Kettle Bridge Concertinas
Concertina group based in Maidstone, Kent, UK
• Home • About Us • Past Events • Features • Contact Us • Members Only •
Maidstone Repair Café
The monthly Maidstone Repair Café at Lockmeadow takes old things that are past their best and attempts to fix them.
I can’t help feeling that there was a subliminal message behind why Kettle Bridge Concertinas was invited to attend the September session of the repair café. Perhaps someone had heard them play and thought that they — sorry, their concertinas — could do with a revamp.
Whatever the reason, we were very pleased to provide some musical background to the excellent work going on.
Let’s be honest, music theory can be a bit dry but if you are interested in understanding more about scales and keys, there is a very informative video available on YouTube all about the Circle of Fifths.
The Concertina Tinker
Dave Elliott is an associate member of Kettle Bridge Concertinas and a thoroughly useful chap to know. He is an experienced repairer and restorer of traditionally constructed concertinas of all types — large bass through to piccolo — as well as miniature instruments, and all fingering systems.
He is very happy to provide individual advice, event clinics, or group workshops and is the author of 'The Concertina Maintenance Manual'.
For more information, visit his website at http://concertina-repair.org.uk/.
Facebook Page
We are on Facebook. Click here to see all the latest news and please "Like" us while you are there.
To find out more...
We always welcome people getting in touch with us, whether to find out more about us, learning the concertina or pretty much anything!
Next beginners’ practice date in the Hall is To Be Arranged
Next advanced players’ practice date is Thu 24th Sep 2026
Diary
Sun 20th September 2026
Adrian Waters Workshop
Adrian Waters has kindly agreed to run a workshop for us.
The event will be in the WI Hall and last from 10:00am until 12:30pm. Adrian's plan is to lead some rounds in the first session and some band music in the second.
Sat 26th September 2026
KettleSqueeze
We will be getting together with our friends from SqueezEast Concertinas for a day of playing.
This will be held, as before, at Marks Tey Parish Hall, Old London Road, Marks Tey, Colchester CO6 1EJ.
Sun 27th September 2026
Play with J25
The J25 Concertina Band are holding an Open Rehearsal Day at Ruishton Village Hall, near Taunton in Somerset. It is suitable for competent English Concertina players with reasonable music reading skills.
Click on the image on the right for more details.
Fri 16th to Sun 18th October 2026
WCCP Autumn Workshop
The West Country Concertina Players Autumn Workshop is at Wellington School, South Street, Wellington, Somerset TA21 8NT.
This is suited to players of a range of abilities from absolute beginners to those who have reached an intermediate level.
Click here for more details.
Sun 25th October 2026
Northern Concertina Band Day
Yorkshire Concertina Club and the North Eastern Concertina Players are launching a new Northern band day, to be held in October in Boston Spa, near Wetherby.
Open to all concertina players, it is an opportunity to gather and play band arrangements together under the leadership of NECP's David Turner and YCC's Carolyn Wade, both experienced arrangers and conductors for concertina bands. You will need to be able to sightread but the parts and arrangements are designed to be suitable for most players.
Please click on the image on the right for more details.
Fri 20th November 2026
Christmas Busking at Coxheath Primary School
We will be playing some seasonal music at Coxheath Primary School from 3:00pm to 5:00pm.
More information nearer the time.
Tue 8th December 2026
Christmas Singalong at St. Luke's Church
St. Luke's Church in Foley Street, Maidstone, will be the venue for a Christmas Singalong in conjunction with Village Voices, who are based in Yalding.
The event starts at 10:30am.
Sat 12th December 2026
Church of St. John the Baptist, Harrietsham
We will be playing a selection of festive music in the evening at the Church of St. John the Baptist, Harrietsham.
More details will be available nearer the time.
Image by John Salmon / St John the Baptist, Harrietsham, Kent / CC BY-SA 2.0
Sat 19th December 2026
Maidstone Museum
There will be another chance to hear us playing more Christmas favourites at the Maidstone Museum.
Our performance begins at 11:00am.