Matthews Norfolk Brass
An introduction to Pamela Swayze (nee Barsted) led to the discovery that Pam, her brother Godfrey, and father Bernard had between them devoted over 100 years to playing in the Reepham Town Band. In 1945, as part of a special performance before Queen Mary, the Queen Mother, Pam, aged 20, played a cornet solo. Pam was the first female member of the Band, women having taken over from those men called into the Forces. Her account of the Band led to the publication by Joyce Cox of The Reepham Town Band (now Matthews Norfolk Brass), which details the Band's beginnings in the early 1900's, and its triumphs and tribulations, including near disbandment after the sudden death in 1957 of its dedicated conductor Tommy Ruffles. The Band's resurrection in the early 1970's, becoming Champions of East Anglia in 1980 and the reasons for changing its name in 1984 to Matthews Norfolk Brass, are all recounted.
Queen Mary
Town band
