Molland Town Band

Molland Town Band

Molland church had a band or ‘quire’ to accompany the singing in church. In the 1770s the overseers of the poor bought a violin for a poor boy of the parish and paid for his lessons. Perhaps he later played in church. About 1800 the churchwardens went to London to buy a bass viol for the church. Like most churches Molland installed an organ, donated by James Quartley of West Molland in 1887. On its first appearance it was accompanied by the ‘cheerful strains’ of the village band. Presumably the players who formerly served the church continued to entertain the villagers at secular entertainments, weddings and other celebrations.