02/08/2026
Buxton has been laying on a good tune for a very long time. 🎶
The Pavilion Gardens were laid out in 1871 as a place to promenade, take the air and hear live music under the trees – and more than 150 years on, the bandstand is still doing exactly that. Every summer, the Don Redfern Memorial Bandstand fills with brass, deckchairs appear as if by magic, and the whole thing is gloriously, defiantly free.
Now, you’d assume brass bands were dreamed up by Victorian miners and mill workers. Reasonable guess – but historians now reckon the very first ones were started by soldiers coming home from the Napoleonic Wars, who kept their bugles, kept their mates, and simply carried on playing. Community, built out of brass.
Nobody carries that torch better than our own Burbage Band. Founded in 1861 by a local quarry owner – with a nod of patronage from the Duke of Devonshire – it’s one of the oldest brass bands in the world, still going strong, and to this day it teaches anyone who fancies a go completely free of charge. Their proudest chapter? When the First World War came, the band didn’t quietly disband as the men were called up – by their own account they signed up and marched to the Somme together, as a band.
And they’re in good company: Fairfield Band, from just up the road, has been part of Buxton life for generations and still plays these very gardens.
So this summer, find a patch of grass and let the brass wash over you. Catch Burbage on the bandstand on 6 September, and Fairfield 23 August – all free, 2–4pm. 🎺
And if you’d like the stories behind the gardens, the town and the water that made it all – well, that’s exactly what we’re here for. 💙 Bookings now open for our Community Fundraiser Launch Tours and regular tours on our Eventbrite page (link in bio) or contact us about private and bespoke tours. We can’t wait to meet you.
