1916

Reverse of above card.

In 1937, the Auckland Star got a bit carried away in describing the band as the first to form in NZ. The Ponsonby Boyd Fife and Drum Band was started in 1910 at the Leys Institute.

The twenty-first anniversary of the Ponsonby Boys' Brass Band will be celebrated with a children's fancy dress carnival in the Band Hall, Jervois Road, Ponsonby. next Thursday night.

The first boys band to be formed in New Zealand, the Ponsonby Band was organised in October 1916, by a committee consisting of Messrs T Foster, C Hoffman, A Norris (bandmaster) and R Francis. Mr Francis is the present chairman of the committee. Over 600 boys have received their training in the band, and many of them are earning their living through theirmusical ability. From the date of its inception the band has given many performances at public hospitals and institutions, not only in Auckland, but throughout New Zealand. During the war it turned out to play the reinforcements away, and for 13 years, it acted as senior cadet band of Auckland.

Auckland Star 2 October 1937

The band incorporated at some point before the 1940s, changed the name to the Ponsonby and Districts Silver Band Inc c.1967, but disbanded in 1968 due to lack of members. Remaining equipment was given to the Boystown Police and Citizens Club band. In 1984, at a function to open refurbished meeting room at the Leys Institute, the Mayor of Auckland at the time, Catherine Tizard, made reference to the band, and how “a revival of