A brass band put on a show in a Romsey church to commemorate the 80th anniversary of the D-Day invasion. 

The Michelmarsh Silver Band played at the United Reformed Church in Romsey in tribute to all who played a part in the D-Day landings of 1944.

The programme showcased music interwoven with local reminiscences and storytelling.

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The Michelmarsh Silver Band  (Image: Michelmarsh Silver Band)

Highlighting the part that women had played in the invasion, compere Lt Commander Richard Brooks of the Royal Navy introduced the ‘D-Day Dames’ - cornet players Jan Boler, Joanne Bowles, Claire Pearce and Katie Topp - who took the audience by storm with The Boogie Woogie Bugle Boy of Company ‘B’.

Special guest, Pipe Sergeant Philip Garrod of the Hampshire Caledonian Pipe Band, led a tribute to the Cape Breton Highlanders Regiment from Nova Scotia, Canada, who had used MSB’s rehearsal  hall in Timsbury as a Mess Hall prior to embarkation for Europe, as he and the band joined forces to play ‘A Highland Cathedral’.

A quick turnaround saw the children of the fledgeling Michelmersh Training Band take to the stage to perform an impressive set of four pieces including Mars from Holst’s Planet Suite.

Pipe Sergeant Garrod featured again in the second half of the concert as he accompanied a reading by Claire Topp of the story of Bill Millin, The Mad Piper of Sword Beach.

A more reflective mood followed with the audience invited to remember the 4,415 allied troops that died on the beaches of Normandy as Paul Griffiths played the euphonium solo Peace to accompany a reading of the poem As I Stand Here Now.

Echoing the celebration parties that followed the liberation of Caen, and the eventual Victory in Europe, the band upped the tempo with Queen’s I Want To Break Free and Glenn Miller’s American Patrol, before closing with Victory! from The Cry of the Celts.

The concert was attended by the Mayor and Mayoress of Test Valley and the Mayor and Mayoress of Romsey and there was a retiring collection in aid of the Royal British Legion Poppy Appeal.