Richard Wood (November 2005)
Mr Isaac Fox was a prominent figure in Husthwaite and the Easingwold area. Bom in 1850, he lived in the village all his life and he was the great grandfather of a current well-known local personality: Tony Fox of the building firm which works out of Slaters Yard in The Nookin.
Isaac was secretary of the village Methodist Society, and for fifty years he was the choirmaster and taught at the Sunday School. It was as a musician that Isaac's prominence spread beyond the village. He began as a cornet player in the Husthwaite Old Brass Band, and he always remembered his early experiences among the fiddles and the clarinets, as they played in St Nicholas Church.
Soon he was sufficiently well respected as a musician to be put in charge of the Raskelf Drum and Fife Band and to take up coaching work with the village brass band at Crayke. The big local band was the Easingwold Prize Brass Band, and Isaac started as a cornet player, soon moving up to become the conductor, a role in which he was to be followed by one of his sons, George. The band played some of Isaac's compositions, which they took to nationwide competitions, including to the Crystal Palace.
They would walk across the hills to play at Middlesbrough. The Yorkshire Gazette of 4th August 1933 gave a detailed account of Isaac's funeral. There will be people alive in Husthwaite today who remember the occasion. The cortege passed along the village streets. The service was conducted by the Rev Buffey, the organ played by Miss Grace Taylor, a great musical friend. The grave was lined with gladioli, rambler roses and evergreens by Mrs Pinder. Isaac’s son George, as well as conducting the Easingwold Brass Band, was a considerable goalkeeper in the Husthwaite village team. He worked as a postman, riding his bike along a route that took him from Easingwold half way to Thirsk. When the snow was too deep he walked.