Hammonds Sauce Works Band

Brass band formed from the remains of the Salts Mill Band. The conductor of the Salts Mill Band, H. B. Hawley, was also the founder of the Hammonds Sauce Company. When the Salts Mill Band was about to fold, Hawley recruited the last remaining players and advertised in the local press for others. This was the birth of the Hammonds Sauce Works Band. The band later progressed and reached Championship status under the leadership of Gersham Collison. In 1967 Geoffrey Whitham was appointed musical director and the period that followed saw the band gain national recognition as one of the best in the UK. In 1993 Hammonds Sauce Company withdrew sponsorship, and the band negotiated a new deal with the Yorkshire Building Society, and in July 1993 the Yorkshire Building Society Band was born.