H B Hawley founded a sauce manufacturing company, at Wellcroft Mills, Shipley, in 1924. Initially there were four employees. The British Open Championships, formerly held at Belle Vue but now established in Birmingham’s modern, lush, Symphony Hall, is the oldest brass band contest in the world, being established in 1853. To be in the winning band at these Championships is every young bandsman’s dream in this country. In its short career, Yorkshire Building Society Band won four times – in 1997, 1999, 2001 and 2003 – almost uncannily winning in alternate years. The band was now regularly competing in local contests and even participated in the May contest at Belle Vue on occasion. It regularly changed its name, appearing not only as Salts Silver, but also as Saltaire Mills, Saltaire Subscription and Salts (Saltaire). In addition to the contests, the band participated in local functions – carnivals, park concerts and civic occasions. In 1936 it acquired a new set of uniforms for an appearance at the Belle Vue July contest and had made sufficient progress to be offered a broadcast engagement by the BBC in November. Frank Haigh, a noted Bradford cornet player was now playing principal cornet. Sad to say, the opposition was too strong and the band failed to win a prize at Pudsey. However, the second phase was now under way. The band became a member of the Harrogate & District Brass Band Association, of which Mr Hawley was an official. It was at one of the Association’s contests, held in Saltaire in May 1934, that the new band achieved its first win. The band played in the first section, which had an entry of 12 bands, so this was quite an achievement for a two-year-old band.

The appointment brought almost immediate success, with 4th prize at the 1967 Area contest and 3rd prize a year later. First prize and qualification for the Finals of the National Brass Band Championships at the Royal Albert Hall came in 1969. As if to underline these successes the band was also declared ‘BBC Band of the Year, 1968’. Between 1972 and 1980 Hammonds qualified for the Finals four times and though never quite reaching the top echelons of bands, they earned fourth place there in 1972. By now the band had also earned its place in the line-up of the British Open Championships at Belle Vue and appeared in the prize lists there on a number of occasions. Herbert Bowdin Hawley (1880 – 1952) was born in Grassington, Yorkshire, the son of a farmer of 95 acres. But the event which the band has virtually made its own is the European Brass Band Championships, founded in London in 1978 and moving around the European countries which are rich in brass bands. Aided in no small measure by the contributions made by Yorkshire Building Society Band, the ‘European’ has grown in stature as an international musical event. Yorkshire Building Society Band has been at the forefront of the Championships during the past decade, becoming Champion Band of Europe in 1996, 1997, 1999, 2000, 2001, 2002, 2003 and 2004 – eight wins in nine years, a record unequalled in the history of the Championships. Hammonds Sauce Co was the largest privately-owned sauce manufacturer in Britain. Hammonds became best known for its Chop Sauce, a light and spicy brown sauce. Along with these themed projects, new works have also been commissioned, including Apocalypse by Derek Bourgeois and Music of the Spheres by Philip Sparke, a truly ground-breaking work first performed as the own choice in the 2004 European Championships.Hammonds Sauce Co was the largest privately-owned sauce manufacturer in Britain by 1974, with a range of 70 products. 34 million bottles of sauce were sold that year, with a significant proportion exported, largely to the United States. The American market was particularly fond of Hammonds Steak Sauce and Yorkshire Relish.

The Saltaire Band was one of the leading brass bands in the early 1860s. Following a contest held at Crystal Palace (London) in 1860, at which it gained 2nd prize, a report in the Daily Telegraph stated: The Saltaire Band is composed entirely of men in the employment of Mr Titus Salt, at the establishment near Bradford which is called after his name. It is rumoured that Mr Salt promised a considerable sum of money to his band in the event of their winning the first prize.Hammonds was acquired by Unigate in 1999. The Bradford factory was closed in 2002 and production was relocated to a former vinegar brewery on Whitelees Road, Littleborough, Lancashire.

Hammonds changed hands yet again in the early nineties and, partly due to its uncertain future, the band hit another lean spell, culminating in the termination of the sponsorship. Mercifully, along came Yorkshire Building Society with a new offer. However, H B Hawley’s enthusiasm for Salts was now waning. He had been the motivator and, frankly, its anonymous sponsor since its founding in 1932. Early in 1946 he decided to form a new junior band, which he hoped to build up in connection with the welfare of his business. He was, in fact, the managing director of Hammonds Sauce Company, based in Shipley, of which Saltaire was a part. Herbert Bowdin Hawley had founded the company in 1924. It had traded under a variety of names and had turned out a variety of products. In 1933 the name ‘ Hammonds ’ appeared and, through its Hammonds Chop Sauce, developed into the largest privately owned sauce company in Britain. In the field of commercial recording, the three-volume CD series, Essays for Brass has contributed significantly to the worldwide recognition of Yorkshire Building Society during the past decade. More recently, Bourgeois in Brass (2003) and Music of the Spheres (2004) – the work which gives this album was commissioned by the band for its 2004 Own Choice test piece in the European Championships – have received high praise and critical acclaim. Hammonds Band, previously YBS and Yorkshire Building Society Band has been one of the most successful of all contesting brass bands in the last twenty years. It has also been amongst the most innovative with its highly acclaimed CDs and its concert projects, created through close collaboration between band, conductor and composer. Yorkshire Building Society Band grew out of the former Hammonds Sauce Works Band when, in 1993, this band’s 33-year sponsorship ended. There were, at the time, three Hammonds bands and the Building Society, whose headquarters were quite close to the location of the sauce works, agreed to sponsor them all. With slight name changes there were now, in addition to the main band, YBS Hawley Band and YBS Juniors. The name Hawley referred to the former managing director of Hammonds . The first conductor of Yorkshire Building Society Band was Geoffrey Whitham, who had been associated with Hammonds Sauce Works Band for almost 30 years. He was succeeded by the young Australian conductor, David King, in 1993 and then Morgan Griffiths in 2007. H B Hawley was a keen bandmaster and composer, and he formed the Hammonds Sauce Works Band in 1946.