Popular local bandleader inspired hundreds of young musicians with the Stratford Boys' Band.

Brett Street was named for Edward Marshall Brett, a prominent Stratford musician and band leader for many years who is best remembered as lead bandmaster of the Stratford Boys’ Band for 18 years.

Edward Trownson Brett, father of Edward Marshall Brett, was a cabinetmaker employed by Globe-Wernicke Co. on King Street. His son, Marsh Brett, began playing band instruments when he was 10 years old and, while he became a versatile musician, the sousaphone was always his favorite. He played the instrument in the Little German Band, which was a favorite among oom-pah-pah fans in Stratford and area, and he also played bass in Olin Brown’s band in the late 1920s and early 1930s. They used to play for dances in the second-floor Winter Garden on Market Square and at other small-town dances near Stratford.

At the beginning of the hungry ‘30s, an advertisement in the Beacon Herald called for boys 10 to 18 years of age to complete a........

© Sarnia Observer