Peter Stevens sadly passed away last Monday aged 88 after a short illness. He and his wife Sylvia had moved to a care home near Cirencester to be near to their son Jon. There was a cremation attended by close family followed by a gathering of appreciation for friends and family on Saturday. Everything was simple with no fuss which was as Peter had requested.
Peter joined Shipston Band in 1973 when he made a chance remark when we were working for a local charity. He told me how he used to play cornet with Crystal Palace. Shipston Band was short of solo cornets so a cornet was delivered and in just over 2 weeks he was filling the missing spot on 4 th Solo Cornet.
This was an exciting time under long serving conductor Bert Smith with a number of contest successes and our first ever Radio Broadcast on Radio Birmingham.
After the death of Bert Smith the band entered a new era when we appointed the experienced Welsh conductor Richard Nash. There was a roller coaster of Contest success both locally and nationally, prestigious concerts including visits to Wales and the beginning of a series of Christmas Concerts at Warwick Castle. The band needed a resident conductor to lead the band when Richard Nash was unavailable. Peter filled the void and proved an extremely capable
assistant leading the band to numerous contest successes in his own right including the Leamington Spa Contest in 1981 a picture of which is attached. His ability as an arranger also proved invaluable.
When Richard Nash retired Peter decided to stand aside also. Their dual stewardship had seen a meteoric rise in the band’s fortunes from an average 4 th Section Band to a highly capable 2 nd Section Band which the town could be proud of, Peter maintained his links with the band returning for special concerts.
On retiring and moving to North Wales he returned to conducting with the local Abergynolwen Band and enjoyed a successful time there.
David Birch