I WAS interested in the City of Oxford Band article (October 19).

This included a small photograph of a building being taken down, which would then be rebuilt elsewhere as a new home for the band. A larger version was also featured in Rewind, August 18.

The building was variously called a ‘hut’ or as a ‘barn’. In fact it was a school classroom in the grounds of Magdalen College School near The Plain in Oxford. It had two teaching rooms, separated by a lobby, which were used by the second forms. I was at MCS during the 1950s and was taught in one of the rooms.

I was still at the school when the building became redundant. I had also been a member of the City of Oxford Band for several years but I do not remember if I had anything to do with the acquisition of the old schoolroom.

The sections of the building were moved to Cowley and transformed into a single room, which became the band’s new headquarters. It proved to have excellent acoustic properties. A small corner was made into a library for the band’s large amount of music.

The new bandroom was soon increasingly used and many young people joined the tuition classes organised by bandmaster, Cyril (Nobby) Challis. The standard of the main band soon started to improve and many also gained prizes in solo competitions.

However, the bandroom was in the Cowley development area and had to go. A site was found in Temple Road (near Temple Cowley swimming pool) and a new modern structure was designed, the first concrete beams being placed in 1967. This fine building was soon in use and is still the home of the City of Oxford Band.

D. MARTIN, Egerton Road, Oxford