Name: RAF Swing Wing Band
Start: 2024-10-27T19:00:00+00:00
Location: Oakham Drive, Worksop

We would like to welcome back the RAF Swing Wing. They last played for us back in 2019. - Tickets are £15 and are on sale now!
Doors open at 5:45pm, the bar will be open. The band starts at 7pm. There will also be a raffle.
THIS EVENT IS BEING RUN TO RAISE FUNDS FUNDS FOR RAFA AND ROYAL BRITISH LEGION.
Royal Air Force Swing Wing
Leader: Sergeant Duncan Opie, BPA, BMus, LRSM
Royal Air Force Music Services was established in 1918 by Sir Henry Walford Davies and comprises three Regular Bands, a Salon Orchestra and a Reserve Band. Based at RAF Northolt and RAF Cranwell, RAF Music provides optimum musical support for the Royal Air Force in order to enhance public perception, support State Ceremonial and achieve influence to further Defence and National interests.
Royal Air Force Swing Wing was formed in 1989 and is a full eighteen-piece big band made up of members from the Band of the RAF College based at RAF Cranwell in Lincolnshire. Big bands have been a fundamental part of RAF Music since World War II and RAF Swing Wing continues this legacy to the present day.
The Band performs in some of the finest concert halls in the UK and indeed venues all over the world; one notable highlight in 2022 was performing at the Defence Medical Rehabilitation Centre at Stanford Hall for injured Service Personnel and their families.
RAF Swing Wing has enjoyed working with many of Britain’s most renowned musical figures including vocalists Matt Ford and Lee Gibson, celebrated jazz saxophonist Tommy Whittle, trombonist Gordon Campbell, outstanding trumpet players such as Mike Lovatt and the former BBC Big Band drummer Mike Smith.
The Band performs a huge range of repertoire incorporating music from iconic big band leaders since the early 1930s. From original legends such as Glenn Miller, Tommy Dorsey and Benny Goodman, through the Count Basie and Buddy Rich era to the more contemporary sounds of Gordon Goodwin; this wide variety of music displays the talent and versatility of the Band.
RAF musicians perform around the world to represent the proud heritage of the RAF whilst demonstrating musical excellence. Together with supporting local communities and Service charities, musicians connect with and mentor thousands of children through annual school concert projects and youth outreach workshops. Alongside musical duties, RAF musicians regularly support RAF Operations around the world and were deployed across the UK as part of the Government’s response to the COVID-19 crisis.
Sergeant Duncan Opie, BPA, BMus, LRSM
Sergeant Duncan Opie joined Royal Air Force Music Services in 1999 following the completion of his studies at Leeds College of Music. Posted to The Band of the RAF Regiment at RAF Cranwell, in 2000 he won the Studio Hall Music Prize for best composition with a work for big band and quickly built a reputation as a gifted composer and arranger.
In 2009 he completed a four month deployment to Afghanistan in charge of the helicopter passenger terminal at Camp Bastion. Promoted to sergeant in 2010, he was posted to the Band of the RAF College and became the Band Leader and pianist of RAF Swing Wing.
In 2019 Duncan was posted to The Central Band of the RAF performing with the RAF Squadronaires at Buckingham Palace and The Royal British Legion Festival of Remembrance at the Royal Albert Hall. In Jan 2021 as part of the Armed Forces contribution during the coronavirus pandemic, he was deployed to Wales setting up several Vaccination Centres in the Cwm Taf Morgannwg Health Board.
In Dec 2022 he returned to the Band of the RAF College and was re-appointed Band Leader of RAF Swing Wing.
Duncan’s compositions and arrangements have been regularly performed by RAF Music as well as Chiltern Music Academy, Hampshire Youth Music Service, Eton College and featured on BBC Radio Lincolnshire.