The Exeter Community Band is celebrating its 20th anniversary

The Exeter Community Band Inc. celebrated its 20th anniversary on July 26 with dinner at Anthony’s Trattoria in Mount Penn.

Speakers for the evening include Mike Fleming, President (saxophone); Eileen Heim, secretary (trumpet); Ellen Azrael, past president (bass clarinet); Henry Patterson, Past President (Drums and Percussion); Linda Livingood, Vice President (Flute); conductor and musical arranger John Jadus, who has conducted the band for 17 of its 20 years.

Since its foundation in 2002, the band has given about 12 concerts every year in parks, elderly people, churches, fairs and mass events. The group’s musical repertoire includes traditional marches, Broadway show music, music from film soundtracks, patriotic songs, pop tunes and music written for concert bands.

The final concert was held at Grand View Manor Personal Care Home in Fleetwood and featured several talented band members, including Eric Scholkopf on tuba on “Tiptoe Through the Tubas,” Jim Abraham on baritone with a beautiful, smooth sound on “Shenandoah” , lead singer Mary McCormick, who sang five old jazz songs, including “Blue Moon” and the excellent “Trumpeter’s Lullaby” sung by Veronica (Duffy) Scholkopf.

With a continuous membership of around 35 members over 20 years, there are nine current members who have been with the band since its inception. Besides Azrael, Eileen Heim, and Abraham, the other six are: Paul Heim (baritone saxophone), Ian Fisher (clarinet), Fred High (trumpet), Brenda Hugeny-Achsline (bassoon), John Rosowski (clarinet, librarian), and Donna Schiffer ( flute, percussion).

“Our band members come from all walks of life, all political affiliations, and all levels of education, from those with Ph.D.’s to those who haven’t even graduated from high school, and yet we all sit together and play together Alt said. horn player Gary Sugar, who entertained the band with poems via e-mail during the COVID-related hiatus. “We are not professional musicians. We have other assignments and we do this in our free time. We are all artists, but we are artists who can work together to create something more fantastic than we could create on our own.”

Anyone who enjoys playing a musical instrument or has an instrument hiding in the closet and wants to dust it off and give it another go can join a band. Rehearsals are held on Tuesday evenings from 7-9pm at Exeter Evangelical Reformed Lutheran Church. For more information check Exeter Community Band Facebook page or call Azrael at 610-406-7676.