Swinton and District Excelsior Band

The Bandroom

Swinton's bandroom pre-dates the band it houses by roughly 120 years and is, along with the butcher's shop on the Street, one of the oldest and most significant non-residential buildings in the village.  

The butcher's shop was originally the blacksmith's forge and by 1821 was serving both as a forge and as a pub.  By 1854 the pub was known as the Blacksmith's Arms and was still on the south side of the road, but by 1888 it had moved to the site it now occupies, leaving the smithy in it's original position.  

The bandroom was built in 1816 in Middle Street, and seems to have been the first place of worship to exist in Swinton, which was then part of Appleton-le-Street parish.  It was built as a Methodist chapel of the Old Connexion Methodists by public subscription, which is commemorated by the stone still in position (though sadly worn) over the door.  This appears to read:

The basic structure of the original chapel remains visible from Middle Street. It is built of local stone, probably from the quarries at Hildenley as the chapels seem to have had a good deal of financial support from the Strickland family at Hildenley Hall. This stone, while easy to work, and in consequence much in demand as building stone in the nineteenth century, becomes very friable once the surface has been damaged by damp, frost etc.  Originally there were probably two large windows on the southern gable wall, with an  arched alcove  between them, together with a large window (now blocked up) at the northern end of the two side walls. The alcove has been blocked up leaving a rectangular trophy cabinet, but cracks in the plaster reveal its extent:

 It must have been a pleasantly light but chilly interior.  There is also evidence in the front wall of a second doorway at the north end of the front wall, which would have entered the building at a lower level than the main doorway.  It is not clear what function this doorway would have served, but it may suggest that the building was not originally built as a chapel, but rather started life as two cottages or a barn and  was subsequently converted.

Methodism was obviously a success in Swinton.  The village had a population of about 330 and yet by 1854 the Ordnance survey map shows not only the Middle Street chapel, (by now the Old Connexion had been subsumed into the Wesleyan Methodist church), but a further Primitive Methodist Chapel in West Street which survived until at least 1928, and in 1858 an infants' school was built at the Stricklands' expense.  Congregations were presumably growing, though the population does not seem to have risen noticeably, and on 15th August 1895 the Wesleyan Methodist congregation moved to their larger and showier chapel on the main road where they remained until its closure in the 1990s - it is now a private house.  From time to time, while building work was being done on the bandroom, rehearsals and teaching took place in the Methodist Church.

The Middle Street chapel seems to have fallen into disuse at this point.  The Ordnance Survey map of 1911 shows the Primitive Methodist chapel still in West Street with no use shown for the old chapel.  However major work on the building was clearly done around this time.  A small piece of wood was found during later repairs to the flooring with a pencil inscription recording that John Dodsworth laid the floor for Sir C. W. Strickland in 1908 and it is tempting to think that the major renewal of stonework in the north-west corner took place at this time as well, possibly in preparation for the use of the building by the Primitive Methodist congregation, though there is no evidence that such use took place.

Any such occupation by the Primitive Methodists must have been short as by 1936 the building had been bought by Canon Ward of  Amotherby Church for use by parish organisations such as Scouts.  Ray Dalton was not clear as to whether Canon Ward used his own money or funds from the Anglican church for this purchase.  Ray also remembered his older sisters telling him that for a time the building was used as a home by the family of a recently-dismissed servant of Major (later Colonel) Behrens at Swinton Grange.  The interior of the chapel was divided into several rooms by means of curtains. 

When the newly-formed band started to use the building in 1936, it was in a fairly poor state of repair and band members worked hard to restore it to a sound condition.  Shortly before the war electric power was incorporated, but within weeks of the outbreak of the war the bandroom was requisitioned as an official billet for the army, and the band members were given two days notice to clear out all their equipment.  The building was occupied by the army, and had to stand up to continuous and rigorous usage throughout the whole of the war years.  Consequently considerable renovation was again needed when the band returned.

The local church was the owner of the building and decided to sell the property, by auction, which caused some consternation and apprehension for all.  Minutes of the committee meeting of that time show that the band were keen to make bids for the property.  They soon realised that they would not have sufficient funds to meet the demands.  Many fund raising ideas were tried to meet this sudden and urgent need.  Members and supporters even thought of giving personal loans of varying amounts up to £5. All their ideas and endeavours still left a considerable shortfall and it became obvious that they would not be able to put in a realistic bid.  Col. Behrens came to the rescue.  Being aware of the band’s plight and their genuine interest he ensured the purchase of the building for the band’s continued use.  Since this time the band has enjoyed a permanent and secure base and been very grateful for Col. Behrens’ generous intervention.

The next improvement came with the addition of two toilets.  The band committee had been pressed on this matter for some considerable time, so to assist with fund-raising the band held many social functions on a regular basis.  The lack of toilets caused some concern at times as the men had to go behind a shed outside, and the ladies to houses nearby.  With such incentives and regular “passing of the plate” enough money was raised to pay for the construction work required.

The bandroom was further extended by the addition of a kitchen.  To make all this possible the land necessary was bought at a “give away” price from the Fosters, stalwart workers and supporters of the band who had the adjoining property.

As the Junior Band flourished it became clear that facilities were far from ideal on Saturday evenings.  The individual teaching sessions that took place during the band practices had to be conducted in the kitchen and even in the toilets – a far from ideal situation!  In 1995 it was decided to seek funding from the National Lottery to build an extension at the back of the bandroom in order to provide practice/ teaching rooms.  Planning permission was obtained and funding obtained both from the Lottery Fund and Ryedale Council for an extension containing two practice rooms together with a new kitchen and toilets with disabled access, together with a remodelling of access to the bandroom in order to make it wheelchair-friendly.  This meant the remodelling of the surviving side window into a doorway into the new practice room.  As usual work took longer than expected but, after ages of practicing in Menzies’ building site as walls were demolished and rebuilt around us, the band marched up Middle St playing a specially commissioned march for the formal opening of the new bandroom. 

Recent clearance of trees, shrubs and ivy from the gable end of the building show that, as in 1908, some fairly major renovation is going to be needed on the stonework. Earlier repairs made with cement have degraded the stone and this has been intensified by the removal of the ivy.  Work to restore the building to a sound and satisfactory state is now complete, double glazing has been installed and the interior has been re-decorated and refurbished. This has cost the band a considerable amount and the work and fundraising needed for this is part of the downside of using an old building.  The upside is that while few of our members now live in the village, the band continues to play a vital role in the heritage of Swinton.

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For more information, bookings etc, please contact the Band Secretary:

Mrs.  D. Ratcliffe,
77 Commercial Street,
Norton,
Malton,
North Yorkshire,
YO17 9HX

Tel:  :(+44) 01653 - 694344

This page was last updated 09/01/2008