C.W.S. (Manchester) Band

The origins of the band go back to September 1901 when Mr J C Cragg, the manager of the CWS Tobacco Factory, built on some lunch time practice by a few employees, stumped up £300 for some second hand instruments (to be repaid later by weekly subscriptions) and made himself bandmaster. Thus the CWS Tobacco Factory Band was born. Shortly after that the band gave its first concert on a Monday evening in the Churnett Street Public Hall, Manchester. For the next 30 years the band was, like many others, involved in a regular round of concerts and contests with nothing spectacular arising. During that time they had three sets of instruments – the second set being new and costing £250, with the third silver plated set being purchased through the players efforts in 1927 at a cost of £500. At this time the CWS directors were making an annual donation of £25. Almost 30 years to the day after its formation the band went to the Crystal Palace. By this time Johnnie Greenwood was leading them and after five weeks and 20 rehearsals on Brahm’s Lyric Suite the band, on Saturday 26 September 1931, won the Junior ‘B’ Section and with it the lles Shield. A first broadcast occurred in 1934 but truth be told the band only enjoyed limited success in the lower sections before world war two. In 1937 the band was moved to the CWS HQ in Balloon Street, Manchester and membership thrown open to all CWS Manchester area employees. At this time it was renamed to the title that became a household name – The CWS (Manchester) Band. But this was all pre war and between 1939 and 1945, as with all bands, there were fewer opportunities for playing. After the war in 1946 the CWS management pulled the band away from its committee dominated organised ways, reshaped it with players brought in from Baxendales’s and Brighouse and Rastrick and engaged Fred Roberts as bandmaster and Eric Ball as professional conductor. The following year Derek Garside (lured from Brighouse) was appointed principal cornet at the age of 17 and for the next 25 years the band was a leading force in the brass band world starting with that Belle Vue win in 1948. Inspirational as Eric Ball was, and he described the band’s sound “as natural as speech”, one great man had merely laid the foundation for another. In February 1954 the late Alex Mortimer was appointed musical director. Born in Hebden Bridge in 1905 Alex Mortimer, like his brothers Harry and Rex, took to brass banding like a duck takes to water. At the age of ten he was playing cornet with Luton Red Cross and, after trying many other instruments, he played the euphonium when Luton Red Cross won the National Championship at the Crystal Palace in 1923. From 1924 to 1944 he played euphonium with Fodens, and also with the Halle and BBC Northern Orchestras. He came to CWS (Manchester) from Black Dyke with whom he won the National in 1951. Alex Mortimer clearly inherited a good band. Nearly two years before his appointment they had won the September Belle Vue contest for the second time under Eric Ball (1952) and been runners up in the 1953 National Finals. Working with Eric Ball had been one Jack Atherton who left on Mortimer’s arrival to take over the Carlton Main Frickley Colliery Band. He was brought in to make the band great – he succeeded! Mortimer led the band to a second successive runners up spot at the National in 1954 and had to be content with the second place three more times (1956, 1957 and 1961) before leading CWS to its finest hour in 1962, although he picked up another first at Belle Vue in 1960. For those unfamiliar with band contesting folk-lore there are a number of ‘wins’ that will come up in any discussion on the National since 1945. Alex Mortimer, CWS (Manchester) and victory on Force of Destiny at the Royal Albert Hall at the National Finals in 1962 is one such case. Yet this famous first National victory, to be repeated again in 1963 with the Bliss Belmont Variations, nearly didn’t happen. Alf Hailstone, who helped Edwin Vaughan Morris ‘back-stage’ at the Royal Albert Hall in those days recalls that “the band was on stage and the judges had given clearance for the performance to begin. Alex was coughing his heart out with me just off stage. I put him in a wheelchair and wheeled him on, to the gasps of the packed audience. He sat in a chair from which he and the band were to score their greatest triumph. As soon as it was over he was rushed to his hotel where the doctor confined him to bed immediately”. Alf could not understand where Alex had got the strength to scale such strenuous heights. And Les Beevers (BBb bass of Brighouse and Rastrick at that time) recalls that winning performance of 1962, “…..we were in the tunnel waiting to play after them. We were frightened to death listening to them – they were so good”. At this time all the members of the band were CWS employees who allowed lunchtime practices and tours lasting weeks at a time. Thus, like other works bands, they could largely keep the same team together. 