"BESSES O' THE BARN."

Wairarapa Age, Volume XXIX, Issue 8152, 31 May 1906, Page 3

"BESSES O' THE BARN."

The "Besses o' the Barn," the band composed mainly of Lancashire working men which we hope to see here 8t Exhibition time, dates its .success from 1869, when it carried off the prize at Manchester with a fine performance of Meyerbeer's "Le Prophete." The band is said to have derived its name from an hotel at Kadcliffe in which it used to practice, called Toe Barn, kept by a landlady named Bessie. From 1869 the "Besses" had, with the "Black Dike," Yorkshire, always BEEN IN THE FRONT -of English bands. The rivarly between these representatives of Lancashire and Yorkshire has always •been keen, and they have divided the honours iu many a competition. The visit of the btfnd LAST YEAR TO FRANCE was a great triumph. Prior to leaving England it played before King Edward and Queen Alexandra at Windsor, and was warmly complimented byltheir Majesties op its superb ylaying. The bandsmen ar.rived in Paris just when the friendly .leeling towards England was at its •iheight, and the Parisians "rose at .them," as the actors say. Arriving l-in the Tuilleris Uarlens to give a •concert, the conductor made a tactful beginning by halting his men -opposite to the seat of the French •President and ordering the band to <play "The Marseillaise." The effect was electric. "The packed masses .in.the stands rose' with one accord, thousands of beads were bared, and when the last bar of the anthem was played the huge crowd cheered •enthusiastically until, in response to vociferous and repeated demands, which even the conductor, who knew ■no French, could not fail to understand, the band played 'God Save the King." The people stood uncovered to the end, and then cheered -loader and longer than before. After this Parisians received the bandsmen with einbarasaing effusive.ll ess, the visitors being continually . STOPPED *IN THE STREET *and shaken by the hand by Frenchmen influenced by the entente and "the band's splendid musio. When the band gave a concert in the Bois de Boulogne, the toonductor was enthusiastically fiissed on both chpeks by a warm-hearted official, while •both he and the promoter received ■decorations. We can hardly hope to rival these methods of appreciation in Christcburch, but that the i famous baud will have a warm wel-1 come we do not doubt. Mr Alexan- j dsr Owen, the conductor, has a very j high reputation as an arranger of musio, and most of the pieces played by the band are scored bv him. The instruments of the baud j Are all brass. i