{"id":255,"date":"2020-01-01T14:55:16","date_gmt":"2020-01-01T14:55:16","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/projects.digitalchimps.co.uk\/melingriffith\/?p=255"},"modified":"2020-12-20T17:28:39","modified_gmt":"2020-12-20T17:28:39","slug":"the-closure-of-melingriffith-works","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/melingriffith.co.uk\/en\/the-closure-of-melingriffith-works\/","title":{"rendered":"1965 \u2013 1972 Excelsior Ropes Works Band"},"content":{"rendered":"
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Only weeks after T.J. Powell's death the band was given a new home and a new life as \u2018Excelsior Ropes Works Band\u2019. Several members worked for the Company, which manufactured wire ropes for industry, and the initiative received the enthusiastic support of the management. Haydn White, who had deputised for the ailing Tom Powell for several years, took over as conductor, and the band progressed once more, leading to further successes.<\/p>\n

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Official press photo of Excelsior Ropes Works Band at the time of adoption by the Company in early 1965. The site is now occupied by a Halfords store. Photo - Atkins family collection<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n<\/p>\n

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Upholding T.J. Powell\u2019s tradition of fine marching, the band parades from Western Avenue towards the rope factory for a Company event circa 1966. Now heavily redeveloped, and long after the demise of the Firm, this area is still known as the Excelsior Industrial Estate.\u00a0 Photo - Derek Thomas (Drum Major).<\/span><\/em><\/figcaption><\/figure>\n<\/p>\n

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During Excelsior days, the band competed in the National Finals as Wales Regional Champions and won at the National Eisteddfod on several occasions. Conductors who followed Haydn White included Harold D. Morgan from Tongwynlais, and David Thomas, a virtuouso ex-Welsh Guards cornet player. Occasional guests on the podium included Rex Mortimer and Major H. Arthur Kenny.<\/span><\/p>\n

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Haydn White conducting the band at the Royal Albert Hall in the National Finals of October 1965. The test piece was Gilbert Vinter\u2019s \u201cTriumphant Rhapsody\u201d.\u00a0 Photo - Atkins family collection.<\/span><\/em>\u00a0<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n<\/p>\n

In 1965 and 1967 Excelsior reached the final rounds of Dilyn y Band <\/span><\/em>(Follow the Band),<\/span><\/em> a television knockout competition recorded at the Pontcanna studios of TWW (then the local ITV franchise) and broadcast on Teledu Cymru (the forerunner of S4C).<\/span><\/p>\n

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Excelsior performing in Studio 1, Pontcanna, during a preliminary round of Dilyn y Band in Spring 1967, conducted by Harold Morgan.<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n<\/p>\n

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Extract from Television Weekly, 16th March 1967. Photos - Atkins family collection<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n<\/p>\n

As Excelsior, the band twice participated in the London Welsh St. David\u2019s Day celebrations at the Royal Albert Hall, and in 1968 inaugurated their own Festival - a gala held annually for more than ten years at Cardiff's Sophia Gardens Pavilion. An invitation contest during the day was followed by an evening concert graced by the finest of Britain\u2019s brass bands and Wales\u2019 male choirs.<\/span><\/p>\n

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Photo - Geoff Atkins<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n<\/p>\n

Amongst other memorable engagements during Excelsior days, the band were invited to \"act\" in a Welsh language comedy drama recorded at the BBC's television studios in Broadway, Cardiff.\u00a0 Y Drymwr\u00a0<\/span><\/em>(The Drummer) starred the late great Ryan Davies as Sami, pathetic factotum of the fictional Abermarlais Silver Band, who was longing to find musical fulfilment and escape the henpecking of his domineering wife. The serious illness of the band's bass drummer provided his golden opportunity, and he went on to lead them to victory in a marching competition, making him the band's hero and boosting his confidence to face-up to his spouse! Interestingly, Y Drymwr<\/span><\/em> was to become the very first Welsh language play to be re-broadcast with English subtitles.<\/span><\/p>\n

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Learn More<\/h3>\n
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To learn more about the history and the modern Melingriffith Brass Band, feel free to take a look at our history and learn more about us.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n<\/div><\/div><\/div>

\n\t\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\t\n\t\t\tOur History\t\t<\/span>\n\t\t\t<\/a>\n\t<\/div>\n<\/div><\/div><\/div><\/div><\/div>","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Only weeks after T.J. Powell’s death the band was given a new home and a new life as \u2018Excelsior Ropes Works Band\u2019. Several members worked for the Company, which manufactured […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":55,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[2],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-255","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-our-history"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/melingriffith.co.uk\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/255","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/melingriffith.co.uk\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/melingriffith.co.uk\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/melingriffith.co.uk\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/melingriffith.co.uk\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=255"}],"version-history":[{"count":5,"href":"https:\/\/melingriffith.co.uk\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/255\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":548,"href":"https:\/\/melingriffith.co.uk\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/255\/revisions\/548"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/melingriffith.co.uk\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/55"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/melingriffith.co.uk\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=255"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/melingriffith.co.uk\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=255"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/melingriffith.co.uk\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=255"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}