Kingston & Malden is an enthusiastic marching and concert band made up of Scouts and Guides across Kingston-Upon-Thames and the surrounding areas. Founded back in 1950 as a drum and bugle band, we’re now proud to perform as a band over over 60 members with a full range of instrumentation.
Our members
All of our musicians belong to Scouts or Guides, ranging from our youngest Brownies and Cub Scouts at age 8, through to our older Scouts, Guides, Explorer Scouts, Rangers and Young Leaders and we’re proud to showcase our roots when we wear our uniform. Membership of the band is a parallel activity to regular Scouting and Guiding activities so members have to spread their time accordingly, but it is policy for the youngest or newest recruit to be fully included in all engagements and activities as soon as possible and this has proven to be a winning formula for the Band. In fact, many of our members start with the band never having played a musical instrument
Our band is run entirely by volunteers, many of whom have grown up with the band and now enjoy teaching our younger members. Many of the adults in the band also volunteer as adult leaders in their own Scout or Guide groups!
Where we perform
We are proud to showcase Scouting and Guiding wherever we perform, as well as ‘flying the flag’ for our home town, Kingston-Upon-Thames, for which we were awarded the Borough Colours in 1997. We are fortunate to be able to play regularly at prestigious events and locations, and over recent years these have included:
- DisneyLand Paris
- City of London’s Lord Mayor’s Show
- Scouts Day of Celebration, Windsor Castle
- Buckingham Palace Garden Party
- Queen Elizabeth II’s 90th Birthday celebrations, The Mall
- House of Commons
Equally we enjoy supporting our local community. We are proud to lead the parades and hymns in both New Malden and Kingston for Remembrance Sunday. We also support charities close to us, such us the Royal Marden Cancer Charity’s ‘Marsden March’ and Dreamflight, that takes children with a serious illness or disability on their holiday of a lifetime to Orlando.
Our music
A constantly evolving musical repertoire means that the band often now plays in a concert formation as well as the more traditional marching band style. The last few years have witnessed the Band developing a great, all round sound, with an even greater array of instrumentation. The Band’s repertoire is extensive and suits all tastes. Music from the world of stage and screen and the movies sits alongside arrangements of well known pop hits from past and present. And, as a marching band, there are naturally a good number of march pieces available! Some examples include:
- Frank Sinatra’s My Way
- It Don’t Mean a Thing if you Ain’t Got That Swing
- All I Ask of You – from Phantom of the Opera
- Children of Sanchez – by Chuck Mangione
- 633 Squadron
- Royal Air Force March Past
- The Incredibles – soundtrack to the Disney Pixar animation film
- Can’t Take My Eyes off You – sung by Andy Williams
- Favourite Things – from the Sound of Music
- The Great Escape
