'Lost' books charting band history rediscovered PDF Print E-mail
After twenty-five years in the care of Hertfordshire Library Service, a number of old minute books have come to light, charting the history of the band from it's origins in 1892, up until post war reconstruction in 1953. The eight books of committee minutes were donated to the then St Albans City Library in Victoria Street (now a trendy bar!) by band chairman Alan Webster in the summer of 1980, where they laid forgotten about for many years. With the constant throughflow of members, and the poor state that the band found itself in during the late 1980's and early 1990's the information that these books had been bequeathed to the library was lost. It was only a chance find of the initial letter in a pile of papers removed from the old bandroom in Sopwell Lane that sparked a call to St Albans Library, and subsequently to the Hertfordshire Archive and Local Studies Department at County Hall in Hertford to see whether these items were ever actually given to the Library, and if so what were they and most importantly, where were they! After some searching by both parties details were found in an old 1980 card index at St Albans Library detailing the eight minute books which go right back to the founding of the band in 1892. Included on loose sheets are details of the inaugural meeting of the band in the Wellington PH in 1892.

These are a great find for the band, and will hopefully shed much light on the early years of the band which will enable a full history of the band to be written for publication in due course on this site. Although never lost in the true sense of the word, it can be seen from this how easily and quickly things can get forgotten about!