Warrant Officer David Richards GCCI MinsLM

Warrant Officer David Richards was born in High Wycombe in Buckinghamshire. He started to learn the Tuba at the age of twelve and has played with many bands, both brass and wind, and was a member of the National Youth Brass Band of Great Britain, where he attended several residential courses throughout the UK. He also played with the Ernest Read Symphony Orchestra before joining the RAF as a Tuba player in 1981. His first posting was to the Western Band of the RAF at RAF Locking in 1982 and was then subsequently posted to the Central Band in 1984. He has won many awards for his arranging and composing skills and his arrangements have been featured on many of the bands recordings. The highlight was hearing a piece of music, Day of the Phoenix, which was recorded by KPM as library music being played in an episode of Coronation Street. During his many years with The Central Band he has travelled widely and was attached to the Field Hospital in Bahrain during the first Gulf War in 1991.

In 2007 he was promoted to Flight Sergeant and took up the dual post of Senior Drum Major and FS Training. As Senior Drum Major he has performed many ceremonial duties including Public Duties at Buckingham Palace and the Lord Mayors Procession in London, The Festival of Remembrance at the Royal Albert Hall, in the presence of her Majesty the Queen and most recently being in charge of over 400 musicians who formed the Massed Bands at the 2009 Edinburgh Military Tattoo on the Esplanade at the castle.

In January 2010, Warrant Officer Richards was posted to RAF Cranwell, Lincolnshire as Bandmaster of The Band of the RAF Regiment. This move ended a 25 year period at RAF Uxbridge where he had performed with the Central Band as a tubist and at the Headquarters Music Services, serving under seven Principal Directors of Music during this period.