The Burntwood Blue Birds were a champion band who won many competitions. Image courtesy Wendy Jones.

Long-term readers will remember well friend of the blog Wendy Jones, who donated so much material to the blog – both in the form of photos of the area before the mM6 Toll came through, and her main interest, the history of local marching bands, particularly the Burntwood Blue Birds Jazz Band.

Wendy has recently set up a Facebook group for the band where she’s posting a wealth of material and like the similar group for Brownhills Tartans, it’s proving to be a real trip down memory lane for all who had any connection with the scene.

However, Wendy is not stopping at a Facebook page; she’s organising a reunion and hoping to compile a book of memories, photos and recollections. She posted the following request on Facebook in the last few days:

We are looking for anybody who had been a member of the Burntwood Blue Birds Jazz Band that ran between 1969 and 2003.

We are holding a reunion on 17th October 2015 and going to write a book about the life, times and history of the Blue Birds long reign.

Any memorabilia, photographs and memories of the Blue Birds are most welcome.

If you’re interested in the reunion, the book, or just fancy a wallow in marching band nostalgia, please do pop to the Facebook group here. If you don’t do Facebook, but would still like to get in touch with Wendy, please do comment here or mail me: BrownhillsBob at Googlemail dot com.

As I’ve previously pointed out, marching bands were a huge part of local music/performance culture locally for decades. I think it’s important that the history of this tradition is recorded, and I can’t think of anyone finer and more suited to do it than Wendy.

The skill, dedication and expertise of the people involved should not be underestimated. his is a real art form. Image courtesy Wendy Jones.