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| Myrtle Appasionato, Photo courtesy of Sophia |
Myrtle and Sarah leave their lives in search of a perfect beat and meet a Dotted Crochet!
The beginnings of this fantastic marching band start with a travelling Carnival passing through these parts in autumn 1924. Myrtle Appasionato and Sarah Somaton were part of that travelling Carnival and in spring 1925 they ran away from their troupe in order to settle here in Kenilworth. Myrtle was excellent at keeping time and was pitch perfect, so with these natural talents she knew she could make it as a conductor. Myrtle and Sarah packed their things and left in search of a band to lead. According to the limited records that I managed to source Myrtle was born in 1913, and left her Carnival aged 12. I cannot find any records for Sarah Somaton.
Life was hard for the pair, as they scrambled to survive. They were ridiculed for being travellers, but they managed to live day to day surviving by any means they could. Myrtle had heard that a band would be playing in the Abbey Fields after the Carnival procession that year and as the pair were missing the entertainment limelight they decided to join the band. Although the band gladly took on Myrtle, they were not interested in a baton twirler and so they turned Sarah down. The band did indeed play the Abbey Fields after the Carnival procession that year, but unfortunately Myrtle was not conducting!
After being cast aside by Myrtle’s new friends Sarah was distraught and begged Myrtle to find another band for them. Myrtle asked the band to reconsider, but it seemed the band was scared of Sarah – due to her childlike features and her accompanying adult outlook. Myrtle accused the band of being prejudiced and attacked them with her baton and a fight ensued ending with the percussionist boxing Myrtle’s ears with his cymbals and the pair were sent on their way.
It wasn’t long before Myrtle reaslied that having her ears boxed had seriously affected her talents at conducting music. She could no longer hear, and was slightly off balance when she was standing or marching. She was so angry at how they had treated her friend Sarah that she vowed to get even and create a better band which would be more diverse than any other band before. There would be no prejudice within her band and being different was a pre-requisite - it would be open to all who wanted to excel! Myrtle Vowed to create the most diverse, dynamic and innovative marching band ever and so The Kenilworth innovative, diverse, dynamic and un-prejudice, un-conducted marching or static band (or The KIDDUUMS Band) was born!
Myrtle took the band all over the place while she searched for the best player of each instrument. In 1932, during this search for excellence, she came across a former workhouse where some children were still living. In this former workhouse she met an 8 year old girl called Dorothy who had been born in the workhouse and therefore believed it to be her home. Myrtle was so taken by the girl’s talent to use anything as a musical instrument including an old battered whistle, grass, an old shoe and a mouldy old carrot that she rescued the girl and Dotty joined the band! With Myrtle and Shirley both searching for new band members and recruiting as many as they could, the band grew into a large group of 25. The KIDDUUMS Band was on its way!
Official Biographer for the CMB - Godfrey Yammerstein – A Profile of a Great British Marching Band (first published March 2011. 2nd publication May 2011)
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