City Departments
Hall of Fame Members
Preston Scout House Band
Inducted 1997
The Preston Scout House Band was formed under the leadership of Wilf Blum on 5 Oct 1938 after permission was received from Scout Headquarters in Ottawa to form a band as part to the scouting program of 1st Preston troop. The band, which was to be based at 1st Preston but open to all Scouts in Preston District, started out with 10 bugles, two side drums and a bass drum which had been donated by a "group of citizens who are interested in Scout work."
The band's first public performances began in 1940 and involved marching the WRENS of HMCS Conestoga to church service in Galt each Sunday. The band received early training in fancy drills by performing "Wavy Navy" in an anchor formation with the bugles forming the stem of the anchor and the drum section the hook of the anchor.
By 1940 the band had grown to 34 members consisting of 24 buglers, 4 side drums, a bass drum, a colour guard of 4 and a drum major. By 1947 the Preston Scout House Band had become known outside Ontario and was featured in the "Weekend Magazine" section of the Montreal Standard. By 1949 the band had become known as Preston's "Famous" Scout House band and by the mid-1950's the band was regularly playing before enthusiastic crowds which often numbered over 20,000 and occasionally over 60,000. As the band's fame spread, it annually received invitations to play at 400-500 events throughout Canada and the United States including the Calgary Stampede and the Tournament of Roses Parade in Pasadena California. Many of these invitations, including the latter two had to be declined because of the costs involved. In addition, at the height of its success, the band received up to 2,500 fan letters a week.
In 1953, the band's uniforms were redesigned, changing for the traditional Scout uniform to the more famous red shirts and socks, black Aussie hat with feather and short black shorts. The new uniforms were not favourably received by the Scouting movement and so the band left the Scouts and went off on its own. The band was named Canadian Junior Drum Corps Champions in 1954, 1955 and 1957 and was Ontario Drum Corps Champions in 1957 to 1959. The Preston Scout House Band was noted as a great show band and as a great crowd pleaser. In many ways the show put on by the band was unique with music that included "Rhapsody in Blue" and "Love Me Tender" among many others. The band's wooden soldier routine in which the members marched stiff-leggedly as toy soldiers; the swaying march to 'High Lily'; the skipping to 'Orpheus' and the traditional 'Waltzing Matilda' never failed to arouse audiences.
By the early 1960's the band began to run into difficulties in competitions. The older B-flat bugles and the band's unconventional drill programs made it increasingly difficult to compete with newer drum corps which now marched at the American Drum cadence of 125 to 150 steps per minutes compared to the slower British army cadence of 96 steps per minute used by Scout House. Some members wanted the band to move to becoming solely a performance band while others wanted to change sufficiently to allow the band to remain competitive force. The issue was never truly resolved and in April 1967 the band folded. A number of attempts were made to revive the band, the most successful starting in May 1976 with 8 boys forming the nucleus of the band. This version of the band marched publicly for the first time in May 1977. Unfortunately, the magic of the earlier band could not be recaptured and the band finally folded for the last time in December 1983.