Recording celebrates band’s history

An album featuring eight compositions celebrating Bunbury has been gifted to the city as a way to record the history of the Bunbury City Band.

As part of the band’s 110 year anniversary in 2014, a call was made to composers around the world to enter pieces for a British-style brass band composition that encapsulated the history of Bunbury and the South West region.

Bunbury City Band president Ian Elliott said a total of 15 entries were received and the top eight, which were contributed from composers around Australia and the United Kingdom, were performed by the Royal Agricultural Society of WA Brass Band at a concert celebrating the milestone.

Mr Elliott said the album was made from the recordings of the 2014 concert and completed the same year.

In 2015, it was decided the band would gift the City of Bunbury a copy of the CD and due to other commitments taking priority, the handover was formally made at the council meeting on May 16.

“We’re not releasing it for sale ... it’s more about preserving the history,” Mr Elliott said.

“We wanted to give a copy to the city,” he said.

Copies of the album have also been given to band members and the Bunbury City and Regional Library, where members of the public can listen to it.

Mr Elliott hopes the band will continue for another 110 years and is encouraging anyone interested to get in touch with him on 0407 756 853.