Desford Colliery Band - Where Have All The Flowers Gone? (2018)

When the Desford Colliery Band was formed 120 years ago few could have foreseen that just 16 years later its musicians would have to lay down their instruments to fight “The war to end war”. The band was put on hold as members went off to the trenches. Not all of them came back. Our world is very different from the one those brave men left behind and yet the Midlands miners that came together for music were not so different from their modern descendants. All thrive on the collective experience of working and playing together; all know full well the tremendous power of music to bring joy and hope, to move us, to soothe our souls. To commemorate the centenary of the end of World War One Where Have All the Flowers Gone? is a collection of songs of peace interpreted for brass band and performed with all the might and majesty that have earned the Desford Colliery Band its reputation as one of the world’s finest. From the gently unfolding melody of Pete Seeger’s meditation on mortality that inspired the album’s title to the joyful treatment of The Beatles’ anthem for the world ‘All You Need Is Love’ this is music that speaks to the full gamut of human emotions. Peace in 1918 brought the Desford Colliery Band back together and it won a host of gold medals before its members were needed to fight a second global conflict. Following that hiatus it has been active ever since, winning no less than 35 championship titles, recording a string of albums and starring in the hit TV series, The Real Brassed Off.