8. “WWII – Let No Star Delude Us…” – Solo Cornet 2

Cornet

 

The growing threats of Hitler’s rise to power in 1933, the Soviet Union and fascism in Europe escalated with Germany’s invasion of Poland on 1st September, 1939. The war to end all wars was still a strong memory but Britain found itself with no option. At 11.15 am on 3rd September, 1939 Prime Minister Neville Chamberlain announced that Britain was at war once again.  The true scale of what lay ahead was simply unimaginable.  Conscription meant that communities were broken up, the bandstands were empty and music stopped again.  Many bandstands were permanently lost during the collection of scrap iron and ornamental railings for the war effort.

What of the faith and fire within us
Men who march away
Ere the barn-cocks say
Night is growing gray,
Leaving all that here can win us;
What of the faith and fire within us
Men who march away?

Men Who March Away (Song of the Soldiers) (Excerpt) – Thomas Hardy, 1914

War comes flooding like a tide
O where shall we run, shall hide?

Setting out or turning back,
The old wound split in new strife,
A new wound is a new eye
A festering wound a womb of different life.

Where shall we hide but in the wound?

Song (Excerpt) – Audrey Beecham, 1939