Porthleven Town Band
Our Band Family
Our dedicated trustees, committee members and band members are at the heart of what we do, utilising their unique skills to progress the band. Without them, we would not be where we are today. Meet some of our band family below.
TRUSTEES
​TRUSTEE
Vivian Hendy, also known as Joe Beef, has been a trustee for many years. His son Darren Hendy, was taught by Lynne Lees' grandfather, Stanley Oliver and went on to play in several established bands such as Flowers and Black Dyke.
TRUSTEE
Justin Uren is another trustee who has been with us for many years. He recently played a big part in helping with the renovation of our band room, and each year organises one of our most popular concerts, Bickford Smith.
PRESIDENT
David Mitchell is our president and grew up playing the horn and learning how to read music in the band, as did several of his grandchildren. We are also very proud to have Mitchell Builders as one of our official sponsors.
TRUSTEE AND PUBLICITY OFFICER
Lynne Lees is not only a trustee but looks after the band's social media and publicity. Her great grandfather, grandfather and father, Alec Oliver, all played in the band with Alec also taking on the role as chairman. Lynne was later chairwoman before becoming trustee and currently has two children in the band.
TRUSTEE
Paul Combellack has been a trustee for several years now and is extremely supportive of the band, also playing a big part in securing our new band room. He is another one of our trustees with family connections to the band with his wife and daughter as current members.
COMMITTEE
CHAIR
Ysy Lees is also our principal cornet. She worked her way up through training band, after being taught by her grandfather and chairman at the time, Alec Oliver, and has been a band member for over 20 years. With her mother Lynne as trustee, and a number of relatives in the band, she comes from a long line of Porthleven Town Band members.
TREASURER
Linda Trounson is one of our second cornet players and uniform officer. She has played the cornet from a young age, joining us a few years ago in addition to Gweek Band. Her role is to keep track of all of our fundraising and expenditure so we know how much money we are raising and where we can spend it in the best interest of the band.
VICE CHAIR
Jodie Moore has been in the band for over ten years and is a great asset to PTB, having played in a variety of sections from cornet to bass (as pictured) and now in the percussion section. Her longevity with the band and previous committee experience means we are delighted to have her a vice chair.
COMMITTEE MEMBER
Cath Horne recently joined our committee as a playing member from our community brass. Working her way up from the beginners group, we are delighted to have a representative from this band as they start joining us on trips to Torquay and playing for locally in our community.
COMMITTEE MEMBER
Tim Wingham has been in PTB for several years now and has established himself as a very talented euphonium player. Also joining our committee in the last year, he recently played a solo at our gig at the Minack Theatre and won Player's Player, our only player voted award at our last Presentation Evening.
COMMITTEE MEMBER
Esther Kitchen
BAND SECRETARY
Marie Nute started playing at 7 years old, first for Wendron, then Redruth and then Camborne. Her sister, Linda plays for Porthleven and 4 years ago Tom asked her to 'help out' for Torchlight parade (27 years after last playing!) and she was amazed she remembered True and Trusty almost note for note! She is currently playing repiano cornet and is incredibly organised when it comes to secretary duties.
OUR MUSICAL DIRECTOR
Our esteemed musical director, Tom Bassett has taken the band for over ten years now. He first began in Porthleven Town Band in 2000 where he remained for four years playing percussion and Eb bass. Tom later went to music college where he completed a first class BMus Honours degree at Birmingham Conservatoire followed by a Masters in Music at Guildhall School of Music and Drama.
Upon returning from university, he jumped straight back into band as musical director of senior band and training band. He also began teaching many of our individual players and has composed several pieces that we have enjoyed performing publicly. Tom's father, Neil Bassett sits on front row as second man down and his mother, Shirley is currently in our training band, with her father, David Thomas as the unofficial grandad of the band.
OTHER IMPORTANT MEMBERS
BAND BUILDERS MUSICAL DIRECTOR AND LIBRARIAN
Andrea Lewis is one of our baritone players and teaches band builders who are our beginners. Andrea taught at Porthleven primary school for many years so has extensive experience working with children and does an excellent job looking after our beginners in addition to our library.
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REGISTRATION AND SAFEGUARDING OFFICER
Linda Thomas is our multi-talented trombone player and registration officer. While also playing the bagpipes for us in our summer concerts, she ensures that all of our players are registered in time for contests and all aspects of safeguarding are up to date.
SOCIAL SECRETARY
Judith Oliver is the unoffical band granny and social secretary. She organises brilliant social events for the band throughout the year, including our presentation evening and annual Christmas meal. She also has family connections in the band, with two grandchildren as members and her daughter, Lynne as Trustee.
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ENGAGEMENT SECRETARY
Tracey Dunkley started playing the trombone at the age of 12. She has played in various bands across the west country with engagements including the Royal Tournament, Lord Mayors Parade in London, Cologne Carnival and the Whit Friday Marches. In 2017 Tom asked her to help out with some Christmas engagements and she has enjoyed playing in Porthleven Town Band ever since! She now sits in the 1st trombone seat and is our engagement secretary.
INSTRUMENT OFFICER
Ted Perry joined us a few years ago on percussion and has been an integral part of this section ever since. Winning percussionist of the year, Ted has already been part of some great changes in band including the purchase of a new drum kit and is now responsible for the maintenance and upkeep of our valuable instruments.