A CONCERT celebrating the relationship between Berry Hill Silver Band and the late famous Forest author Dennis Potter takes place this Sunday (September 18).

Mr Potter joined the band as a teenager after the Second World War and in his short time with them left a lasting impression and recognised the importance of the brass band in the village. Years later the band were recorded rehearsing in Mr Potter’s documentary Between Two Rivers at the bandroom’s ‘Hut’ in 1960.

The band was commissioned and appeared in several of his plays. Two of them were recorded in London and at Welsh Bicknor Church in 1995, starring Albert Finney and Adam Bareham.

The concert will feature three surviving members who were participants in the recordings; Roy Smith, Steve Lewis and Neville Edmunds. The players have recorded their recollections of Dennis and the performances for the plays. There will be a small exhibition of pictures and information about the band and Dennis Potter.

Mr Smith said: “We particularly remember one of the actors, Adam Bareham, coming to band rehearsals to learn how to finger an instrument so that he looked as if he was playing in the production. There were long delays between filming scenes and the then conductor, Harold Hartley, kept the band busy playing to entertain the cast.”

The concert is supported by the Heritage Lottery Funded Foresters’ Forest Project and will be held at the Dean Heritage Centre at 2pm.