Anne Ruddock

Anne started playing the cornet at the age of 8 and soon joined her local brass band, Swineshead Silver Band, where she progressed through the cornet section and then played flugel in her final years before going to University. During her time at school she also played for the Boston Area Windband and the Boston Youth Jazz Orchestra and went on tour to Disneyland Paris with the Boston Youth Jazz Orchestra in the summer of 1997. She was also principal trumpet of the Lincolnshire Youth Symphonic Windband from 1996-1997. Anne moved to Colchester in September 1997 to start her music degree at Colchester Institute where she studied trumpet with George Reynolds and composition with Alan Bullard. During her third and final year she jointly ran the Institute Brass Band, which culminated in a tour to the Edinburgh Festival in August 2000, where the band played at venues in both Edinburgh and Glasgow. Anne played for Colchester Brass Band from 2000 – 2013 where she played repiano cornet before moving onto the soprano cornet. She held the positions of Librarian and Chairman for some of those years and helped to organise band tours to both Germany and the Netherlands. In 2013 Anne joined the Essential Sounds Big Band and in 2014 took up the position of principal cornet with the Boxted Methodist Silver Band. In 2013 Anne set up ‘1st Class Brass’, a brass band for all ages and abilities and in March 2022 took over as the Musical Director of the Essex Youth Brass Ensemble. Anne has been a peripatetic music teacher for Essex Music Services since September 2005 and also taught for Southend-on-Sea Music services from January 2005 – May 2014. Besides work and music, Anne likes to bake, read and enjoys walks by the sea.