Norwich bulletin., 1922-10-26

man of the town L. H. Hooker of Mount | Hope, a good musician and lover of 1 music; Thomas Warren, Dyer H. Clark, | Ebeneazer and Edwin knowfton and sey- eral others, made a proposition to the town that they would advance the mon ey without interest, to purchase 3 com plete set Of instruments for use of the band and that the interest, accruing from the fund, he paid to them until the debt was discha rged This generous of fer was accepted by the town, MT. Phillips was chosen treasurer, also lead CT of the band also Mfr. Phillips and L. H. Hooker were chosen a committee to purchase the instruments.
 Complete Set of Instruments.
 The contract for the manufacture of the instruments was given to E. U. Wright, of Boston, the leading manu- facturer of brass instruments in coun- try, to be as perfect in material, skill i and tone as could be made. Several of these horns are in use at the present time, having outlived many of later style I but of inferior make. The original set consists of 2 Elb. comets, Bb. comets, l ? Eb altos Bb tenors, l Bb baritone, 1 Bb bass and 1 Eb bass, or tuber. The l bass drum was made by Abraham Pres colt, of Concord \. H., whose skill as
 a maker of stringed- basEes and cellos 1 is known over the world, and whose in
 struments are classed with those of the
 'old masters
 After getting their new equipment, Phillips set about recognizing the band.
 An experienced instructor and band master ProfesSor Asa Goolspeed, was
 engaged as teacher. Young and middle
 aged men who possessed any musical talent. in Ashford and adjoining towns, were solicited to join. Consultation and bylaws were adopted many prominent citizens, who were not players, joined as ff'honorary members and lent their aid and influence; and the band was now firmly established. The fame of the new band soon began to spread. Con certs were given, invitations and engage ments began to pour in and in a short time no special function was complete without the presence of the band. New uniforms were bought. Chester Loomis at his own expense, had a wagon con
 structed to transport the members on
 their out-of-town engagements. Meb- bers contributed horses, and many times six eight and even ten pairs of horses all gayly decorated were used to draw
 the chariot or band wagon as il
 was called. The ladies also did theii part and at every entertainment a sump'
 tuous repast was provided.
 From the interest of the fund, freq
 concerts and outside engagements snC
 from some contributions from oatsiders
 the debt to Phillips and others wa' soon discharged, and the property now
 belonged to the band.
 Built Hall For Band
 1 The popularity of the band, now in duced other citizens to do something to show their appreciation and to bulk , them a house or rather hall fol
 holding their meetings. site wa
 selected at > Wsrenville, Several. tim
 Der owners donated lumber, shingles
 etc. A subscription paper was circu r lated to buy the incidentals. Several
 carpenters donated their services, ant a suitable house was soon erected. Bu ,this building instead of being a hell to the band, proved otherwise. Previ ous to the building of the band-house
 they had been meeting at Ashford an , the control of the hall was in dis . ipute It seems when the school -hous . was bilt, part of the taxpayers il the district wanted a tye-story build : ing, the others did not want--the ex pense. It was finally compromised b . the party wanting the additional stor , agreeing 10 pay the extra. cost. As
 one-half the cost of repairs to the root insurance etc. The second story me s were to have control of the hall wit privilege to let the same Tor any pur pose they saw fit. After the lapse Of several years the school distric : claimed control, and an accounting wa made of the shares which I think wer
 s25 each, and it was found that sev 5 eral were lost or destroyed Some wer
 recovered by Dyer H. Clark, who pre- , sented them to the band, which noy l claimed the control, and the claim la 7 never been legally contested.
 7 Protasfs Rau,ovaJ of Rand
 After the band changed it's place c meeting to WarrenvilIe many member
 in the eastern part of the town, als 1 in Eastford, protested as it made ther
 two extra miles to travel. It was fin ally agreed to meet one week at War
 renville the alternate week at Ashford > But even this was not satisfactory. O the Ashford meeting nights the west a | enders' stayed at home and on tn y Warrenville nights the "east-enders Il were not present. Finally a vote wa I ent meeting place for rehearsais, an t the "east-enders'' having a majority | decided to meet in the hall at Ashfor, d which has been their headquarter, S ever since, and the band-house at Wa
 renville was abandoned. The buildin q was finally sold at auction and Lon d bard and Mathewson afterward pecan g the owners This caused a split i 5. the band and several members witt drew. Also MT. Phillips and MT. Hool $ CT, being incapaeitated by sickness '- withdrew and thus the band lost tv a of it's most able supporters. Abo
 this time Burnham shoe factory in Eas l. ford was deSfroved hv fire and fl