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Harry
Heaver
Harry is
approaching his 90th birthday and is still a regular member of the
band, never missing a rehearsal or engagement. He joined the band in 1947
when he settled in the area as a forester. He has therefore been a member for
over 60 years and was granted life membership of SAAB in 1967.
Harry’s
playing career started in Widnes when he played in the Boys Brigade bugle
band. Later when working at a colliery at Langwith he discovered that members
of the colliery band enjoyed concessions. So Harry joined as a cornet player.
Harry had a very
active army career during the war and served in France, being evacuated from
Dunkirk. Later he joined an early warning radar station and then volunteered
to serve abroad. He was sent to North Africa and then to Italy, where he
worked as a radio operator for the Royal Armoured Corps. By the end of the
war he was in Czechoslovakia.
When he was
demobbed in 1946 he took a job with the Forestry Commission at Kirroughtree
near Newton Stewart. The builder who came from Gatehouse to construct his
house had a habit of whistled tunes which Harry recognised from his band
days. The builder, Jimmy Gilmour, played with Creetown Silver Band and soon
Harry also became a member, playing under Mr Robert Hughes.
Since that
time Harry has played cornet, flugel horn, tenor horn and baritone under five
different conductors before the current one Stuart McNab. Harry is full of
praise for Stuart, saying that he has done more for the band than any
previous conductor.
Harry sees no
reason to retire maintaining, while recognising that young blood is
necessary, that it is the older members who are the mainstay of the band.
Gillian
McKnight
One of Gillian’s ancestors - she thinks he was her
great grandfather - was a founding
member of Creetown Silver Band, and there have been members of the Barr
family in the band since that day.
Gillian herself became a member of the junior
section just over forty years ago at seven or eight years old. She played the
cornet, soprano then flugel before ending up in the Euphonium section. When
she began, her father was the non playing secretary of the band. When he
suffered a stroke in 1987 Gillian took over his secretarial duties ‘until he
got better’. This, sadly, he never did.
Gillian continued as secretary for the next twenty
years and has only recently been succeeded as secretary by Jack Norgate.
Gillian’s sister Margo and niece Shona play with
the Irvine and Dreghorn Band and sometimes Gillian joins them there.
When she isn’t playing or arranging engagements,
Gillian is to be found in the Creetown bandroom on Monday nights helping to
reach the members of the junior section. Clearly it’s in the blood!
JS McNab -
Creetown Silver Band Conductor
Stuart McNab first played the cornet as a learner with Kirkintilloch Silver Band at the age of nine. At the age of 15 he took up soprano cornet and played with the KSB until leaving Kirkintilloch to take up a new job in Newton Stewart in 1982. During his time with Kirkintilloch the band progressed from the Third Section to the Top Section. Playing under great conductors including Richard Evans, Frank Renton, David James and Walter Hargreaves. In 1983 Stuart was approached to become the conductor of Creetown Silver Band and has continued in this position since. |
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