermore, not every isolated, non-contesting band played with standard instrumentation, a situation that probably continued well into the first half of the 20th. century.

Mid 19th. Century Instrumentation

By the standards of today, early brass band instrumentation seems rather weird............early cornets and trombones would be easily recognised; however the presence of such items as the french horn, valve trombone, cornopean, ophicleide, bass horn and serpent would be very much out of place in the modern brass band! Arguably, the biggest contribution to modern band instrumentation was made by Belgian-born Adolphe Sax, who patented the Saxhorn in Paris in 1843. This proved to be quite controversial when he became "...ruinously embroiled in litigation..." in defence of his patent. John Distin and his five sons were largely responsible for the introduction of the Saxhorn into Gt. Britain, where it quickly became popular thanks to it's use by Louis Jullien's orchestra. It showcased the Distins in 1844 on a set of Saxhorns newly acquired from Sax in Paris. Distin had commissioned Sax to make a set of instruments of differing sizes and pitches after seeing a concert organised by Hector Berlioz which featured Sax's invention. The family ultimately gained the British agency for the distribution of Saxhorns. These instruments also created considerable interest at the Great Exhibition at Crystal Palace in 1851. Although virtuosic brass performance would have possible on valves soon after their invention, valve skill was not widespread until the 1840's. Indeed, the best British players gained their reputations with the use of keys and slides between the years of 1800 to 1840.

Brass instruments became very popular in Britain around this time. As for today's young learner, brass provided a sturdy, easy to hold instrument that provided durability and comparative ease of mass production. This led to the availability of reasonably cheap equipment. Costs fell in partly due to the removal of tariffs associated with the Cobden-Chevalier treaty of 1860 and increased volume and competition among retailers and manufacturers. Large scale production was indeed in place by the 1850's, as indicated by the early success of Manchester maker Joseph Higham. Also, given the increasing numbers of music teachers and a new social environment, brass went through a boom that showed no signs of slowing until after the turn of the century.

Repertoire

Obviously, no specialised, commercial music was available for these early bands. In the 1830's, the first journals appeared which would provide the subscribing band with several pieces per annum. Bands would subscribe on an annual basis and receive an agree number of transcriptions which usually allowed for the non-standard instrumentation of the day. Richard Smith's 'Champion Brass Band Journal' appeared in 1857. In 1875, Thomas Wright and Henry Round founded a journal in Liverpool. Both companies survive to this day. It is not unreasonable then to propose that the journal publishers probably had a long term influence upon the standardisation of instrumentation, given that it was commercially more viable to produce set print runs for standard instruments. Aside from commercially available music, bandmasters probably did their own arrangements from piano reductions that were comparatively cheap and readily available; this pre-dated the journals and is a practise which still exists to this day and usually reflect the musical ability of the band. These home-grown, specialist arrangements would grow in the form of a manuscript book for each instrument grouping.

For a greater examination of this topic, please refer to the paper by the same author, published at www.testpiece.i8.com

Further development

Bands flourished in this exciting climate of growth. Three types of bands began to emerge mid way through the 19th. Century. The first tended to be on a 'paternalistic' basis, linked to a single workplace or beneficiary. The second were subscription bands which usually enjoyed the support of the wider community, temperance societies or mechanics institutes. After 1859, a third type, being bands of the Volunteer Movement, came into existence. That is not to say that all three types of bands evolved and existed in isolation from each other.

To the contrary, there was much cross-polination between them, probably typified by the fact that some Volunteer Bands were merely former subscription bands with a changed name. Probably the most famous of the paternalistic grouping is Black Dyke Mill Band. When taken over by John Foster in 1854, the old village band of Queenshead was provided with valved instruments, a rehearsal venue and a 'band teacher'. Another of these bands was the Cyfartha Band of Merthyr Tydfil, South Wales. It formed in 1838 under the direct patronage of industrialist Robert Thompson Crawshay. Some players for these 'private' bands came from travelling shows such as Wombwell's Circus and Menagerie, Batty's Menagerie, Howe's Great London Circus and Cooke's Equestrian Circus. One can understand the attraction for these itinerant musicians of not having to travel the length of the country to earn their living. Astute industrialists and mine owners, perhaps noting the violent social upheavals of Europe and closer to home, felt it prudent to "...keep their workers happy".

For a reasonably short time, the Volunteer Movement witnessed a proliferation of bands. With the British Empire ever expanding, authorities became fearful that, with the cream of the nation's forces scattered around the globe, the circumstances would be right for a foreign army to invade. Parliament enabled the setting up of a network which would encourage able-bodied males to train as reserve militia. Soon, the advantages of a resident band to provide appropriate music for drill and special parades became apparent. Some bands, probably lured by the prospect of secure funding, equipment, uniforms etc., simply changed their name and transferred in their entirety to the local Volunteer unit. Military bandmasters ultimately had a lasting influence upon the brass band movement as musical directors, adjudicators or music arrangers.

