Bridport: Porn link on brass band website (From Thisisdorset)

Bridport: Porn link on brass band website

10:20am Thursday 12th November 2009

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A BRIDPORT brass band struck a blue note when visitors to its website got directed to a page of porn.

People logging on for details of Wessex Military Band’s performances were instead invited to view pictures of naked women.

Horrified officials hurriedly closed the service at the weekend after shocked viewers called in to complain.

“Someone, it seemed, had decided to put the ‘sex’ into Wessex with some very inappropriate content,” said band spokeswoman Jennifer Dixon.

“We were very disappointed to find someone had inserted some very unsavoury material into the site.

“We had no option other than to close it down temporarily and we apologise for any offence caused.”

At first she said they thought hackers had got onto the site and uploaded the explicit material.

But Webmaster Peter Yates said the link to the ‘mild porn’ was added when they swapped servers recently.

He said that during the change over the new provider had left some coded information on the page which acted as a link to a porn site.

“I could not believe it,” he said. “It was completely inappropriate.

“I knew nothing about it until we had some calls from people logging on and for whom it was particularly disturbing. I can only apologise.”

The service went live on the new host server around midnight on Sunday and Mr Yates said the first he knew about the risqué material was when he got a call from the band manger on Monday.

“As soon as we knew about it we took it away,” he said. “It was most unfortunate but it was not our fault.

“It all sorted now and we are back to normal – I just hope no one got too much of a shock.”

Mr Yates, an engineer with Dorset County Council, said the website at www.wessexmilitary band.co.uk was especially important to the band as it brought them a number of engagements.

He added: “ It has been great over the years and we have picked up a lot of jobs including international ones – we were invited to Malta in 2004 because of it.”

Mrs Dixon said their main concern had been to shut down the offensive material as soon as possible to prevent more people seeing it.

“We don’t want people to think that we do, in any shape or form, condone anything like that. We like to think we are respectable people. We have been based in Bridport for 30 years.”

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