About Us

Loxley Silver Band, is a traditional brass band based at Stanwood Methodist Church, near Stannington.

Loxley is well known within the local community and welcomes all to come along and play. The band has a friendly family atmosphere, with new and experienced players ranging from 11-80+ years old! Some members of the band have been involved for more than 75 years!

As well as having a main band that rehearse twice a week, Loxley also has a training band and community band which rehearse once a week. To find out more about these check out our Get Involved page.

The band play various concerts and other events throughout the year, performing a variety of music ranging from traditional brass band and classical music, to modern pop covers and tunes from film and stage.

The band are the busiest in the area each Christmas as we play local carols and other festive tunes at a variety of venues and pubs around Sheffield and the surrounding areas on almost every night of December. We even have our own special carol books!

Visit our What’s On page for details of current and future events. If you’re interested in having the band play for your event, drop us a message via the form on our Contact Us page.

Loxley Silver Band is a member of  Brass Bands England and the Sheffield Brass Network: a vehicle for Sheffield bands, brass players, volunteers, committees and musical directors to work together for the benefit of all brass bands in the Sheffield and South Yorkshire area.

History

Loxley Silver Band was originally established in 1889 in Loxley Methodist Church, under the name of the Loxley Wesleyan Brass Band. For many years the band was heard throughout the local community, especially during the annual Whitsuntide march down to Hillsborough.

After calling it home for 123 years, the Loxley Methodist Chapel was closed down in 2012, and the band relocated to Stanwood Methodist Church near Stannington, where they have been rehearsing ever since.

The band has evolved through several name changes since founding, including the ‘Loxley Methodist Silver Band’ and ‘Loxley Silver Prize Band’ until the present day ‘Loxley Silver Band’ and has managed to maintain playing since 1889 without even taking a break during the two world wars!

The first contest Loxley is recorded in taking part in took place in 1902. The band contested for over 20 years but took a break before getting back into contesting in 2014, almost 90 years later.

Loxley Silver Band has had a large influence within the local community over the years, with members of the band writing hymn tunes, such as ‘Underbank’ written by Ernest Vickers, and ‘Peace’ written by Norman Morris.

Local Carols

Loxley has been heavily involved in local Christmas traditions since its founding and plays and important role in keeping the local Sheffield Carols alive.

The Sheffield Carols pre-date modern carols by over a century and many are sung with alternative words and verses compared to those which are heard more commonly around the country each year.

Local carols were originally sung in churches accompanied by self-taught artisan musicians, but were driven out in the 1830s by the Oxford Tractarian Movement. As a result of this, the local carols started to die out in many parts of the country – except in South Yorkshire and North Derbyshire where they lived on in the pubs!

The tradition of singing local carols in the pubs in villages to the North West of Sheffield goes back to the late 18th century. The local carols were generally composed by local musicians, organists or choirmasters, and the carols were often given local names. For example, ‘Bright and Joyful’ is sung to the tune of ‘Malin Bridge’, and was composed by a Mr Drake who lived in the Fairbarn Road area. He also composed ‘Fern Bank’, this being the name of a private hotel in Wisewood. Mrs Mina G Dyson, organist of Stannington Church and Underbank Chapel, wrote the carols ‘Stannington’ and ‘Bradfield’.

There are interesting variations between versions of some carols sung in the different villages, particularly the tempo, pauses and repeats in the music. Some carols are known by different names in different parts of Sheffield, and some, claimed as ‘Local Carols’, can be found in nationally published works without any local reference.

In order to help keep the local carols alive, the band are very busy each December with around 25 engagements in Sheffield and the surrounding areas every year.

Loxley Silver Band has played these carols across three centuries and has become known for playing them ‘The Loxley Way’. 

Contesting

The band’s results from various contests since founding can be seen in the list below. Check out Brass Band Results for more information, including contest results during Loxley’s various name changes. 

Date Contest Position Conductor

Results provided by https://brassbandresults.co.uk