A 93-year-old musician has hung up his tenor horn after 85 years playing for Wrexham’s Salvation Army band.
Wilf Jones first joined the band when he was eight in 1926 and his first assignment in the senior band was at the Gresford colliery disaster in 1934 to spur on the rescue effort.
The bandsman received a standing ovation when presented with a clock at a concert by the Wrexham and Southport Citadel Salvation Army bands at the Citadel on Garden Road, Rhosddu.
“It feels a bit queer really getting awarded for something you’ve always done and can’t let go of,” he said. “But I’m a bit disabled now with my joints, so I’ve given up.”
He was presented with the clock on behalf of the band by 18-year-old Jessica Morris who sits beside him in the tenor horn section.
He also received letters from the head of the Salvation Army and their international staff bandmaster.
“I was brought up in the Salvation Army,” he said. “I went to the senior band in 1934. My first assignment for the senior band was at the Gresford colliery disaster.”
The band played to spur on crowds who had assembled for the rescue effort after the disaster. Wilf was just 16.
“Thousands of people came to watch the rescue so we were just playing on the Sunday for a couple of hours. The disaster happened on the Friday night. A lot of them had changed shifts so they could go to the match on Sunday.
“My own uncle was one of those down the pit, but he wasn’t rescued, no one was.”
In happier times, he said, the band had toured Europe including playing in Germany and the Netherlands.
“I was 40 years as a solo cornet player, 12 years on the euphonium and the rest of the time I’ve been on second horn.
“I’ve enjoyed it all, there’s been a lot of comradeship with the band all the while.
“Hundreds of people have come and gone, I can’t remember everyone. It’s about 24 people now but it’s gone up and down over the years, sometimes down to just 12 people. I was away from it for six-and-a-half years in the military.”
Born in 1918, Wilf went to Grove Park School and worked at Shotton steelworks before serving in North Africa, Sicily and Italy in the Second World War.
He returned to Wrexham working as a foreman at Courtaulds plastics division, and picked up where he left off with the Salvation Army band.
He has two sons and three grandchildren. His son Alan, 65, plays in the Coedpoeth band.
“It’s in the blood,” said Wilf, who still intends to play when he can.
Wrexham Salvation Army’s commanding officer Major Ian McCredie said: “The respect that people have for him having served all those years is huge, he’s just a great man, and a good player.”