Following a family tradition

You know you have been in a marching band for more than 10 years when the drummers start making sense to you - but Steven Foster doesn't mind, as he tells Sentinel reporter, Olga Bradshaw, he eats, sleeps and breathes the Churchills, who celebrate their 175th anniversary this year. Oh, and they have recorded a CD...

Steven, you have an important anniversary for the Churchills coming up, haven't you?

Yeah. This year we are celebrating our 175th anniversary. It is a big milestone for us and makes us the oldest band in Ireland. So we have a lot of important things coming off this year including our anniversary concert, which we had back in May in the Waterside Theatre.

How did that go?

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It turned out a very good night. We didn't expect as many people to show up for it.

Right...What was the playlist like for that? Was it all marching music?

No, we would play a variety of different stuff. We would do some popular music, some country music...

How? You are a flute band? How do you perform country music?

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Well, we have different flute, we don't all play on one flute. We have...

So you can do melodies then?

Yes, we can do melodies and counter melodies, and...it is hard to explain in words...it is easier if you listen to it, but we do a different variety of music from marches and military marches to classic overtures to things like...one of the pieces we played that night was, well the most popular one was the Rhinestone Cowboy, and stuff like that.

(Laughing) I'm sorry for laughing!

Same here. People don't believe us...

A flute band playing the Rhinestone Cowboy!

Yes! Precisely. You see, this is what is wrong. A lot of our stuff is lost on a lot of people. Once you hear our CD you'd know...

Oh! That's a cheap plug for the CD!

That's a cheap plug for the CD.

So what's the CD called and where can people get it?

The CD came out two years ago and it is called 'The Freedom of the City', and there's not a wild lot left - only a hundred or so. They have been in circulation for a while.

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Now, I know there is a big anniversary dinner coming up and I was chatting to someone else and they said 'Oh please put it in the diary', you know. So, what 's it about and who are you inviting?

Well, we are gong to invite - well, we are hoping that we are going to get some of the ex-members of the band who have since left us. There have been a lot of people who have left the ranks of the Churchill Band over the years. I have been there 32 years and I have seen a lot of people coming and going in those 32 years, so I have seen a lot of people coming and going myself in those years. We are having a dinner in the Belfray that will be on October 16...I think. We had an anniversary dinner five years ago which was a very good night, in the Apprentice Boys Memorial Hall. We had the big hall packed out that night.

Really?

It was nice to see so many people who had been in the band for years and it was good to see so many come along who have since joined the band.

Good. Are there any other functions that you are going to specifically because it is the 175th anniversary - are you going to compete, or do you have a special repertoire put together for the year.

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The two big things we had organised for ourselves this year were the anniversary dinner and the concert but we do have a few other things in the pipeline, but not just specifically to coincide with the anniversary, they are just things that we are going to do. On July 10 we are booked for the East Belfast Titanic Festival, so we are looking forward to going to that. It happened through my sister, who is also in the band, she works in Belfast and it was someone who works alongside her who was on the organising committee.

I know you have played all over the place. Where are some of these?

We have been for a few years we were in the Isle of Man where they used to run a competition on the May Bank Holiday. We attended that for a few years but that has since stopped. For a few years as well we attended the international marching bands festival in Limerick.

Right. Well how did you do at that?

Well, we won a few prizes at that for our style and appearance. It was always a very enjoyable weekend. It was always held over the St Patrick's weekend. It gave us a chance to compete against bands from all over the world. There were American school bands, the marching bands, and it was great to see how some of the other bands do it compared to ourselves. We have also been to Belgium and France and have accompanied the Apprentice Boys on two occasions for the Battle of the Somme commemorations, which were...

Very emotional for people?

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Yeah. Yeah. The first time we went there we did a very extensive tour of all the graveyards and all the monuments that are scattered.

I hear it is breathtaking to see.

It certainly makes you think. When we were there we were also able to take part as well in the Menin Gate Last Post Ceremony at night in Ypres, that was something else as well. The fact that these guys from the local fire service go and play the Last Post every night at 8pm in memory of all the people who died in the First World War is unbelievable. And for us to take part in that as well was... was...very...

It must have been very emotional.

We remember the war dead once a year, but they do it every night. We turned up that year in our new uniform, so we all turned out in our red uniform. We did the ceremony at the Menin Gate at night and the next day we went off to the Somme where we took part in the commemoration service at the British monument, so...funny story...we turned up this year in all our new gear and marched up and we were standing by this monument and this guy comes over, some Wing Commander type with all this stuff on him, and thought that we were the military band that had been engaged that day. He didn't realise that we were just visitors. He thought we were the official band. So we actually muscled our way into the ceremony that day, for want of a better description. We didn't know what was happening when the guy came over and asked us where our bugler was and we were like 'We don't do buglers...' So it was 'Oh...right' and that was that. We also took place in a ceremony that year at the Ulster Tower. That was all arranged through Glen Barr.

You are a band member yourself, too, aren't you?

I am yep! I joined the band when I was six.

Six?!

Yep. At one time I was the youngest member of the band and my grandfather was the oldest member of the band at one stage.

Really?

Yes. My grandfather was called Sammy Foster. My father was also in the band as well. Really, the Churchill Band, like most things, is a family thing.

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