NORTHERNERS are once again being confronted with the brass bands they are supposed to enjoy in every town and shopping centre.
From Blackpool to Cleethorpes, every square echoes with the sound of the least popular section of the orchestra parping a selection of festive favourites while passers-by grit their teeth and assume someone else is enjoying it.
Tom Booker of Ashton-under-Lyne said: “Oh, they’re back. Well, part and parcel of living here I suppose. Got to take the rough with the smooth.
“I know they’re very important to our culture because of the miners or the Whit walks or something, and well, yes, there they are. That was Once In Royal David’s City? I’d never have guessed.
“Piano’s lovely. I always enjoy the sound of a string quartet. You can’t beat a choir. But for some reason we get these red-faced buggers in uniform trying to reproduce a tune on instruments never designed to carry one.
“Still, I’m Northern and they’re Northern so it is what it is. I’ll put a fiver in their trombone case. Keep the flame alive.”
Tuba player Joseph Turner said: “Oh fuck, we’re coining it in. They bloody love this shit. I’ve no idea why.”
