BEDFORD COUNTY, VA –“BEDFORD FIREMEN’S BAND, 1925” ----¤¤¤---- Transcribed from original newspaper clipping, by Lynne Rush Hundley, 21 May 2004. Clipping, undated, unidentified newspaper, included in a letter from Mary Ramsey, Bedford, Virginia school teacher, postmarked 20 Feb. 1933. Sports article on back of clipping has dateline: "University, Feb. 18 (AP)." Headline: Bedford Band Again Gets Into Limelight With Bid To Inauguration 6-column wide photograph: band in front of capitol building, Washington DC. Band banner: BEDFORD VIRGINIA Words on drum: BEDFORD FIREMEN'S BAND 1925 Bedford Va [final line on drum unreadable, perhaps name of drum company?] Caption in white writing at bottom of photo: Bedford, Va, Firemen's Band At U.S. Capitol, Washington D.C. Sept. 5, 1932 Photograph caption: Appearing for the third time in Washington, twice by special invitation, the Bedford Firemen's Band, made up of 70 musicians, including 24 young women, will march in the parade when Franklin D. Roosevelt is inaugurated president March 4. The band will move from Bedford in a special car leaving at 6:11 a. m., March 3. It will be led by its veteran director and tutor, William H. Burt, of Roanoke; F. K. Saunders, president; and Claude Harrison, business manager, in addition to many friends who will accompany it. The official invitation from the inaugural committee was extended through the interest of Congressman C. A. Woodrum. The band is pictured as it lined up on the capitol plaza after the Labor Day parade last fall, in which it won extraordinary honors. It previously had paraded in a similar program and played concerts on the steps of the capitol. The band includes in its membership some of the best known young people of Bedford and its development from almost wholly raw material since its organization in 1925 has been one of continual surprises and gratification. It is handsomely equipped as to instruments and uniforms and has commanded high attention in every parade in which it has appeared. It is strictly a volunteer organization and never asks for pay for its services, except when enlisted for some purely commercial enterprise. It has played in every community in its home county more than one and in many Virginia cities. ___________________________________________________________________ Copyright. All rights reserved. http://www.usgwarchives.net/copyright.htm This file was contributed for use in the USGenWeb Archives by: Lynne Hundley ___________________________________________________________________