THE chairman of Porthywaen Silver Band says he will miss his lifelong friends Alan and Eileen Metcalfe after their deaths last week.

The son and mother were the tragic victims of a house fire in the early hours of Wednesday morning in Glentworth Close, Oswestry, and their deaths were confirmed by band members last week. 

Danny Williams, who first met Alan in the early 1980s when he joined the band, said he and his mother were at the heart of everything Porthywaen did.

He said: "I will remember their humour and their welcome.

"They went everywhere as a pair – you’d never get one without the other, and Eileen would be clinging to the radiator in the winter with Alan raring to go.

"It was always a warm smile or a hug from Eileen – they would do anything for you.

"Alan was in a wheelchair and had been all his life, but it was never a case of what he couldn’t do but what he could do.

"We never ever saw the wheelchair, just saw Alan as a great trombone player who used to play ‘The Acrobat’ which many would know as the ‘Jonny Briggs’ theme tune.

"He was a brilliant soloist."

Danny said the band decided to carry on with concerts so soon after their deaths because it is what Alan and Eileen would have wanted. 

He added: "We had a concert on Friday night – we weren’t quite sure whether to do it or not but we decided to as it was the youth and training band.

"Alan would always help the youngsters out if he could so we said we would do it because we felt we needed to do it.

"Eileen might have told us off if we didn’t – it just wouldn’t have felt right to not carry on and we turned it into a right celebration.

"I said at the start that we have to acknowledge this has happened because there were so many people there who have known them as long as I have and maybe longer.

"But to get up and play was what he did, and Eileen was such a huge supporter of the band that we felt it was the right thing to do.

"We had a minute’s applause – Alan was a great solo trombonist and Eileen was such as vocal supporter – and the sound of it was just incredible.

"Alan’s had so many ovations in there when he’s been a soloist so it felt the most appropriate thing to do."

Danny added that in his role as chairman, he was able to pay tribute to Eileen while she was still alive, something that he feels incredibly proud to have done.

He said: "I’m a reluctant chairman and this year was the first time I got to give a ‘Chair’s Award’ and I’m so pleased that I awarded it to Eileen.

"She was such a big supporter of the band and she is the holder of the award, which is an indication of how much she did.

"When I rang Alan to ask if I could award it to her, he was over the moon."