Ian McFarland
Bass Trombone

I started my brass band career relatively late in life at the ripe old age of 29. It came about after a chance visit to Uppermill one Whit Friday. I had never heard of the Saddleworth band contests before and was amazed to hear bands such as Black Dyke and Fairys and thought it must be wonderful to be able to make music like that.

Shortly afterwards I was invited by a work colleague to come to a brass band evening class at Lydgate and I then decided I must have an instrument so that I could join in. I bought a peashooter trombone from the Salvation Army for £15 and have never looked back since.

My first experience with a real brass band was with Delph where I stayed for a few years and was lucky enough to play under the direction of Huw Parry. When I moved from Swinton to Rossendale the extra travelling and family commitments caused me with some reluctance to move to the local band Haslingden and Helmshore which was only a few minutes away from home.
The two bands from neighbouring towns had recently merged as each had been struggling and were glad of players. Not too long after starting with H & H my two youngest sons joined the band and in 1983 we won the Manchester area 4th Sect. at the Free Trade Hall.

After some years with H & H the opportunity to join Alvins Walkden came up and as they were then in the second section I felt I couldn't turn it down.
I spent 4 years at Walkden under various musical directors including John Hinckley and Steve Bastable and played several times at the Isle of Man entertainment contest as well as the usual local and national contests.

Work and family commitments made it difficult to stay at Walkden and so I decided to rejoin the rest of the family at Haslingden. The band had been through a rocky patch whilst I was away and would have folded but for the sterling efforts of Dave Holland, our Musical Director, and his family who had started to build up the band once more. Dave's hard work culminated in us being 4th Section runners up at the National Finals in 1998 at Harrogate. Since then the band has gone from strength to strength and my biggest regret is that we missed by 1 pt. the chance to play at the Albert Hall in 2000.

I am thoroughly enjoying our spell in the 1st section but as I get older it is getting harder and harder !

I have been married to my wife Dorothy for 37 years and have three sons, two of whom play in the band. Dorothy is a great supporter of the band and does a lot behind the scenes, including brewing up, keeping the band room spick and span and baby sitting our two grandchildren so that our sons and their wives (Daves two daughters who also play in the band) can attend rehearsals.