Newbery Brass members, including seven-year-old Ned Solly and 78-year-old David Hodgkinson, rehearse ahead of this year’s Light Up Lyneham festival. Photo: Newbery Brass.
If there is one image that sums up what Light Up Lyneham has become, it is this: a seven-year-old percussionist sharing the stage with a 78-year-old retiree, both still learning and both performing side by side.
One is just beginning his musical journey. The other is proving it’s never too late to pick up a new instrument.
Both belong to Newbery Brass, one of dozens of community groups bringing music, colour and activity to Light Up Lyneham when the winter festival returns on Saturday.
For band secretary Natalie White, that unlikely pairing says everything about what the event has grown to represent.
“It’s people from all walks of life coming together to perform,” she said.
Newbery Brass began just three years ago with around 10 members. Today it has grown to about 50 musicians, ranging from children to retirees, learning and performing together every week.
The youngest member, seven-year-old Ned Solly, joined after asking to be part of the band. Once shy, he now proudly plays the biggest instrument in the percussion section – the bass drum.
At the other end of this year’s line-up is 78-year-old David Hodgkinson, who is learning percussion while also playing the tuba.
Another much-loved member, Beverly Simpson, made headlines within the band after deciding to learn the tenor horn at the age of 83. Although the now 84-year-old won’t be able to perform this weekend, White said her story perfectly captured the band’s philosophy.
“You’re never too old to learn,” she said.
Beverly Simpson, 84, took up the tenor horn at 83 and has become one of Newbery Brass’s most enthusiastic community performers. Photo: Newbery Brass.
Last year about 20 musicians performed at Light Up Lyneham. This year more than 30 are expected to take the stage, joined for the first time by the band’s youth ensemble.
Beyond the performance, Newbery Brass will once again invite festivalgoers to pick up a trombone, cornet or tuba themselves at its “come and try” stall.
“We’re always looking for new people to join,” White said.
White has watched the festival evolve almost from the beginning.
Over the years she has attended as a local resident, volunteered through her children’s preschool and Girl Guides, run stalls for her small business and now performs with the band.
What has kept her coming back, she says, is not just the entertainment but the sense of belonging.
“There are dogs, little kids with lanterns, grandparents, families and neighbours all wandering around together,” she said.
“It just radiates joy.”
Festival organiser Trevor Vickers said that feeling of participation had always been at the heart of Light Up Lyneham.
Rather than creating an event where people simply watched performances, organisers wanted the community itself to become part of the festival.
“One of the characteristics of Light Up Lyneham is that the people who come along are also part of the event,” he said.
That philosophy has helped transform what began as a small local gathering into one of north Canberra’s biggest winter celebrations.
Now in its eighth year, the free festival attracted about 3000 people last year and, with good weather forecast and an expanded program, organisers expect an even bigger crowd on Saturday.
Several lanterns light up the 2025 Light Up Lyneham festival. Photo: Light Up Lyneham organisers.
The event has outgrown its original footprint around the Lyneham shops and will spill onto the nearby school oval for the first time.
Visitors can once again enjoy the popular Sunset Lantern Walk through the wetlands led by the Canberra Prosperous Mountain Dragon and Lion Dance troupe, while this year’s program introduces a third stage dedicated entirely to choirs.
More than 45 community stalls and food vendors will join live music, art installations and family entertainment, alongside new “come and try” activities including maypole dancing, volleyball, ultimate frisbee and a scavenger hunt.
“We’ve kept all the old favourites and added a whole bunch of new elements,” Vickers said.
For White, Newbery Brass reflects exactly what Light Up Lyneham is all about.
A seven-year-old and a 78-year-old will stand on the same stage this weekend—not because they’re the best musicians in Canberra, but because they belong there.
