Call for buglers across Sussex to play Last Post on VE Day

Bracklesham Bay’s David Sarbutts will mark Friday’s 75th anniversary of VE Day with his very own trumpet extravaganza.
David SarbuttsDavid Sarbutts
David Sarbutts

David, of Grayswood Avenue, has been playing the trumpet every Sunday since lockdown started – and has become well-known in the area for doing so.

Josh Hammett got in touch and suggested he played for charity – and that’s exactly what he is going to do.

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On Friday, May 8, VE Day, standing in his front garden, David will play the trumpet for eight hours at a rate of eight songs an hour. He will start at 10am and finish at 6pm.

Josh has set up a Just Giving page for David: https://www.justgiving.com/fundraising/josh-hammett: “Please donate for a great cause our local hospital St Richard’s who need all our help in this world we are currently living in. Everyone is welcome to show their support to David with this by commenting on the page and donating.”

Sandwiching the day, David will play the Last Post at 8am and again at 8pm to remember the fallen… and he is hoping word will spread. He would love other trumpeters and buglers in Sussex to join in, in remembrance of those who lost their lives in war and in the COVID-19 pandemic.

“It would be great if other players were doing the same. It would be lovely if we could get this rattling across the country!”

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In between times, David is promising a few war-time numbers among the eight one-hour sets he will play on the day, some solo, some with backing tracks.

“Luckily we are detached, but the neighbours love it. It keeps them going. A lot of the people around us are elderly, and that’s one of the reasons I do it. It helps keep people’s spirits up.

“I hadn’t played the trumpet for a couple of years before the lockdown, and if I hadn’t gone back to it, I know I would have found things difficult.”

David’s playing goes back a long way: “When I was 11 I was on Opportunity Knocks with a youth band. That was 1967. We got through to the all-winners. We played a few gigs with Val Doonican and with Freddie and the Dreamers. And then I went to work, but it has never left me.”

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