Crossroads and Characters

23. THE GRAND OLD DUNNING BAND.

As long ago as 1830, Dunning had a brass band to march, give concerts and lend lustre to public occasions. In the stirring times of the first reform bill of 1832, the band was often on requisition. These were times in which political tempers ran high: in August 1837, the Perthshire Constitutional reported an assault in Dunning on a Conservative 'for having voted in the last election agreeably to the dictates of principle'. The Radicals (miscreants, says the paper) were not satisfied with attacking him but also attacked Lord Rollo's carriage. Its panels were staved in and the occupants 'were exposed to imminent peril and put in great personal terror and alarm'. The Dunning Band must have matched its music to whatever political mood was popular, for it lasted a long time. This photo goes back to the early 1900's.