Canning City Brass

Canning City Brass Band is a local brass band playing at a national standard.

Proudly supported by the Canning City Council, Canning Brass plays at over 20 engagements each year, including street marches, public concerts, naturalisation ceremonies, as well as state and national competitions.

Canning City Brass Band (formerly Canning Civic Band) was formed in 1974 by some members of the recently disbanded St. John Ambulance band. One of those members, the late John Burgoyne, purchased the instruments and approached the Canning Civic Council to start a band. On 29th March that year, a public meeting was held and a result the “Canning Civic Band” was formed. In 1982 the band changed its name to “Canning City Brass Band’.

Our first music director, Royce Clark, was a former Chief Bandmaster and qualified Drum Major in the Royal Australian Navy. Royce was a champion soprano cornet player who had started his brass banding career in 1928 with Bunbury City Band. He was also a member of City of Perth Brass Band for 16 years where he was conductor until taking up the post with Canning.

Since Royce Clarke retired from the band in 1980, the band has had a number of Music Directors including Mr Brooks, Richard Read, Peter Poole, Kevin Foale, Captain (Retired) Fred Rooke, Dr Geoffrey Lowe, Richie Burton, Dale Pointon, and Matthew Barker.

The band’s first public performance was Carols by Candlelight for the council on 22nd Dec 1974. Following this successful event the band played at the Supreme Court Gardens in February 1975. In the same year the band competed and won it’s first Western Australian Band Association (WABA) ‘C’ grade state championship. The following year the band competed in ‘B’ grade and have gone on to regularly win the ‘B’ grade championship over the next 40 years.