The first Temperance band appeared in 1836. This was the Bramley Band. The first musically successful group of this kind was the Mossley Temperance Saxhorn Band that did well at the Belle Vue (Manchester) contest in 1853.

Encouragement for the fledgling movement came from an unexpected source. According to Herbert, an attitude of "rational recreation" was proposed by some in the upper-middle and upper classes. It was a concern of some in these higher classes that the working class was susceptible to "many ills" and that banding, as well as hand bell and vocal choirs, would provide a "panacea". One W. H. Wills wrote in an 1859 edition of Household Words, "....the habits and manners of these men appear to have been decidedly improved by these softening influences".

Another great standardising influence upon both instrumentation and repertoire was contesting. One early contest (1821) was of an impromptu nature and saw Besses o' th' Barn Band win by simply playing the anthem God save the King! By mid century, the need for a common testpiece in higher profile competitions, such as the British Open, resulted in the first of such pieces, this being Orinthea by James Melling (1855). Contests themselves appear to have been around almost as long as bands. Elgar Howarth is not far wrong when he states that "contests are the lifeblood of the band world". He proposes that they probably started through "natural rivalry" and appear to have been partly influenced by similar European events witnessed by key British persons of influence, as in the case of Lady Chichester, who encouraged the Burton Constable contest of 1845. It is speculated that that Her Ladyship had some contact with France where contests of this nature were popular.

Contests in general, especially events such as "The Open", grew quickly in popularity, thanks in part to the expanding rail network throughout Britain at that time. Railway companies found it commercially attractive to offer special group concession rates which allowed not only bands, but also their supporters, to travel long distances in pursuit of their hobby. James Melling and John Jennison promoted a fife and drum contest at Manchester's Belle Vue Zoological Gardens in 1852 and added a band contest the following year. Despite the late arrival of some excursion trains, approximately 16,000 attended the 1853 contest.

Personalities

Three important conductors emerged from the 19th. Century, these being Alexander Owen, Edwin Swift and John Gladney. It is indicative that only one of these three came from a "musical" family as such, this being Gladney. The others came from a more working class background; Owen was an orphan and Swift worked in the textile industry up until age 32 when he finally become a professional conductor. He had continued to work in a knitting mill from several years despite being a successful arranger and musical director.

Contest promoters were also important to the fledgling brass band movement. As mentioned previously, Messers Melling and Jennison were responsible for the first British Open at Belle Vue. In 1859, Enderby Jackson's contest for hand bell ringers proved his organisational skill and the following year, his "great National Contest" and Sydenham Amateur Contest, run over two consecutive days at the London Crystal Palace, proved enormously successful with The Times newspaper reporting an estimated audience for the first day's massed performance of 1,200. Although this event did not survive past the following year, the seed was sown for important Crystal Palace contests some 40 years hence.

The Salvation Army

Charles Fry and his sons played at a Salvationist "musical service" on the 7th. of July, 1878. Their music apparently proved useful in calming and focusing the gathered "mob" and this concept was picked up the next year in Consett. By 1880, the corps of Nottingham, Hull and Whitechapel utilised music as part of their worship and evangelistic activities. The Army's founder, General Booth, possibly noting some of the problems encountered by volunteer and "strayed" Temperance bands, moved to keep his bands separated from the mainstream. This consolidated in 1883 when the Salvationist's own Music Department was founded to produce it's own repertoire. Later in 1889, this was expanded into the manufacture, repair and sales of musical instruments. Most of these restrictions were to survive well into the next century.

The "Golden Age"(?)

The popularity of the brass band movement arguably peaked around the last decade of the 19th. Century. Banding had found a voice in many specialist publications, the most famous and long lasting being the weekly British Bandsman which was founded by Sam Cope in 1887. Outdoor engagements in parks and in seaside resorts were at the height of popularity and contests offered not only cash prizes, but also instruments to the most successful competitors. Probably the towering figure of this era was John Henry Iles. In 1889, while on a business trip in Manchester, a hotel porter recommended he attend a local contest for entertainment. With no prior interest in the movement, he was highly inspired by what he saw and heard. Upon his return to London, he set about acquiring both the British Bandsman paper and publishers R. Smith and Co. With the Boer War at it's height, he proposed and organised a Grand Patriotic Concert with massed bands and gained the Royal Albert Hall as the venue with the assistance of Sir Arthur Sullivan. The major work was the Sullivan arrangement of Rudyard Kipling's patriotic poem The Absent Minded Beggar. The event was a great success and Sullivan, who had shown some initial reluctance, was greatly moved by the experience. With tears in his eyes, he apparently asked Iles, "What can be done for these fellows?" As Sullivan was one the Crystal Palace directors, he ensured that the 1900 National Brass band Championship would return there.

