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Last updated: 01/03/2007 “The older I am, the better I was!”- a caution for autobiographers
My time in Hendon marked a turning point in my life. My performance evaluation might read: “He played solo cornet for a time, 1st cornet for a while, and 2nd cornet for a few weeks before being deported to Canada - for the sake of the band!” This is as much fiction as fact but it highlights the reality that other critical demands at that time required a major change of direction for me.
Yet banding has always been a vital part of my life pilgrimage. I am deeply aware that my service as a Salvation Army officer for the past 50 years, and indeed my continuing soldiership in the Salvation Army might never have happened apart from the supportive fellowship of banding which held me through the questioning, unsettled years of my late teens. I will not readily forget how much I owe to the Bellshill Band.
From earliest childhood I lived with the example of my own father, a dedicated bandsman and Bandmaster of Bellshill Band from 1938 until his departure with the rest of the family, apart from Tommy and me, to Canada in 1953. My exposure to all of this is foundational to who I am and what I have done with my life.
Two special moments come to mind when I think of those days. Before I left in 1952 for national service with the R.A.M.C., like every bandsman before me I was presented with a Pocket New Testament. In it my Dad as Bandmaster inscribed words from 2 Tim 2:15 (KJV) which became my life motto: “Study to shew thyself approved unto God, a workman that needeth not to be ashamed….” The other special memory is of a statement made by Charlie Yuill just after I was ‘demobbed’. He said simply, “William, I have prayed for you every day since you left home!” That short speech made my hair stand on end – and I had lots of hair then!
What then? After serving as C.S.M. at Bellshill from 1954 to1956 (See 1955 photo above) I entered the I.T.C. where I played solo cornet in the Cadets Band and served as Band Orderly to Captain ‘Jazz’ Holmes. I was commissioned as a Cadet Sergeant, after which I was appointed as C.O. to King’s Cross, London. Following my marriage to the lovely Lieutenant Nan Ferrie from Coatbridge, we were appointed to Hadleigh, Suffolk, where Isobel, the first of our three children, was born. Health issues resulted in ‘time out’ at Hendon, and our move to Canada. I was a bandsman at London Citadel for 2 years until the sudden death of my father in 1963 determined our decision to serve as officers in Canada rather than return to the U.K. I was Corps Officer along with Nan at four corps including Ottawa Citadel and Hamilton Temple, both of which had excellent music sections. Twenty years were then devoted to officer training and education to which I returned part-time after retiring as Assistant Chief Secretary for Canada on January 1st, 1998.
Our three children, now in their 40s, grew up in the North Toronto S.A. Band. That early training has served them well as they now participate or lead in worship in separate cities across this vast land. Isobel (Major Isobel Wagner) with her husband Mark and their 5 children in Victoria, 3000 miles west of us, are founding their second new S.A. corps. Paul (Staff Sergeant, Ottawa City Police) married to Kelly, has 4 children and is active in music ministry in the Wesleyan Church in Kanata, 250 miles east of us. David (President of the 7,500 member Toronto Police Association) and Lori with their 3 youngsters are founding members and worship leaders at the thriving new corps in Richmond Hill, about 45 minutes north of Toronto.
Most recently, in 2005 I served as Executive Officer of the Canadian Staff Band for their anniversary celebrations and ten-day tour of Western Canada, one of many privileges that would certainly not have been mine without the musical foundation laid down so long ago in the Bellshill S.A. Band.
In my first devotional with the C.S.B I shared the Bible verse inscribed in my Pocket New Testament in 1952 and paraphrased it as a challenge to them – and I offer it as my last word to every Salvationist musician: "Concentrate on doing your best for God, producing music you will never be ashamed of, making the message clear and plain to all.” by Lieut. Colonel Bill Wilson, Toronto, Canada (March 2007) |
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Copyright © 2009 - 2012 Bellshill Salvation Army Band All Rights Reserved |
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