1963 was a momentous year not just for the band but for the co-operative movement, as a whole which celebrated its centenary. The band featured prominently, taking part in three massed band concerts, led by Alex Mortimer, with Hanwell Silver and Morris Motors in the Royal Albert Hall on 3, 4 and 5 April. They also spent a week (17-22 June) giving concerts in Piccadilly Gardens, Manchester and performed three concerts in the Winter Gardens, Bournemouth from 14-16 October in honour of delegates to the International Co-operative Alliance Congress. James Scott, Les Beevers and the late Brian Evans (ex-soprano of CWS and Brighouse) all consider the early 1960’s CWS (Manchester) Band as the best band it ever had. And Alex Mortimer was the key to that. This is what the late Brian Evans said, “Everyone hated him, but they all admired him – I think he was a brass band genius. I was there with the band for ten years, three rehearsals a week, and all the jobs we did and I was never bored with Alex Mortimer”. A final word on Alex Mortimer from Brian Evans. “Mortimer was so precise. You had to play every piece right. It didn’t matter if it was God Save the Queen or some little pot boiler”. Even when CWS played the London Embankment Gardens in the pouring rain, with one woman on the front row, it had to be right! Alex Mortimer was musical director until 1970 and musical adviser until 1975. After those two great national successes he had another second at the Royal Albert Hall in 1967 and won the Open the year before in 1966. Derek Garside took over much of the conducting in 1972 having served 25 years as principal cornet and gained runners up spot in the National Finals of 1973 but the glory days were over. The band went to Canada in 1972 with Black Dyke, Fairey and GUS and qualified under Garside’s direction for the National Finals in 1974 (second at the area) and in 1975 and 1976 as North West Area Champions. However, they made no impact at the Finals. In total they were North West Area Champions 13 times and runners up on 6 occasions. As well as two National victories and 7 second placings they were prize winners on 9 other occasions. At Belle Vue it was four victories, runners up in 1970 and prize winners on eleven other occasions. Alex Mortimer died on 14 January 1976. On 16 May that year a memorial concert was given by CWS (Manchester) Band conducted by Derek Garside in New Century House, Manchester with guests, the Rossendale Male Voice Choir. Derek Garside moved onto Fodens Motor Works in 1979 and was succeeded by Trevor Walmsley, who had an illustrious career in banding but is chiefly remembered for his success with the Band of Yorkshire Imperial Metals. He was followed by on Captain Frank Renton! It was Alf Hailstone who, in the British Bandsman of 24 November 1984, announced the beginning of the end. CWS were to hold a board meeting in December 1984 and prominent on the agenda was a move to withdraw sponsorship. This was later confirmed and that the board would not financially support the band after 31 March 1985. Attempts were made by the band to persuade the board to change its mind. The reasoning had a real irony to it. Managers had never liked players disappearing for jobs etc. However, it seems that one of the reasons for the loss of support was that the players no longer worked at CWS and the board did not wish to help an organisation where such an important link had been severed. A further irony was that at the same time as withdrawing support for the Manchester band the company increased its support for the CWS (Glasgow) Band. The last appearance of the CWS (Manchester) Band was at Dobcross Band Club on 31 March 1985 following which all instruments, music and uniforms were handed back to the company. Negotiations took place with the City of Manchester Council and, effectively, a new band was formed called City of Manchester. That however is another story because after 84 years and almost 40 glorious years since it was reorganised in 1946 the CWS (Manchester) Band was no more.