History - 2009 and onwards

From January 2009 the band became the Hammonds Saltaire Band. Looking back through their history it became clear that before the sponsorship from building society the band had two clear periods in its history; the association with Hammonds Sauce Works and their initial origins with the construction of Saltaire by Sir Titus Salt in the early 1850s.

Looking through old pictures of the band from their Hammonds Sauce Works days a colour scheme of red, black and gold was chosen (to reflect the colours used on the old officers mess jacket stage uniforms worn by the band). The band decided to keep the black waistcoats (first used towards the end of the Yorkshire Building Society days) and replace the green shirts with red ones. The new logo would use all three of the Hammonds colours. This left the new name for the band, something which evolved over time.

Reading earlier sections of the band's history reveals a link with the village of Saltaire from their earliest days. As Salts Silver (and later Saltaire Mills, Saltaire Subscription and Salts (Saltaire)) they were conducted by H. B. Hawley who was also the managing director of Hammonds Sauce Works. Over time various names were suggested but after much discussion the majority of the band settled on using both the names of Hammonds and Saltaire. It was felt that the two names best reflected the the largest parts of the band's past over the previous 150 years.

So from the 24th January 2009 at their first concert of the year at the Stephen Joseph Theatre in Scarborough the band took to the stage for the first time as the Hammonds Saltaire Band.

Return to introduction