FODENS AT WAR
In May 1945, four days before the Second World War ended in Europe with the German surrender, 27 men travelling on a Foden bus sailed from Dover in a bow-ramped landing craft. After disembarking in Calais, they were driven across the flat lands of Northern France to Ostend, Belgium. After a night’s kip, next morning they were driven to Brussels.
Approaching the Belgian capital, the welcoming throngs presented an impassable barrier.
The bus carried the Foden’s Motor Works Band. Renowned conductor Fred Mortimer decided the bandsmen would be better getting off, playing their instruments as they muscled through the welcoming crowds of cheering Belgian civilians – and soldiers of their British, Commonwealth and US liberators.
Sent to entertain British troops under the auspices of ENSA – the Entertainment National Service Association – on the 8th of May, VE-Day, the day after the Nazi surrender, Foden’s famous band found itself playing in Brussels’ stately Grand Palace. A 2,000-mile tour followed, the finale of which was a concert in the Champs Elysée, fittingly with the Arc de Triumph as the backdrop.
With a 120-year history, Foden’s band is still at the top of world brass band rankings. It provides a distant echo of Fodens which have served with distinction with the British Army in both World wars, and more recently in Afghanistan. The band equally embodies the spirit of Sandbach. In the golden age of
