Peter started learning to play cornet at the age of nine with his local band in Portsmouth, eventually becoming principal cornet before moving onto his beloved soprano cornet.

His first foray into championship section banding was with Solent Concert Band under the baton of Wesley Garner, this was followed by a move to Yorkshire to play soprano for the Brodsworth Colliery Band. Playing for Brodsworth provided the opportunity to play in the most prestigious contests in the world, and for some of the greatest brass band conductors of the post war era including Major Peter Parkes and Geoffrey Whitham.

Peter has been the Musical Director of Castleton since 2007. Castleton was a non-contesting band at the time, and much of the early years were spent building the band and developing its musical and technical abilities. The band was able to return to contesting in 2015 and it made an immediate impact, delivering some really outstanding performances.

The proudest moments of Peter’s banding career have come conducting Castleton. He says that “winning two area contests in a row in two different sections, representing London and Southern Counties three times in a row at the National Brass Band Championships of Great Britain and gaining promotion to the second section eclipses anything that I ever achieved as a player”.