Andy Vail – 2nd Horn

January 2002 – Present

Andy started on cornet aged seven, and soon joined his three elder brothers in the Portchester and Hampshire Youth bands. As a teenager he also joined the Southsea band in the Championship Section, playing second and then front row cornet. Local contests involved quick changes of uniform to compete against himself!

At University in Exeter, Andy gave up trying to find a band and took to white-water canoeing. Leaving Exeter in 1988, he joined Enderby Band in Leicestershire (no white-water), filling a vacancy on flugel for a year before moving to Bristol and giving up once more. Another move took him to Leeds, where he occasionally subbed for the Garforth Jubilee and Horsforth bands, but spent most of his spare time canoeing in the Yorkshire Dales.

Having moved to Stretford, Andy responded to a local newspaper article describing Flixton Band’s rebuilding. He joined the band on flugel horn, moved to tenor when starting a family, and has hung around ever since.

Andy’s most memorable banding moments:

“The Tenor Horn duets arranged and performed by my brothers, Jon and Bill, for mine and Audrey’s wedding music.”