Dissatisfaction was growing with the use of classical art music as testpieces arranged by similar composers year after year (like Charles Godfrey from 1872 to 1908). In a visionary move, Iles commissioned Percy Fletcher to compose the first original testpiece..... Labour and Love in 1913. While meeting with resistance from conservative elements within the movement, this piece became firmly established within the repertoire and is still heard to this day.

It was Iles who organised the world tour of the Besses o' th' Barn Band in 1906-07 which took in America, Australasia, Fiji, Hawaii and Canada. They went abroad again in 1909, this time visiting South Africa. Besses' tours had a tremendous effect in the brass band world, not the least here in Australia, where their visit to Melbourne brought the central city to a standstill when thousands of well-wishers flocked to see them. At least two leading composers/arrangers led the movement from the 19th. to the 20th. Centuries. James Ord Hume (1864-1932) was a highly regarded composer, arranger and adjudicator. Born in Scotland, he became solo cornet for the Royal Scots Greys in 1880. He was responsible for many developments within the movement, such as arranging the Test at the reestablished Crystal Palace contest in 1900. He was responsible for some original band works, such as his Bohemian Suite. His adjudication activities brought him here to Australia, including the Ballarat Royal South Street contests of 1902 and 1924.

William Rimmer (1862-1936) is still regarded by some to be the "King" of brass bands. He was a top cornetist with the Besses and Kingston Mills bands, then started to train the relatively unknown Wingates Temperance and Irwell Springs bands. Early in the century he was appointed editor of the Cornet Brass and Military Band Journal and quickly gained a big reputation as an arranger and composer, especially for his marches. His contest record was most successful over the very short time 1905 to 1909.

The Mortimer family started with father Fred (born 1879) who was a highly regarded conductor, particularly of Foden's Motors Band. With his sons Alex (euphonium) and Harry (cornet), arguably "the most famous bandsman of all", the Mortimers influenced more than one generation of bandsmen with their skilful conducting and virtuosic playing. Harry's reputation started when he began cornet at age 5, his Nationals debut at 11. He was conducting the Luton Juniors at 14 and worked in theatre pit orchestras for 10 years while still in his teens. At 22 he became Solo Cornet with his farther's Fodens band and then crossed over to the Halle Orchestra in 1927. By World War Two he had been Principal Trumpet with the Liverpool Philharmonic and B.B.C. Northern Orchestras before being appointed Supervisor of Brass and Military Bands with the B.B.C. He maintained this position for many years and fulfilled an important role during the War years with band music much in demand on radio.

Difficult times

Undoubtedly, the Great War had a disastrous effect on a movement that had already started a decline after the turn of the new century. The sheer waste of human life decimated the younger generation of players. War even effected the Belle Vue Nationals which were cancelled twice this century for "the duration" of conflict. The Twenties and Thirties saw much social upheaval and industrial unrest. Howarth speculates that the Second World War did not have the wide ranging detrimental effect that the First did, given that the Second War helped by encouraging a general boom after the Depression. Obviously, works bands connected with essential industries for the war effort benefited greatly during this time. Also, the War gave female players a chance with many bands due the inevitable absence of regular male members. The Cable and Wireless Band in London was formed in 1940 by Sir Edward Wilshaw to provide a musical outlet initially for telegram boys, but later in the War, their female colleagues were also able to join.

Later in the 1940's, changes were still afoot. The nationalisation of the coal mines caused the disappearance of some bands associated with privately owned pits. The post-war boom saw more works bands come into being while others ceased to exist when the economic bubble burst. This era also brought increased changes in leisure activities, many of which were more home centred, like television, radio and phonograph records. The late Fifties and early Sixties brought direct competition from Rock & Roll music, especially for the hearts and minds of potential young players.

The Modern Era

During the years around 1970, bands witnessed a subtle shift in their entertainment activities. Outdoor work virtually disappeared for many and was replaced by indoor concerts. Since early in the century, brass bands had played in High Pitch well after the musical mainstream had moved to A=440. Instrument makers Boosey and Hawkes announced in 1965 that they could no longer afford to maintain two separate assembly lines for high and standard instruments. Over the next few years, top bands reequipped themselves with new instruments, while poorer bands had to make do with conversion of old instruments. Other, more isolated, non-contesting groups probably stayed with high pitch for an indefinite time.

Television finally came to recognise bands in a small way with the Granada Band of the Year contest, which explored the concept of "contest as entertainment". Bram Gay once said that entertainment contests ".........introduced new fans to the excitement of a band competition (with) the diversity of a band concert". Quite unexpectedly, the Brighouse and Rastrick Band recorded a hit record with The Floral Dance in 1976. However, like most novelties and fads, it was soon forgotten and did little to change "normal" people's stereotyped attitude of bands. More recently, the popular movie "Brassed Off", which also featured Floral Dance, seems to have also given the brass band movement greater exposure.

