The Slaugham Archives

Handcross Band enters a band competition

On 20th May 1907 Handcross Band competed in the Southern Counties Amateur Band Association Competition held in the central streets of Crawley.
The crowds were enormous and completely surrounded the band as they played beneath the Handcross banner.
Some lucky people on the left of the picture manage to park their horse trap to use as a grandstand to watch the proceedings. I can spot six policemen keeping the admiring crowds at a safe distance.
I can find no results of the competition.
Click on Large Version for a close up. Don't forget to click on the picture to zoom in and out.
There were two bands from Crawley competing, being the Crawley Town Band and the West Crawley Temperance Band.
Having known many musicians during my life I would suggest that a Temperance Band should be classed as an oxymoron. Nevertheless, that band can be viewed by clicking on Open Document.
It does not look particularly safe, but many of the spectators have turned the spaces behind the advertising hoardings into theatre-type boxes.
View Large Version
Open Document