Haydock Band

A Lancashire brass band formed in 1861 out of Lord Gerard's Hussars band, adopted by the Haydock collieries and known for most of a century as the Haydock Colliery Band, which rehearsed in the colliery stable-yard canteen for some eighty years and still plays.

The mining history in this record

The band was formed in 1861 from the band of Lord Gerard's Hussars, the Lancashire Yeomanry regiment raised on the Gerard estate at Haydock — an estate whose wealth came in good part from the coal under it. As mining took hold in the township the band was adopted by the colliery and put the word into its title, becoming the Haydock Colliery Band, and for some eighty years it rehearsed in the canteen in the colliery stable yard. Some of its old instruments were engraved for the pit owner: Richard Evans Colliery Band.

Richard Evans and Company worked the Haydock collieries — Golborne, Lyme Pits, Wood Pit and Old Boston among them — and the band's history is tied to their worst day. When the Wood Pit exploded, killing 189 men and boys, one of the dead was Thomas Skidmore, aged 24, of Twenty Eight Row, Haydock, a drawer and a member of the Haydock Colliery Brass Band. He was buried at St James's church on 12 June, with his instrument laid on top of the coffin.

People

Thomas Skidmore, 24, a drawer at the Wood Pit and a member of the Haydock Colliery Brass Band, buried with his instrument on his coffin; Richard Evans, the pit owner whose name was engraved on the band's instruments; Mark Quinn, musical director since 2007.

Legacy today

The band has carried its sponsors and its pit through a series of names — Haydock Colliery, Haydock Colliery Prize, Haydock Prize, Haydock Silver, Haydock (Ogden Travel) — and is now simply the Haydock Band, the oldest community-run organisation in St Helens. Under Mark Quinn, its musical director since 2007, it has competed in two national finals, finishing fourth in 2017, and has been North West Area and Butlins National champion. It has played the fanfares that start the Grand National at Aintree, recorded four albums, and performed in professional productions of Brassed Off at theatres in Manchester, Liverpool, Wigan and Blackpool.

Recorded claims

Individual factual claims, each tagged with how solidly it's grounded and attached to the source(s) that support it. Where sources disagree, both are kept.

• The Haydock Band was formed in 1861 from the band of Lord Gerard's Hussars. (documented fact) ^1,2
• As mining came to Haydock the band was adopted by the colliery and took its name, becoming the Haydock Colliery Band, and rehearsed for some eighty years in the canteen of the colliery stable yard. (documented fact) ¹
• Some of the band's old instruments were engraved 'Richard Evans Colliery Band' after the owner of the Haydock pits. (documented fact) ¹
• Thomas Skidmore, 24, of Twenty Eight Row, a drawer and a member of the Haydock Colliery Brass Band, was killed in the Wood Pit explosion and buried at St James's on 12 June with his instrument placed on top of his coffin. (later recollection) ¹
• The Haydock collieries, including the Wood Pit, were worked by Richard Evans and Company. (documented fact) ³
• The band has been known as Haydock Colliery, Haydock Colliery Prize, Haydock Prize, Haydock Silver and Haydock (Ogden Travel). (documented fact) ²
• The band competed in two national finals, finishing fourth in 2017, has been North West Area and Butlins National champion, and plays the fanfares that start the Grand National. (documented fact) ¹

Mines

• Haydock Colliery — Lancashire
  The band took the colliery's name, rehearsed in its stable yard for eighty years, and buried one of its own players among the Wood Pit dead.

Disasters

• Wood Pit Explosion, 1878 — 7 June 1878
  Thomas Skidmore, one of the 189 killed, was a member of the Haydock Colliery Brass Band and was buried with his instrument on his coffin.

Sources

1. (secondary) Our History - Haydock Band — Haydock Band
2. (secondary) Haydock Band — Brass Band Results
3. (secondary) Haydock Collieries — Wikipedia — Wikipedia

Record created: 18 September 2026 · Last researched: 24 September 2026