secretary@castletownband.im

Castletown Methodist Church

Location information

Street: Farrants Way

City: Castletown

County: Rushen

Country: Isle of Man

Upcoming events

Community Carol Service

21.12.2025

New Musical Director

CMSB is pleased to announce that we have appointed Ian Astill as our Musical Director. Ian was a long time member and previous Musical Director of the band before taking a break. Band Secretary Simon Court said "As we know, Ian is an exceptional musician and we are delighted to be able to appoint him as our Musical Director just in time for our busy Christmas period, a time of the year that Ian really enjoys. We are looking forward to seeing what 2026 brings."

Commenting on his appointment, Ian said: "I'm absolutely delighted to be back at CMSB and humbled to be a part of the band's long and distinguished history. I'm looking forward to working with this dedicated team of volunteers as we all strive to make CMSB a band that our local community can be proud of."

During December we will be out playing carols around Castletown and the south of the island, as well as having our Christmas concert at Morton Hall on 16th December starting at 7:30pm and including our training band Balley Cashtal Brass. Everyone is welcome to come along and join in the festivities.
New Band President

Following the sad death in August of our President Bobby Astill, we were delighted to announce at our Last Night of the Proms concert this evening that our new President is Castletown’s very own internationally acclaimed opera star, Miss Christine Teare.

Christine, who has performed with the Royal Opera, English National Opera, Welsh National Opera and internationally with Augsburg and the Pocket Opera Company Nuremburg, has close family ties with the band. Her late father and brother were both members of the band, and her mother is a regular supporter at our concerts in the town.

On being asked if she would be willing to take up the position of President, Christine said, “she was overwhelmed to be asked to be President of CMSB, and exceptionally honoured to accept, particularly in view of her family connections with the band.”

Band Secretary Simon Court said “Christine was an obvious choice to succeed Bobby as our new President. The band are delighted that she accepted our invitation and look forward to ever closer ties with Christine, including future concerts in which she will hopefully take part”.

The band’s next engagement will be at Victoria Road School, Castletown on November 7^th for our annual Poppy Concert.