The late 1960's have been compared to the early 1800's in that, just as the Sixties saw an increase in youth bands, similar conditions existed for the seminal band movement. During both periods, brass was (and still is) regarded as hard wearing as suitable for a "decent noise" being attained quickly by learners. Thatcherism, with it's associated shrinking of education funds (hence, lack of instruments), saw a similar situation to the earliest days of banding with a lack of equipment.

Even the traditional venue of the British Open changed after 128 years. In 1982, the year that Australia's Hawthorn City Band competed, the old Belle Vue site was demolished and Free Trade Hall in Manchester was used from 1997. In 1998, the Open was in Birmingham's Symphony Hall; for the first time ever NOT in Manchester.....a point not lost on many disappointed people in the banding fraternity.

The last two decades have seen increased financial difficulties across all levels of banding in Great Britain. Inevitably, changing financial conditions and sponsorships for works bands have meant many name adjustments or wholesale changes. Anecdotal evidence abounds; No players have actually worked in Black Dyke Mills for many years and their reputation does not make them immune from financial problems. In 1996, Dyke chose not to defend their European Championship title due to the estimated 20,000 pound expense of doing so. With the closure of the Desford Colliery, it's band became Desford Colliery Dowty Band. Wingates dropped it's "Temperance" tag and, in a rather ironic development, signed a sponsorship deal with Bass Breweries! Fodens ceased to support it's band but the name was initially retained when the Britannia Building Society took over the sponsorship. Britannia eventually imposed it's name on the band, only to relinquish control more recently, thus allowing a welcome return of the Fodens name, thanks to it's new sponsor Antoine Courtois Musical Instruments.

Possibly the most telling indication of the difficulties faced by bands is the case of the ensemble formed in 1968 as the Stanshawe Band. It became the Sun Life Band in 1978 when supported by the Sun Life Assurance Society, an association which looked doubtful by early 1996 due to “business mergers and subsequent changes at senior management level". By November of that year, the band were reported as being “on the skids" with the prospect of folding without a new sponsor. Thankfully, within a month it's members voted to "soldier on" under the Stanshawe name. The final word comes from an ex Musical Director, Prof. Walter Hargreaves, when he wrote in the British Bandsman that he was “very sad and very angry" that “players had to be paid before they would continue".

Conclusion......A Positive Future?

Despite many years of overt sexism in brass bands, most of the movement has caught up with the rest of the world regarding equal opportunity for female players. However, some top level British bands still seem to employ a "glass ceiling" mentality by simply not allowing females into their ranks . However by the late 1990's, at least one of these recalcitrant groups showed signs of softening with the fact that a high profile Championship Grade band used a female percussionist at the British Open, albeit on an emergency basis!

A quick look through any recent British Bandsman weekly will invariably picture or mention one of the many youth bands which are multiplying at a pleasing rate throughout Great Britain. Despite the doomsayer predictions for the brass band movement, I am confident that it will continue to grow and evolve into the next century, not only thanks to this new generation of keen youngsters, but also due to a more open minded approach from it's participants.

 

References

BOOKS :

ARBAN, Jean Baptiste
"CORNET METHOD"
Boosey and Hawkes, London. (1907)

COOK, Kenneth
"THE BANDSMAN’S EVERYTHING WITHIN"
Hinrichsen Edition Ltd., London. (1950)

HERBERT, Trevor
"BANDS - THE BRASS BAND MOVEMENT IN THE 19th. and 20th. CENTURIES"
Open University Press, Buckington, U.K. (1991)

HIND, Harold C.
"THE BRASS BAND"
Hawkes and Son Ltd., London. (1934)

HOWARTH, Elgar and Patrick "WHAT A PERFORMANCE! THE BRASS BAND PLAYS......"
Robson Books Ltd., London. (1988)

MYERS, Arnold
"BANDS - THE BRASS BAND MOVEMENT IN THE 19th. AND 20th. CENTURIES"
Publisher as above.

MAGAZINES / NEWSPAPERS / NEWSLETTERS :

“The British Bandsman”
The British Bandsman Ltd.
Beaconsfield, Bucks., U. K.

“The Doyen Recorder”
Magazine of Doyen Recordings CD Club
Oldham, U. K.

CONCERT / CONTEST PROGRAMS :

“Fanfares & Flourishes - Christmas with the Eastern Iowa Brass Band”
Eastern Iowa Brass Band, Iowa, U.S.A. (1994)

Ballarat South Street band contest program,
Ballarat, Australia. (1967)

TELEVISION / VIDEO :

“Songs of Praise” T.V. program
B.B.C. North, U. K. (1986)

ORAL HISTORY INTERVIEWS :

Sheona White, (28th. July,1997 by author).

Copyright 1997 & 2002, Melbourne, Australia.