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Len Langley Orchestra

Len Langley was born in St Thomas and played trumpet with local bands. When WW2 came along he joined up and served overseas.

When he returned home again at the end of the war he resumed his musical activities and formed a band known as "The Stardusters". The band was active in the London-St Thomas area and in the mid fifties became the house band at the Seven Dwarfs, London, playing for the after hours crowd on Saturday night.

A regular Saturday night engagement at Wonderland Gardens followed, and the band became known as the "Len Langley Orchestra" when Len added more musicians. At the same time Johnny Downs was playing at the Stork Club in Port Stanley. By mutual agreement in 1960 the two bands switched venues and the Len Langley Orchestra held forth at the Stork Club for almost ten years. During that time there was lots of work for live bands and Len took the group on Friday nights to many out-of-town engagements.

The band continued to play through the early seventies, but times were changing and the demand for big bands became less and less. Len eventually disbanded his orchestra and donated his music library to London Musicians Association.

In his later years Len lived in Port Stanley and spent the winters in Florida where he kept active musically playing and singing in small groups.

Many thanks to ex-Langley trumpet player Dick Butterwick for the commentary, audio and photographs.