Brass band plays after being saved from collapse

A brass band which was saved after coming close to folding last year, has celebrated its survival with a free performance in a local park.

Ilkeston Brass Band made a "last, desperate call" for players and a musical director last August and has recruited more members since.

Rose Norman, band secretary and euphonium player, said she was relieved the band narrowly avoided folding after more than 100 years of music.

The group opened Erewash Borough Council's annual Bold as Brass concert series, performing in Ilkeston's Victoria Park on Sunday.

Audience members were allowed to try out a range of instruments during the interval in a bid to recruit more players.

Norman said there were huge benefits to being in the band.

"Being engaged in the music takes you away from everything else that's happening in your life, with an absolutely fantastic group of people," she said.

Last August, she said she was extremely concerned about the band's future which was at a "crisis point".

However, a handful of local musicians answered the plea for members, including trombone player Ben Henderson, who offered his services as the new musical director.

"He's really encouraging. He creates a really calm, friendly, have-a-go atmosphere where no-one feels pressured," said Norman.

Henderson has also broadened the band's songbook to include songs by Barbara Streisand, Celine Dion and 90's Eurodance hit, Freed From Desire by Gala.

"We've really gelled as a band since he's taken the baton up and it's been going really well," said Norman, who is keen to expand the band further.

Norman said the lack of brass instruments and tuition in schools remained an issue for bolstering bands.

Arts Council England distributes funds on behalf of the Department for Education to Music Hubs across the country.

Derbyshire's hub received more than £466,000 of capital funding from the Arts Council this academic year, to invest in musical instruments, equipment, and technology.

Head of service, Jayne Briggs, who is a trumpet player herself, said uptake for brass instruments was "patchy" across the county and the annual funding has not increased in the last 12 years.

However, she said money has been spent on "a hell of a lot of brass instruments".

"Around Ilkeston, we are definitely trying to do lots of special projects to raise the profile of brass.

"If you play trumpet or trombone, you can definitely end up in orchestral music, in jazz music, in funk and all different sorts of styles. So it's not limiting you to play a brass instrument," she said.

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