Βι¶ΉΤΌΕΔ

"I started to learn the tenor horn with Torpoint Town Band as a teenager but, by the age of 20, I'd decided that other things were more important," says Phillip.

However his enthusiasm for brass band music remained and a few years later he became involved in the administrative side of the brass band movement with The South West Brass Band Association, serving on local and national bodies for many years.

Enjoying the fresh air.

"My introduction to broadcasting came in January 1983, the year Βι¶ΉΤΌΕΔ Radio Devon went on air.

"I was asked to present a Brass Band diary spot on Saturday mornings with Douglas Mounce.

"This led to me presenting several 'Bandstand' series featuring local bands before being asked to present Sounds of Brass on a weekly basis in January 1985."

Apart from three short summer breaks in 1989, 1990 and 1991 the programme has been on the air ever since.

It was extended to Βι¶ΉΤΌΕΔ Radio Cornwall and Βι¶ΉΤΌΕΔ Radio Jersey in 1994 followed by Guernsey, Bristol, Gloucestershire and Wiltshire in 2004 and is now available worldwide on the internet through the Βι¶ΉΤΌΕΔ iPlayer.

Phillip's also made other brass band programmes and series for Βι¶ΉΤΌΕΔ Local Radio as well as making documentaries on the lives of Cornish composer George Lloyd and writers Henry Williamson and Sabine Baring Gould.

Highlights

"There've been many highlights over the years," he continues.

"Perhaps the major one being in 2004 when the Cornish composer Kevin AckfordΜύ wrote and dedicated a theme tune called Sounds of Brass especially for the programme.

This was recorded by The Camborne Town Band for use each week on Sounds of Brass.

Subsequently Dr Nicholas Childs and The Black Dyke Band made a recording of the piece and included it on one of their CD’s.

It's a gesture that delighted Phillip.

"To have a theme tune written especially for the programme was a great honour and then to have it recorded by the most famous brass band in the world was the icing on the cake."

A further personal highlight also came in 2004 when Phillip was invested as a Bard of The Cornish Gorsedd, in recognition of his services to the Brass Band Movement, with the Bardic name in Cornish of Lef a Vrest; Voice of Brass.

Broadcasting has been a labour of love for Phillip, and still is, though now having retired after running the National Trust gift shops in Cornwall for 22 years he says; "I now have more time to devote to ensure that Sounds of Brass reaches my many supportive listeners regularly each week."