About the Band

How it started

It all started with three violinists who played in Bondleigh Church wondering if there were other musicians like them wanting to expand their musical experience.  They put an advert in a local magazine seeking “someone with a masochistic tendency” to act as a Musical Director.

And so the Bondleigh Barn Band, or BBB, was formed in January 2012. A handful of assorted musicians met in a barn in Bondleigh kindly made available by a friendly farmer. They shared a few simple tunes, the collective desire to play together, and a degree of trepidation as to direction the BBB would take.

Originally too small to be called an orchestra, we called ourselves a band, in the same sense that Robin Hood’s merry outlaws would have called themselves a band!

We outgrew two barns in Bondleigh and then outgrew two village halls, so we now meet in the Sports Centre in Winkleigh. With over 40 regular players the band is more like an orchestra, albeit an unconventional one! But we retain our name to remind us of our beginnings.

Our musical focus, format, ambition and complexity have evolved to meet the interests and aspirations of the growing number of BBB members. The Band’s repertoire now has over one hundred items, with more continuing to be added.  All arrangements are made by our Musical Director.  They range in scope across four centuries and extend from popular music of the periods to more serious classical pieces.

Rehearsals and live shows

As well as getting together to rehearse every fortnight, the Band is often asked to play for local events ,and we usually perform around three to four times a year. These tend to be informal occasions, where we encourage audience participation. Performance venues have included village halls, churches, a village green, Ilfracombe RNLI station and Castle Drogo grounds! To date, our concerts have raised over £23,000 for a range of charitable causes.

In 2019/20, the Band collaborated with John Parks Studio and Tiverton Camcorder club to make a DVD about the band, ‘Twiddly bits are sung quite fast’ (a few copies are still available for sale!).

When the Covid pandemic put a stop to our fortnightly rehearsals, the Band continued meeting via Zoom. As well as band members sharing stories about their pathway into music, we recorded The Bondleigh Barn Band in Lockdown.

Our musical director

All of BBB’s achievements have been made possible by the outstanding commitment in time and expertise given freely by our wonderful Musical Director (with a masochistic tendency), Richard Edwards. Along with our Secretary Paul Cherrett, the Band continues to flourish under their ‘benign dictatorship’!

The ‘Lockdown’ video and DVD