Sam Hairsine started at Hymers College after he left Lincoln Cathedral School in 1994 and studied for his GCSEs at the school.  He told us about how his time at the school increased his passion for music, particularly brass music, which in turn has led to performing at high profile events, such as the Platinum Jubilee and the funeral of HM Queen Elizabeth II.

My brother Will was already at the school, and usefully delivered me to the wrong classroom on my first day!

I think the most important thing that happened early on was my introduction to the head of brass, Bob Childs. He put me onto the euphonium, introduced me to brass bands and the highest standard of instrumental performance, and that has been crucial to my subsequent career.

The brass group at Hymers was immense; we were all in one of the national youth ensembles, and David Childs was the brass finalist in the BBC Young Musician of the Year. Being in the same year as Dave (and trying to keep up with him) was amazing for my development too. I’m still in touch with Bob and Dave and we work together quite regularly, including with the National Youth Brass Band of Great Britain.

I’m now establishing links between the Royal Marines Band Service and Hull Music Service which is headed by another Old Hymerian, James Dickinson. I was at college with current music teacher, Mr Bartlett, and have fond memories of Mr Penny too!

I went to Wyke College for my A-Levels (I felt like a change!) and I joined the Royal Marines Band Service after that. The fully-funded BMus (hons) was a deciding factor, as well as the job as a full-time performing musician. As a euphonium player I was taught the cello as well, so had the whole orchestral repertoire opened up to me, which was brilliant. Since then I’ve performed around the world in all different styles and ensembles, including a year in Italy with the NATO Band.

I’m now the Director of Music of The Band of His Majesty’s Royal Marines Collingwood, based in Hampshire. We’re constantly performing at high-profile events, but I think the recent funeral of HM Queen Elizabeth II will be one of the biggest we’ll ever do, with an estimated global audience of around 4.1 billion people. It was a real privilege to be part of and helped show how important music is as part of everyone’s lives. Among many other commitments this year we’ve also performed at the Royal Albert Hall, made a charity single to be released at Christmas and performed at the Platinum Jubilee.

We’ve got some great videos on our own YouTube channel now, and the social media feeds are pretty good too. Please check us out by searching for ‘The Bands of HM Royal Marines’ on YouTube and @RMBandService on Facebook, Instagram and Twitter.

At the end of 2022, Sam, as part of The Bands of HM Royal Marines, has teamed up with The Music Man Project, an international music education charity for people with learning disabilities, to create the Christmas single 'Music is Magic', with all proceeds going to help support learning-disabled people across the UK.  The song is in tribute to the late MP Sir David Amess, who supported the group.  To view the official music video, please visit www.youtube.com

Photos: Crown copyright and copyright Jon Webber