Founded in 1986 by Fred Frayling-Kelly and Bill Blackwood with some other military band music enthusiasts, LCCB was, from the start, intended to be Leith’s own band. The Port has a long tradition of band music, which survived until the early ‘70s. In 1986 it seemed appropriate to the founders that such a venture should be launched at a time when Leith was being revitalised and the feeling of community was returning. The Band is a self-supporting body with charitable status, which currently derives its sole income from membership fees and engagements. Here is its history to date.
| 1986 | July; inaugural rehearsals. August; first performance, Fringe at the Seaside. September; commencement of regular rehearsals. |
| 1987 | February; concert for the Edinburgh Spanish Circle. , May - August; first appearance in the Norwegian Constitution Day Parade (17 May), now an annual event, Gala day appearances throughout the Lothians. June; Leith Pageant and Gala, Praise on the Links and Leith Festival Concert. |
| 1988 | A very busy season! May; first appearance in the Edinburgh Student Charities Parade. Engagements throughout the Lothians plus 30 Concerts and 10 Parades at the Glasgow Garden Festival. |
| 1989 | Usual engagements plus first appearance in the Edinburgh Festival Cavalcade. |
| 1990. | Usual engagements. |
| 1991 | Usual engagements plus BBC World Service Broadcast with the Choir of St. Margaret’s School, June. tour of Hochsauerland in North Rhine-Westphalia, July. Festival Cavalcade, August and the launch of the Keep Our Scottish Battalions Campaign, Leith, October. |
| 1992 | Usual engagements plus November visit to Ypres to participate in the Remembrance Ceremonies. Performed two Last Post Ceremonies at the Menin Gate, a Retreat Beating at Tynecot Cemetery and, for the first time ever by a band of any country, the German Retreat Ceremony at Langemark Cemetery. First Scottish non-Service band to play in Ypres. December; Summit Meeting Demonstration for the KOSB Campaign, Princes Street Gardens. |
| 1993 | Usual engagements. June; first appearance with new uniform glengarries, Leith Gala. |
| 1994 | Usual engagements. August; first appearance in new dress uniforms, Ross Bandstand. |
| 1995 | Usual engagements plus concerts for the Tall Ships Race visit to Leith |
| 1996 | Usual engagements plus serving as Royal Duties Band with the South Queensferry Caledonia Pipe Band for the Opening of the new Scottish Office at Victoria Quay by H.M the Queen, 1 July. Edinburgh Festival Cavalcade, August. |
| 1997 | Usual engagements, plus first Leith Festival Retreat Beating with the BB Pipes and Drums at the Piazza on the Shore, June. Festival Cavalcade massed with South Queensferry Caledonia Pipe Band, August. Leith Folk Festival, September. George Street Christmas Lights Switch-on, November. Parliament Square Christmas Lights Switch-on, December. |
| 1998 | Usual engagements plus massed bands with Greenock Steadfast Brass Band and Leith and Edinburgh BB Pipes and Drums for Norwegian Constitution Day Parade, 17 May. Second Leith Festival Retreat Beating with the BB Pipes and Drums at the Piazza, Leith Shore, June, and Festival Cavalcade massed with Broxburn Silver Band. George Street Christmas Lights Switch-on, November and Parliament Square Christmas Lights Switch-on, December. |
| 1999 | Usual engagements, including the 3rd Leith Festival Beating of the Retreat, Festival Cavalcade in August and a return visit to Ypres in November. On 10 November the Band, together with St Thomas' Junction Road Church Pipe Band and BB Buglers, played for the King’s Day Celebrations at Wm. Lemahieu Barracks; March through the streets of Poperinge, and short Retreat Programme in the Grote Markt. Ypres Menin Gate Last Post Ceremony. At Vlammertinge, the Bands led the Parade to the Parish Church Armistice Service followed by ceremonies at War Graves cemeteries. Civic reception for Bands. Later in Ypres, where, at St. George’s Church, the Band played for Choral Evensong. Having the Band present fulfilled the Church’s long-held ambition to have a military band take part in this service. At 7.30 that evening with the Ceremonial Team of Surrey Fire and Rescue Service and the Buglers of the Ypres City Fire Service the Bands joined in the last Remembrance Day Last Post Ceremony of the century at the Menin Gate. On its return the Band was soon back in the whirl of its pre-Christmas activities. |
| 2000 | Usual engagements with some new areas.
In March a Mess Band played at Leuchars RAF Station for a
Dining-in. The thirteen-piece unit performed as Concert Band
and, from within it, Ceilidh Band. This highly successful
engagement led to an appearance in the Great Hall of
Stirling Castle, replacing the Central Band of the RAF at
short notice for the 43(F) Squadron’s Reunion Dinner.
Using a seventeen-piece unit allowed us to perform as
Concert Band, Big Band and Ceilidh Band. This, too, was a
highly successful engagement, with many compliments on
the Band’s playing and deportment. For this it was
joined by Pipe Major Bob Lawson of the BB as soloist
and Lone Piper as the guests departed. A memorable evening. In July a brass ensemble led the praise for a Drumhead service for the 1st. Battalion, the Highland ACF at Redford Barracks. In November the Bands returned to Ypres in the newly up-graded Dress Uniforms. At Poperinge the Band was filmed for Belgian Public Service TV. Retreat was played at Tynecot Cemetery, and the Pipe Major played the old song Ich hatt’ einen Kameraden at Langemark. The first Remembrance Day Last Post Ceremony of the new century was performed with the Devon & Dorset Fire & Rescue Service Bands. On return a very busy pre-Christmas spell began, which included an appearance by the Bavarian Band and a Band Choir at a service for the German Community in the East of Scotland. |
| 2001 | January. A World War II Theme Night at Bainfield B.C. saw a 17-piece Mess Band in action. A very sharp increase in demand for the Band’s services has been evident this year. Between August 2000 and end of July 2001 the Band successfully fulfilled 36 engagements or for statisticians 0.574 engagements per week. For the 2001 Cavalcade the Band massed with Rosyth Concert Band, and both bands are keen to develop this cooperation. The Band played in St. Giles’ Cathedral and in Inverleith Church and the Ocean Terminal. November return visit to Ieper, Belgium for Armistice events. December, a series of Christmas dates including four performances for our Corporate Sponsors, Pringle Leith Mills. |
| 2002 | The Band became a Registered Charity.
