Nigel, 80, plans to carry on playing for Stamford Brass “regardless”
The oldest and longest serving member of a brass band based in Stamford said he is as passionate about playing music today as he was when he started at age nine.
Nigel Peck, 80, second baritone in the championship winning Stamford Brass, is currently hard at work with the band’s other 27 members preparing for their Christmas concert followed by the Butlins Mineworkers Festival in January.
Stamford Brass has enjoyed an unprecedented year of competition, winning three major titles in its section. Nigel first joined the band in 1986 and has been a key member ever since. The Peterborough resident, who has lived in the city since 1963, has enjoyed an illustrious musical career playing for various bands across the region.
“My father was a bass player in the Salvation Army band so I was exposed to music from a very young age,” he said. “I started out playing the euphonium but my parents wanted me to learn to play the piano and I went to lessons with an old, Victorian-era lady who would strike me across my fingers with a cane every time I played a wrong note.
“But my first love was always an instrument and not the piano.”
While Nigel followed in his father’s footsteps and played in the Salvation Army band, he also completed stints with the March Railway Silver Band (now March Brass), the Spillers Works Band and Nassington Brass Band before joining Stamford Brass.
“I have been lucky as all the bands I’ve played with have been successful,” he said. “I’ve also been fortunate to play with lots of famous players and have played under some of the best bandmasters throughout the country.”
On the recent success enjoyed by Stamford Brass, Nigel said: “I have very much enjoyed the year and the music we are playing is very interesting. We have a really good team at the moment.”
Nigel, who ran his own business, married wife Ida in 1963 and the couple have a son Martin, 55.
“Playing is time consuming and it took me away from home and my business a lot,” he said.
On his own career and how much longer he plans to keep playing, Nigel said he would carry on “regardless”.
“When I can’t play in the way I want to play I shall retire,” he said.
“At the moment I don’t have any problems and I’ve been doing it all my life - I enjoy my music.”