HASLEMERE Town Band hit a high note last week when club president Tony Waddell gifted an historic tuba to the museum collection.

The brass band, which has the distinction of being one of the oldest still flourishing, now hopes to sound a chord with the community and recruit more brass instrument and percussion players to swell its ranks.

Strictly speaking an E Flat Bass and not a tuba, the museum’s new acquisition belonged to Turner Bridger, club president following the First World War and a descendant of William Bridger, who officially founded the band in 1837.

Brass bands had been a big part of town life before that, however. William Bridger and his son Charles formed their own band in 1834, and two other local brothers Edward and William Berry then started aother band, before the two were amalgamated in 1837.

A pillar of the town for more than a century, the band’s current musical director is David Wright, who is also head of brass at Charterhouse School. It performs regularly at local fetes, concerts and community events, such as Charter Fair and Remembrance Sunday.

The band is keen to expand its membership and invites interested players, who can also be learners, to attend its ‘Make Music’ sessions on the last Thursday of every month at the United Reformed Church in Beacon Hill from 6.30-7.30pm. Brass and percussion instruments will be available to play.