JACK PEBERDY – PRESIDENT, KIBWORTH BAND
Born: Tuesday 3 October 1922
As Jack heads to his 100th birthday the band are delighted to have the opportunity to wish him a very happy birthday and pay their own tribute to him.
Jack hails from Kibworth where at the early age of 8 he joined the Kibworth Band on cornet. The then bandmaster Charles Moore and the other members of the Band soon recognised his talent and enthusiasm and contributed to the cost of further tuition. He repaid them well and by the age of 15 he was leader and bandmaster.
Jack has never forgotten his roots nor the opportunity given to him by the Kibworth Band and has served for many years as Band President. He also has close links with some of the other local bands and has been particularly keen on promoting and encouraging youth players.
After military service and his marriage to Betty Smith, an internationally renowned saxophonist, Jack moved to London for a lifelong career as a professional musician both as a player – adding the double bass as his main instrument (as shown in picture) – conductor, writer and arranger. He worked with many orchestras and together with Betty formed a very successful quintet performing on cruise ships and venues in America and across the world. He also acted as Musical Director for Tony Hancock and Jimmy Edwards. Indeed it was Jimmy who was an accomplished tuba player that Jack persuaded to be the guest artiste at a Kibworth Band concert in the early 1980s which some might remember.
Jack had his own recording and music publishing company – Accent Music Production – and supplied bands and artists for shipping companies all over the world. Within the Brass Banding world, however, he will be best known for his arrangements and we would hazard a guess that most bands and bandsmen in the country will have played at least one Jack Penerdy arrangement.
In our centenary year Kibworth Band produced a CD featuring 14 of these and there are lots more in our library including some handwritten pieces produced for the band to play at an Elvis Presley convention at the DeMonfort Hall, Leicester some 30 odd years ago! Jack also wrote a march for us to commemorate the opening of the new band room, appropriately known as 20 Halford Road.
There is lots more we could write about both Jack and Betty but we hope that this short
article will have illustrated our admiration of them both and our thanks for their contribution to the Kibworth Band.
Happy Birthday Jack!
by Isabel Bingham
