1985

According to the 'Weekly News' from the period, the band had 25 members and played 'John Brown's Body' and 'Lest We Forget' whilst marching through the village.

Capel Garmon Carnival, 1985

On this particular day, the weather was favourable so the band was able to play out on the school fields. When the weather was poor, the band would have to play in the school hall, and this is true of Penmachno as well - when it rains during Penmachno Carnival, the band plays in Ty'n Porth.

As you can see, the uniform for the band at this time was a white shirt and black trousers.

Penmachno Carnival, 1986

On this day, the band members had decided to play a trick on the bandmaster Dilwyn Evans by dressing up in fancy dress.

Dilwyn was waiting for the band members by the school and was wondering why no band members had turned up. The carnival committee asked Dilwyn where the band was, but of course Dilwyn didn't have a clue where they were. Suddenly, the band members appeared from the school dressed up in fancy dress - but luckily they had also brought along a fancy dress suit for Dilwyn so at least he didn't look too out of place!

Penmachno Carnival, 1986

Betws-y-Coed Carnival, 1986

This is the band in Betws-y-Coed in 1986. As part of Betws-y-Coed carnival, the band marched all the way from the railway station to Pentre Du.

By now, the band had been practising constantly and had improved considerably, so they were able to go around the villages of the area.

At this time the band decided to spend some money in order to lower the key of the older instruments so that all the instruments in the band were in harmony.

Practice Hut

This is a picture of the band's former practice hut in Swch, Cwm Penmachno. The hut was bought by "Dei Dei" who went around the area selling coal, and he kept his lorry in the hut. The hut was then sold to Robert Lloyd ("Robin Lem"), a part time farmer. In the 1950s, the hut was dismantled and then used to construct a haystack in Blaen y Cwm.

At the start of the last century, the band used to practice in the huts further back (as shown on the right hand side of the above picture).

1992

Dolanog, September 16, 1992. On this special day, Ifor Jones from Penmachno was celebrating his hundredth birthday. The band went to Dolanog in Llanrwst in order to play some songs for him on his special day.

The band received a warm welcome in Dolanog and had plenty of tea to drink and birthday cake to eat!

Hel Straeon

As part of an episode of the Welsh language television programme 'Hel Straeon' on S4C, the band were filmed one night practising in the school.

The programme talked about the history of the quarries in Cwm and discussed Dilwyn's models, and the band can be heard playing in the background during a considerable part of the programme.

We must thank the school for letting the band practice there over the years - thankfully it is a very warm place during the winter!

2001

Penmachno School Summer Fair, 2001

The picture that you see above was taken during Penmachno School Summer Fair, 2001. This was the first time that the band performed on the school fields - luckily it was a sunny day!