A Brief History

The Adur Concert Band is located in Shoreham, West Sussex, UK and we play concerts all year round in the South East of England. Members of the Adur Youth Concert Band who became too old for that group founded the band in late 1991. In the early years under the directorship of John Alexander the band struggled with a lack of members and also initially its identity.

A competition was held in the local paper for a name for the band, (see article), and suggested names of "Adur Rhythmics", "Aunt Adur’s Band", "Harbour Lights" and "Adur no strings" were rejected before the name "The Adur Band" was finally decided upon.

Once the name of the band was finalised members of the band showed their artistic talents in the design of the band logo.

Although limited by numbers, the band managed an impressive number of performances, including formal concerts as well as local fetes and late night Christmas shopping events. Right from these early beginnings, the band had an optimistic vision, with discussions of a tour as early as 1993.

Musical directorship was partly shared by John Alexander and Ray Chandler from the end of 1992, with Ray effectively taking charge from September 1993 after the sudden death of Wynne Jones, the musical director of The Adur Youth Concert Band. Andrew Burchfield took over the role of musical director from Ray Chandler in 1995 after directorship of the Adur Youth Concert Band was formally decided.

After the arrival of Andrew, the band was still struggling for members, but still managing to perform at a wide variety of events. But slowly over the next few years, the membership of the band doubled to the current forty plus members, which has enabled the band to expand its musical repertoire and tackle more complex arrangements.

In late 2001 the band changed its name to The Adur Concert Band to make it easier for people to recognise the type of band we are from our name.

The Band

The Adur Concert Band plays concerts all year round in the South East of England, and has a membership from Shoreham, Brighton, Worthing, Steyning and as far away as Crawley, Hove and Chichester.

We are a community band we welcome anyone 18 and over who can play a wind instrument and our members already include beginners to semi-professional musicians.

The band meets every Saturday during school term time from 9.30 am to midday in the Youth Wing at Kings Manor School, Shoreham.  If you want more information, then see Membership, or E-Mail: The Adur Band