A short walk (or take bus 281) from Twickenham train station and just past the stadium (where there is the Museum of Rugby) you’ll find Kneller Hall, which is the Home of Military Music in Whitton Village. It’s a Grade II listed building.
We’ve written before about the amazing Rhythm Force concerts that started here a few years ago and also the summer evening open air concerts. But today – as part of Open House London – the doors were thrown open to the public.
After a quick pint at the Duke of Cambridge pub which is right opposite the imposing entry gates, we were welcomed by uniformed soldiers (from the Gurkhas?) and asked to sign in. We bought cakes and coffee from the refreshments stall – provided by a local café – and waited in a large hall for our tour to start. The hall housed a large stage on which there were an assortment of instruments and there were honours and awards posted on all the walls.
Major Lindsay addressed the small group that had gathered. He explained how the Royal Military School of Music trains two types of army musicians and prepares them as future Bandmasters of the British and foreign armies. He also pointed out that the range of music they play is diverse but that they are soldiers first, and musicians second. He introduced us to a female officer who plays both the oboe and the piano. We then strolled out to the front of the building where he told us a little more about the history of the place to supplement the information we had all been given in a booklet when we arrived.
The site has a long history. Sir Godfrey Kneller (a Court painter – famed for portraits of the Kit-cat club) originally bought the land in 1709 although there are records reaching back to 1610 and the Cooke family. The 100 acre Middlesex estate – with many Victorian innovations inside an Elizabethan looking house - was auctioned in 1841 and acquired by the Privy Council in 1845 to become a teacher training college.
This venture wasn’t successful and there were various suggestions for military uses. After an embarrassing display at Queen Victoria’s birthday at Scutari in 1854 it was decided in 1857, under the direction of the Duke of Cambridge (thus the name of the pub!), to form the Military School of Music here. The first class consisted of 85 pupils from 48 regiments.
During the second world war the school moved to Aldershot and the musicians dispersed and Kneller Hall became the General HQ of the Home Forces. Much of the security and defence of the UK was planned here. Then in 1945 Kneller Hall became a Civil Resettlement Unit to help prisoners of war reintegrate. The Military School then returned and in 1994 the Corps of Army Music was formed, with Kneller Hall its HQ.
The group then entered the building for a tour – lasting about an hour – of the museum of instruments. Highlights included a trumpet from the Charge of the Light Brigade and a bugle from the Battle of Waterloo. And then there was time for a wander around some of the extensive grounds.
Kneller Hall is also open tomorrow – Sunday 23rd September. http://www.army.mod.uk/music/23271.aspx No booking is required.
Details of summer concerts are shown on TicketMaster – provisional dates for 2013 include 3rd, 10th, 17th, 20th and 24th July.
For more details of Open House events – visit http://www.londonopenhouse.org/
