A stirring brass band march written by a Stalybridge soldier many years previously had finally been published as sheet music - after a long battle by his son.
‘Ridgehill’ was composed by Sam Sykes as he waited to be de-mobbed from the army. As his thoughts wandered to his home town - and especially to Ridgehill, where he lived - a tune started to form in Sam’s mind.
Later when he arrived home, he put pen to paper and gave it to Stalybridge Brass Band, who had been using it as their unofficial signature tune ever since.
Sam’s greatest ambition, before he died in 1965, was for Ridgehill to be officially available in print. Sadly, a mix-up at the publishers meant that the original copies of the music were lost, although the march did find its way on to an LP record.
After Sam’s death, his son Robert vowed to do everything possible to make his father’s wish a reality. That moment finally arrived in 1987 when the first official copies dropped through his door.
Robert, of Crown Hill, Mossley, played in local brass bands and was proud to able to show his father’s work to fellow musicians and musical societies.
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