Co-op band marks 150th jubilee of West Calder pioneers
West Calder Co-operative Society, one of the pioneers of the Co-op in Scotland, marks its 150th anniversary this year with a free concert by an award winning brass band.
The Co-operation Brass Band, founded in 1918 among Co-op employees in Glasgow, will play in West Calder High School on Friday 20 June to mark the jubilee.
The concert, which starts at 7pm, has been organised by West Calder and Harburn Community Development Trust which is leading the creation of The Scottish Co-operative Discovery Centre, a heritage site based in the village.
The concert has been sponsored by Muirhall Energy and tickets are free.
A drone's eye views shows the scale of the refurbishment and the size of the former Co-op premises in West Calder. Work is under way to transform the building into a national heritage site celebrating West Calder's role
The award-winning Co-operation Band was founded in the Scottish Co-operative Wholesale Societies factories in Shieldhall, Glasgow in 1918. It has gone on to win the Scottish Championships 37 times over the years. Recently they represented Scotland at the European Brass Band Championships held in Stavanger, Norway.
Work is well under way to refurbish and re-purpose the former Co-op Bakery in West Calder into a heritage centre which celebrates the pioneering development of the national Co-op movement in the village.
The West Calder Society was established in 1875 by a group of shale miners and went on to become one of the most successful regional co-ops in Scotland. It became part of the Scotmid group in 1982.
Gavin Henderson, Chairman of the Trust said 'We're very excited to have secured The Co-operation Band to play for the community this year. The band played at West Calder Co-ops 50th Jubilee celebrations in June 1925, and it feels very special that they'll be here to play again 100 years later'.
You can get your tickets online at Trybooking (West Calder Co-operative Society). Alternatively, tickets can be picked up at West Calder Community Hub or the Wee Museum of Memory in Livingston Shopping Centre (opposite H Samuels).
By Stuart Sommerville, Local Democracy Reporter
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