BARNSLEY has been blowing the trumpet of one of its most famous adopted sons who helped to give brass band music to the world.
Top composer and conductor Elgar Howarth hit all the right notes for 35 years as the man behind Grimethorpe Colliery Band.
He helped to open doors for Grimethorpe and other brass bands to play in festivals and concert halls around the globe.
And the 73-year-old has been now been awarded a Honorary Doctor of Letters at the University Campus Barnsley - part of Huddersfield University.
He joins a list of home grown stars who have received similar honours for putting the town on the map, including Michael Parkinson, Darren Gough, Kate Rusby and Dickie Bird, who took time out from watching the Ashes to join in the celebrations at The Civic.
More than 100 students from the UCB graduated from a variety of subject areas including art and design, construction, business, computing, health, music and media.
First they paraded through the town - led by a section from Grimethorpe Colliery Band. Professor Bob Cryan, Vice-Chancellor at the University of Huddersfield, presented the award to Elgar, who has also work with leading orchestras.
He was Principal Guest Conductor of Opera North from 1985 to 1988, and Music Adviser to the company from 2002 to 2004.
He won hearts locally for his work with Grimethorpe Colliery Band from 1972 to 2007.
"I think it's a world record. Conductors don't normally stay with a band that long. It's certainly unique. But I had a most marvellous time. Grimethorpe is still one of the top four or five brass bands in the world," he said.
"I was unsure about getting involved at first. I was a London-based musician, still playing the trumpet but conducting orchestras. But I spent the day in Grimethorpe and I fell in love with the band immediately.
"I agreed to get involved as long I could introduce them to real modern music and new audiences. It was something that needed to be done. Brass bands needed to be taken to different kinds of venues, to be heard by those who went to symphony concerts or chamber music.
"Many of those doors have remained unlocked. I'm not taking the credit for it in a big way at all, but what we all did at Grimethorpe certainly helped. Brass bands are now welcome in all the festivals."
Elgar believes the band will survive, despite the demise of the colliery industry.
"It needs sponsorship, but brass bands have to take a lead themselves in the way they always did. They need to continue teaching their kids. There was a fierce determination not to go under when the colliery closed. They were absolutely determined that no matter what happened at the pit, the band was going to continue. And in a way I think they became even more successful."
Staffordshire born, now living in Suffolk, he said: "I'm a Lancastrian. But I see myself as a honorary Yorkshireman and Barnsley is my adopted town. I'm very proud to get this honour here."
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