Keith Bowering

His playing career started with the revered Royal Marines Band Service and, although he served for just eight years, he never lost his love for drumming. His professionalism and considerable ability put him in demand for the remainder of his life, which was punctuated by a cheeky sense of humour.

In the Marines’ band he played in front of royalty on occasions such as the Royal Edinburgh Military Tattoo, the Royal Tournament, the Festival of Remembrance at the Cenotaph and Beating Retreat for the birthday of the Duke of Edinburgh.

After moving to Guernsey in 2004, he played in the Guernsey Symphony Orchestra, Guernsey Symphonic Winds, Guernsey Concert Brass, Guernsey Jazz Orchestra, the Swinging Statins and the Evoke Theatre Company band.

Keith Bowering was born on 28 April 1954 to Dennis, an engineer at Hinkley Point nuclear power station, and Marjorie. His first musical encounter was with a village brass band in Cannington, Somerset, where he learned to play the cornet. However, on auditioning for the Royal Marines School of Music at the age of 15, he was steered towards the drums and never looked back.

After two years’ music training he joined one of the staff bands and, on graduating, transferred to HMS Pembroke, Chatham. There followed several years of concerts, foreign trips and marching engagements in European cities and further afield.

There is a fair amount of good-natured ribbing in the forces and on account of his large nose, he was nicknamed ‘Snoz’, after American singer Jimmy ‘Schnozzle’ Durante.

In 1974 he married Barbara ‘Barb’ Carter, a former Wren. He was so relaxed over applying for leave for the wedding that his request was initially refused on the grounds of insufficient cover because so many of his colleagues had beaten him to it so they could attend the ceremony.

After leaving the band service Keith joined the Kent Police, serving as a patrol constable in Swanley and a village bobby in West Kingsdown, the home of the Brands Hatch racing circuit. He was then appointed to the job he craved the most, as handler of a police dog, a ferocious Alsation which would bite somebody when released from the van. If no suspects were available, the dog would sometimes bite him.

Keith received a commendation from his chief constable for confronting a man with a gun who was threatening people. A former colleague remembers him as ‘a good copper and a caring man’.

Barb’s untimely death in 2003 resulted in Keith paying frequent trips to Guernsey to visit his lifelong friend and fellow musician Alan West, who was his contemporary in the Marines’ band. He befriended Alan’s sister, Stella, who had been widowed, and they married in 2004, creating a large, combined family which Keith referred to as ‘hotch potch’ but thoroughly relished.

Alongside his two sons he inherited four daughters. There are now 12 grandchildren and one on the way – he and Stella played host to more than 20 family members last Christmas.

Alan shared in many of Keith’s exploits and adventures and the two enjoyed the sense of unspoken communication that comes with playing music together over time. He was Keith’s best man and delivered the eulogy at his funeral.

‘Whilst at Pembroke we often played in ensembles together, developing an instinctive knowledge of what each other was doing on our respective instruments. This endured throughout our friendship,’ said Alan.

Alan Gough, conductor of Guernsey Symphonic Winds, said: ‘Symphonic winds is very much a military band repertoire and a lot of it he knew or had played similar. If we had a military march, having Keith was the icing on the cake because he knew exactly the right sound to make, while never being domineering. He could play any sort of big band works – he was an all-rounder.’

Marilyn Pugh, musical director of the Evoke Theatre Company, for which he played in many musicals, described him as ‘a giant in the music scene as far as I was concerned. A wonderful personality to know’.

Keith was good with his hands and particularly enjoyed woodwork. He built dolls’ houses, farmyards, model boats, bird tables and nesting boxes, often as gifts for members of the family. His last job was as a handyman at the Guernsey Cheshire Home, where he was much-liked and respected, fixing wheelchairs and hoists.

During the Olympic torch parade in 2012 he made a special mounting for multiple sclerosis sufferer Paul ‘Dil’ Diligent’s wheelchair to help bear the weight of the torch.

Keith enjoyed a wind-up.

Having experienced a number of nautical mishaps, from holing the dinghy his father made for him and his brother Kevin to grounding a large cabin cruiser on the Thames.He had more success on the sea when he acquired a Rib in Guernsey, taking pleasure in soaking his passengers while he stayed bone dry himself.

He taught several of the younger members of the family to drive and, when asked why he was rummaging in the glove compartment, he replied: ‘Just looking for fourth gear’.

His gig wardrobe comprised a collection of self-effacing T shirts bearing slogans such as ‘Education is important but playing drums is importanter’, ‘The tempo is whatever I say it is’, and ‘The drummer needs a pint’.

This sense of humour was never far from the surface and over recent months deflected the stark reality of his cancer. When his oncologist told him that his second round of chemotherapy would result in hair loss, he joked that the doctor had saved him £20 as he was about to get his hair cut.

A Monty Python fan to the end, he went to his cremation wearing a T-shirt bearing the slogan ‘I’m not dead yet’.