ONE of England’s last surviving Methodist bands has celebrated landing itself a new practice space...in a garden centre.

Boxted Methodist Silver Band – whose double unique status is that it is England’s only surviving Methodist band but is not attached to a Methodist church – now has a new home.

The band became homeless when Boxted Methodist church was closed in 2019 and then sold, along with the Methodist school room where the band, which was formed in 1898, had been based since it was built in 1907.

But the band was determined to play on, and has now found a new home in Fillpots Garden Centre, in Straight Road, Boxted.

Attempts to buy the school room failed when Covid restrictions stopped all fundraising, meaning the prospect of the band leaving Boxted became a concerning possibility – although hope always remained it could stay within the village.

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Now, the band has commenced its regular Wednesday evening rehearsals in the setting of the garden centre’s glazed roof café within its home village.

The band’s vice-chairman, Trevor Bellis, said: “We are really happy to stay in Boxted, being here is really important to us.

“Lots of bands change, but we wanted to maintain our hold within our home.

“The village and the surrounding area have all supported us so much, it’s a great relief to stay here.”

On the impact of performing throughout Covid, Mr Bellis added: “We have been very lucky and had a lot of guidance as to how we could perform safely which was wonderful.

“We produced a weekly newsletter throughout the pandemic to keep people in touch and it kept a lot of people going.

“We couldn’t wait to get back to playing though, as that is ultimately what we do.

“All 34 of us had different experiences, some suffered, some lost people. The unity of performing in person, together again was very healing.”