Page 261 - Reading Mercury

following members were recommended as corporals:--Messrs. James Green, T.W.T.
Dunning, Tindal Heelas, and Charles Barker. It was unanimously resolved, that the
Rev. Robert James Donne, of the Wellington College be recommended as honorary
chaplain to the corps.
—The chairman said, the next subject was that of the band. He dared say they all
had talked the matter over before then. When it was first suggested he had opposed to
it because of because of the expense, as he considered the less expense they incurred
the more likely were they to last. He was not afraid of that corps breaking down, for
he believed if the subscriptions were to fall off considerably, they would still keep
together. He now thought that a band might be kept up, after the first cost had been
raised. He did not know the expense of the instruments, but he did not think they
could establish any sort of a band under £50. He then moved a number of
propositions, which were carried, and were to the following effect: That a band be
formed, consisting of ten musicians; that the instruments be four drums (including the
big brass) four flutes, and two cornopeans, and that the members of the band should
not perform publicly in uniform without the permission of the commanding officer;
that one member of the corps be selected annually to superintend the band and collect
subscriptions. In compliance with the last proposition Mr. George Brown was
appointed. The chairman suggested that on Her Majesty’s birth-day they should have
a field day in honour of their Sovereign. This was unanimously agreed to, and after
some formal business, the meeting was dissolved.

th
Sat 18 May
TH
CONCERTS IN AID OF THE BAND FUND OF THE 6 BERKS RIFLES
We beg to draw our readers’ attention to the advertisement in another part of our
Paper announcing the two grand concerts to be given in the Town Hall, Wokingham,
th
on Friday next the 24 May. The concerts are under the immediate patronage of
th
Captain Leveson Gower, and the other officers and members of the 6 Berks Rifles,
the object being to aid the Band Fund of the corps. The conductor of the concerts is
Mr. John Old, who has so successfully organised the Reading Choral Society, and it is
by this society that the concert is mainly given, the members having very handsomely
volunteered their valuable services for this object.
In addition we observe in the notice the name of Madame Goodhind who lately
made so favourable an impression as a vocalist on the Reading audiences at the late
concerts given by the society there, and the programme contains the names of other
favourite amateurs well known in the musical world so that we shall expect very
numerous audiences as the concerts themselves will prove a treat, the enjoyment of
which is rarely afforded here, and when the object is remembered to which the profits
are to be applied we feel assured they will receive a very large amount of patronage
and support.

THE RIFLE CORPS
The return of more genial weather and the increased length of the days having again
enabled our Rifle Corps to resume their evening parades, the public have the
opportunity of seeing how largely the corps has not only increased in numbers during
the winter, but also greatly improved in the steadiness and precision of their
movements, from the constant drill which has never been suspended: the Thursday
evening parade musters are watched by large numbers of interested spectators. We are
happy to find such a liberal response has been made to the committee’s appeal to the
public to raise a band fund, that enough has already been subscribed to purchase the

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