What could sum up the vision of traditional Wiltshire rural life better than a village band playing in the village square or, in the case of Aldbourne, by the village pond.

The 2009 season of Pond Concerts on the first Sunday evening of each month through the summer has just opened, just as they have for the last 150 years or so.

Musicians from Aldbourne Band take advantage of the village’s spectacular setting to play their outdoor concerts throughout the summer months and right up until September.

Band publicity officer Simon Snow said: “Aldbourne pond is a beautiful setting in the centre of the village that is also blessed with a picturesque village green, a magnificent church and plenty of period buildings and architecture.

“There is space for deckchairs around the pond and in The Square and many of our ardent supporters arrive mid to late afternoon to enjoy the peace and beauty of the setting and to ensure pole position for the evening’s music.”

The band also has a tradition of providing a pre-dawn serenade around the village on Christmas Day, playing beneath bedroom windows to remind householders that the great day has dawned.

Archivist Graham Palmer has records showing that, before 1900, bandmaster Albert Stacey and the players would rehearse just up from the Crown Hotel in an old washhouse and they would often parade to the Pond Square from there to give short concerts.

A report in the former Marlborough Times tells that in 1923 the band had resumed another series of Sunday concerts in the square.

This shows, said Mr Palmer, that the pond concerts are known to have begun well over 110 years ago.

Aldbourne Band was formed in 1859 by the retiring church organist Richard Brown Bunce.

The band was little different to any of the many others around in villages like as Ramsbury, Lambourn and Wanborough.

In those days most of the larger villages had bands which played at local village events but never strayed outside the village boundaries.

In 1909 the Aldbourne Band won third place in its first band contest.

Mr Palmer said:“This was in the second of two Marlborough brass band contests but it was not until 1911 that the Aldbourne Band won their very first 1st prize at Newbury and after this they changed their name to the Aldbourne Silver Prize Band.”

During the Great War the band was forced to disband and sadly several of the bandsmen lost their lives.

Again in 1939 the band disbanded but in 1945 it was up and running once more under Bob Barnes its contesting record was as high as it ever has been.