Band President

Dennis Wilby was elected President of Shanklin Town Brass Band in 2002.

Born in Horbury, West Yorkshire, he commenced playing the cornet at the age of seven, later becoming a member of many of the well-known brass bands in his native county.

He served for three years in the Army as Principal Cornet with the Royal Army Service Corps Staff Band and on release was  appointed Principal Trumpet with the BBC Northern Ireland Orchestra in Belfast, the start of his professional career in music. During his ten-year stay with the orchestra, he was  Chairman.  It was during this period that he was appointed conductor of Agnes Street Band, one of the famous banding names in Northern Ireland.

Returning to live and freelance as a trumpet player in Yorkshire, he was associated with many of the big bands and theatre orchestras, backing  the famous   show business personalities of that era.  But he never lost sight of his roots in brass bands, soon becoming involved with some of the well-known names.  In the 1970’s he was appointed Resident Conductor of Grimethorpe Colliery Band, he had a two-year spell as Musical Director of the Wingates Band and in 1978 and 1979  conducted Harton Colliery Band and Wingates Band respectively at the National Brass Band Championship Finals at the Royal Albert Hall.  During this era he was invited by James Shepherd to become the first conductor of the newly-formed all-star 10-piece group The James Shepherd Versatile Brass, with whom he made two LP recordings and conducted the group’s first appearance as guests at the National Brass Band Championship Gala Concert.  For 20 years Dennis was a regular visitor to Norway  conducting and fronting both wind band and brass band workshops.  He was employed for 24 years  by Wakefield Education Authority as a full -time Peripatetic Brass Tutor.

Adjudicating has been an important and active part of his life for the past 30 years.  He has adjudicated at all the Regional Championships,   National Brass Band Championship Finals,  British Open Solo & Quartet Championships, Pontin's Festival, Butlin's Mineworkers’ Festival, Irish Championships in Dublin and Belfast,  Norwegian and Belgian National Brass Band Championships, plus most of the independent contests held throughout the country.  He  also officiates at Music Festivals throughout the UK and Ireland.  He is a member of ABBA (Association of Brass Band Adjudicators) and is on the official list  of The British Federation of Brass Bands.

In 1998 Dennis relocated from his native Yorkshire to live in East Sussex, during which time his involvement in the band movement has continued.  He was Chairman of SCABA (Southern Counties Amateur Band Association) from 2002 until 2005 and in 1999 was awarded his Certificate of Long Service Award from The National Association of Brass Band Conductors. He is Editor of Brass Review (Britain’s only free band magazine).

Musical Director - Malcolm Lewis

Malcolm Lewis is the Musical Director of Shanklin Town Brass Band. He founded the Band in 1993 on moving to the Isle of Wight with his wife Karen. He is a dedicated Brass Band musician with a long career in Banding. His contribution was acknowledged in 2001 when he was awarded a Diploma of Honour in recognition of outstanding contribution to the Brass Band Movement by the Worshipful Company of of Musicians.

Malcolm began his career playing 2nd Euphonium for Ware Brass Band in 1956. At the age of 18 he went to the Royal Military School of Music at Kneller Hall, and discovered a talent for conducting. On leaving the army in 1971 he joined the Tilbury Band, and then moved on to become Musical Director of the Castle Point Brass Band in 1975. At the time the Castle Point Brass Band consisted of a group of young players aged between 6 and 14 rehearsing in the chairman’s living room. Under Malcolm’s leadership, they went on to become a prize-winning band, crowning a decade of achievement with the title of London & Southern Counties Third Section Champions in 1988.

In the same year, the Castle Point Youth Band retained the title of London & Southern Counties Youth Champions, giving Malcolm a remarkable ‘double’. The Band also featured in numerous television appearances, and among the many talented players to pass through the Castle Point ranks were Philip Harper, who began his brass band career under Malcolm’s tutelage, and is now a world-renowned composer of brass band music, and Malcolm’s own son Graham, who won a scholarship to Guildhall School of Music in London, where he was given the position of Principal Cornet in the Guildhall Brass Band.  We are now privileged to have him as a full time member of Shanklin Town Brass Band.

At the end of 1989 Malcolm moved on to become Musical Director of the Harlow Brass Band, rebuilding them from a low point of 12 players to become once more a prize-winning contest band with a full complement of youth and senior players. In 1991 he and his wife Karen moved to the Isle of Wight, and, surprised at the lack of serious brass band presence on the Island, decided to found a band.

On the 19th October 1993, they held their first rehearsal in a church hall, using a few instruments from the walls of local pubs and Malcolm and Karen’s own instruments. Four children turned up to rehearse, and became the founding members of the Shanklin Town Brass Band. The rest is history.

In 2009 Malcolm had great privilege at being asked to adjudicate at Southern Counties Amateur Band Association's Solo, Ensemble and Quartet contest.

Malcolm works at Lake Middle School, where he is also Musical Director of the brass band