CCB - News

by Janice Powell Hill

Welcome to 2006, and another exciting year of playing in the Cortland Community Band. We finished up 2005 with a concert at the Eastwood Mall on Dec. 18th and we are now on hiatus until January 18th, when we will strike up the band once again.

There has been some debate amongst band members as to when the band organized. Some thought this was the 25th year, but my husband Bill Hill was a charter member and dug deep into his stash of memories and came up with an article from the Tribune telling about the band's first meeting on Feb. 2, 1983 and then playing the first concert on June 1st in the Lakeview High School auditorium. The article states that Jim Woofter and Roger Harned had played together in the Lakeview High School Band in the mid-1960's and thought about putting together a community band so that area musicians would have some place to play. The article goes on to say that people leaped at the idea and for their first concert the band was 55 members strong. Roger Harned was the first official director of the Cortland Community Band.

We still have several charter members including Sally Lane, Pat Shelar, Phyllis McCann, Alan Purdum, Robert Gourley, Bill Hill, Marv Donaldson, and Shirley Riggs,

and the current band is around 45 members strong. It would be grand to once again have all the former members come join us, even just to sit in once again just for old times sake. How about it guys and gals. We'd love to have you visit.

And now for the informative paragraph. We meet every Wednesday night at 7:00 in the band room at the Cortland Middle School and are always very glad to see new people walk in the door with their instrument of choice and pull up a chair and play or just sit in to see what we do. There are no auditions, no commitments, no pressure, just lots of friendly people with one common thread, our love of music. We come in all ages, from high school students to senior citizens, and all area musicians are welcome. If you'd like more information please visit our website at www.cortlandcommunityband.org You can also call Pat at 652-2424 or Janice & Bill at 395-1656 for more info. Hope to see you soon.

Last updated: November 01, 2006.