The usual run of engagements was augmented by a Massed
Bands concert with LCCB, the Rosyth Concert Band, the St.
Thomas’-Junction Road Pipes and Drums to celebrate
the Silver Jubilee of the International Military Music
Society on 10 May in St. Mary’s Episcopal Cathedral.
This, despite the coldness of the church, proved a highly
successful event. The Retreat Beating this year grew into
the first Annual Leith Festival Mini-Tattoo included the
Fire and Light Show, Te Pooka, as special guests. The
Band undertook a tour of North Germany in October, which included two massed Bands concerts, one in the Ruhrfestspielhaus, Recklinghausen with the Swedish TA Band of the Royal Scanian Dragoons and Wehrbereich Musikkorps 3 from Münster. In the second concert, the Münster band was replaced by the Band of the Royal Lancers. The Pipes and Drums joined the Band for this trip. In November the St Thomas' Junction Road Pipe Band and BB Buglers returned to Ieper for Armistice. This included another first, as they were invited to play in the St Martin’s Day Children's’ Parade - the first time this honour has been accorded a foreign Band. This has now become a regular feature of trips to Belgium. |
| 2003 | The regular engagements were fulfilled.
The development of a properly constituted Training Band
was inaugurated as a provider of training for less
skilled musicians. This proved to be highly successful
but regrettably the members authorised to conduct the
training band decided to secede and form their own "Pheonix
Concert Band". They in turned experienced secession
and "The Capital Concert Band" was formed. Thus
two new bands have grown out of the LCCB. A busy season brought additional, new engagements including 8 performances at the Festival of the Sea, the Scottish-American Memorial Day service in Princes St. Gardens being among the highlights. The 2nd. Leith Mini-Tattoo was highly successful, with a much larger body of performers and a greatly increased audience. For the Festivals’ Cavalcade LCCB was joined by the Baden-Lichtental Band from Baden-Baden, Germany. |
| 2004 | This was a particularly good year for
the Band, with some useful recruitment, greatly improved
rehearsal attendances aided, thanks to Librarian Rick
Robertson’s massive amount of work, by an efficient
library system. All our usual engagements were carried
out well, and there were some other ventures both
developmental and new. This year’s Mini-Tattoo
became the Capital’s D-Day 60th Anniversary event.
The list of distinguished guests was headed by the Lord
Provost and her Consort, who attended in all three of her
capacities, as Lord Provost, Lord Lieutenant and Hon.
President of LCCB. She was joined by Commodore Angus
Sanford, CBE, Naval Regional Officer, Scotland & Northern Ireland, who took the Salute. Also present were the Consuls General of the USA, The Republic of Poland, The Czech Republic and the Kingdom of Norway. The Festivals Cavalcade was represented by its Organiser, David Todd. The resident Bands were joined by pipers from Penicuik and Dundee plus buglers from Fife. Te Pooka once again gave the premiere of their new season’s show and the Polish Folk Ensemble of singers, dancers and musicians Nasza Dolina was given a great ovation. An audience of over a thousand, many of whom were overseas visitors added greatly to the sense of occasion. For the Cavalcade LCCB was joined by the Rosyth Concert Band and our guests, the Excelsior Band of the Hilversum police from Holland. The next venture after that was a fund-raising concert in Old St. Paul’s Episcopal Church at the end of October. This was the culmination of our efforts to raise money towards replacing the existing, unreliable sound system in use at the Menin Gate. Donations and the Concert raised nearly £1,000.00, which was greatly appreciated by the Last Post Committee. For the concert we were joined by two of the Buglers of the Ypres Fire Brigade, who flew over for the occasion. The season was rounded off by a flurry of very successful engagements for the Christmas season Carols in the Kirkgate with singers from the Leith Council of Churches on a gloriously sunny morning raised funds for the work of the Salvation Army. On the following day a Sing along Christmas Concert in our home base, St. Margaret’s, Easter Road, raised £50.00 for the Musicians’ Benevolent Fund and a similar programme at the Ocean Terminal aided Band funds. |
| 2005 | The year ahead. A brisk start to the New
Year, thanks to the suggestions of Band members, with the
Band presenting a Shoppers’ Concert in the Ocean
Terminal as its contribution to the Tsunami Disaster Fund.
This took place on 22 January. We also did a 10
minute slot at the Miles Baster Memorial Concert on 19
February which raised money for the Colin O’Riordan
Memorial Fund for Young Musicians. A Spring Concert in Leith is planned and work is beginning on the material for the Mini-Tattoo and other Leith Festival events. The Band’s 19th Norwegian Constitution Day Parade on 17 May is a special one, being the Centenary of Norwegian Independence. This year we are hoping to be joined by a band from Belgium or Holland for the Cavalcade. Planning is also in hand for the Remembrance visit to Ypres. |