scaba

Formed in 1893 as the “Southern Counties Amateur Bands Association”, scaba is the local association for brass bands in the South East of England.  Any brass bands in the counties of Bedfordshire, Berkshire, Buckinghamshire, Dorset, Essex, Hampshire, Hertfordshire, Kent, London Boroughs, Middlesex, Surrey, Sussex and The Channel Islands are eligible for membership.scaba works hard to put the interests of its member bands and brass players first, and there’s a lot more to us than just contesting! The association is a member of Brass Bands England (BBE) and Making Music UK, and has representatives on the committee of the London & Southern Counties region of the National Brass Band Championships of Great Britain.

scaba is run by a team of volunteers and we can’t keep going or offer more services to our local bands without some support! Membership of the association helps to support all of our activities including the Southern Counties Youth Band and development of new, non-competitive events.

In return for an annual Membership fee of just £35 members of scaba enjoy the following benefits:

♪    Free advertising on the scaba website and social media

♪    Discounted subs for SCYB

♪    Free information, advice and resources

♪    Priority entry and discounted tickets for workshops and other events

♪    Priority entry and discounted fees for scaba contests

♪  Voting rights at quarterly forums – and the chance to get involved in how your local association is run

♪  Representation at the London & Southern Counties Regional Committee

Click HERE to download your 2023-24 Membership information and application form.

SCYB

THE SOUTHERN COUNTIES YOUTH BAND

The Southern Counties Youth Band or “SCYB” was set up by scaba to give young brass and percussion players an opportunity to improve their playing ability, expand their banding experience and to have fun making music in a band of players their own age. ALL young players in the area are welcome to join, your own band doesn’t have to be a member of scaba (but your subs will be discounted if they are!)

Following a forced break during the Covid-19 pandemic, we’re excited to be be resuming regular monthly rehearsals at Worth School, near Crawley in West Sussex, from 25th September 2022.

Please see the SCYB section of this website for more information and the 2022-23 membership application pack.

SCYB Survey

Please see the SCYB section of this website for more news, photos and information about SCYB.


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What’s On (Next 30 Days)

Our Team

Meet our team members

Andrew Wilson
Alex Sears
Tom Martin
James Haigh
Paul Homewood
Sybil Morrison
Claire Pickard
Andrew Wooler
Ian Carter
Sharon McCallum
Norman Every
Ivy Gray
Martin Mortimer
David Read
Andrew Wilson

Andrew Wilson

Chairperson

Andrew has been playing in local brass bands since the age of 11, including Epsom and Ewell, Staines and Yiewsley and West Drayton. He was a founder member of the Kingston Youth Concert Band in the 1980s, and was a member of staff there for many years.

Andrew has been MD of Cranleigh Youth Band and also Encore Youth Orchestra, and the Epsom and Ewell B band which had both youth and adult players. He joined Mole Valley Silver Band on bass in 1999, and became their MD in 2003.

e-mail : chairman@scaba.co.uk

Alex Sears

Alex Sears

Secretary

Alex started playing with Brighton Silver band at the age of 7 and has played with a number of bands in this area including Alder Valley, Uckfield, Horsham and Chichester.  She has been a member of Friary Guildford Band since 2003 and has served as their Contest Secretary for most of that time.

Alex’s banding highlights include being the only baritone player to date to win ‘Best Instrumentalist’ in a scaba competition, winning the 1st Section National Championships with Friary in 2010, playing in the Championship section finals at the Royal Albert Hall and taking part in Brass in Concert.

Alex was invited to join the scaba team in 2011 and appointed Secretary in 2015. She is also administrator and tutor for the Southern Counties Youth Band (#SCYB) and loves working with the next generation of brass banders.

e-mail : fgb@alexvicary.co.uk

Tom Martin

Tom Martin

Treasurer

Tom started playing trombone at the age of 11 and had joined Godalming Band by age 14 progressing up through the trombone ranks. Tom is helping with the next generation of banders as his daughter now plays cornet with Godalming Band and Godalming Youth Band and young son is showing an interest as well!

Over the years Tom has played with many music groups including musical wind bands, orchestras and jazz bands as well as playing in many amateur musical productions with a number of different groups.

Outside of music Tom works for a European IT firm and served as treasurer of the local Round Table for many years.

tom.martin@tsplace.co.uk

James Haigh

James Haigh

SAFEGUARDING LEAD AND EXECUTIVE COMMITTEE MEMBER

James is the MD of Godalming band.

e-mail: jamesaphaigh@outlook.com

Paul Homewood

Paul Homewood

Executive Committee Member

Sybil Morrison

Sybil Morrison

Executive Committee Member

Claire Pickard

Claire Pickard

Executive Committee Member

Andrew Wooler

Andrew Wooler

Executive Committee Member

Ian Carter

Ian Carter

President

Ian has been on the scaba Committee for 18 years and served as Contest Manager and Secretary in that time.  He was appointed President of the Association in April 2018 in honour of his commitment and dedication to scaba and brass banding in the South East.

Sharon McCallum

Sharon McCallum

Vice President

A skilled instrument repairer and cornettist, Sharon has played with a number of bands in the area and has supported scaba events with her trade stand for many years. Sharon was invited to become a Vice President of the association in 2019.

Norman Every

Norman Every

Vice President

Married with 3 children and 7 grandchildren, Norman comes from a banding family and believes he has a brass gene in his make-up!

His grandfather Frank founded the former Nelson Silver Band in the Rhondda Valley and then, following a move to Berkshire in the 1920s, formed the St Sebastian Wokingham Band. Norman followed in his footsteps with his involvement in the Cornwall Youth Band and by forming both the Cranleigh Youth Band and the National Methodist Youth Brass Band.

Norman played tenor horn with the Godalming Band in Surrey before moving back to Cornwall recently. Norman served as President of the Association for a self-imposed 5 year term, during which time he founded the Southern Counties Youth Band (SCYB) in 2014.

e-mail : normanev@hotmail.co.uk

Ivy Gray

Ivy Gray

Vice President.

Ivy met Ron at the age of 17 when the conductor of The Westborough Ladies Choir invited her to sing with the Godalming Band who he also conducted. Some years later their daughter wanted to play a cornet like her father, Ivy went along to help teach the youngsters to read music, and the rest is history.

Ivy played trombone with Godalming for 35 years before retiring from playing in 2013.  She was invited to join scaba as a committee member when she started attending meetings as the Godalming Band representative and has served the Association for over 20 years, most recently as our Membership Secretary.  In 2018 Ivy was appointed Vice President in thanks and recognition for her many years of dedicated service.

Martin Mortimer

Martin Mortimer

Vice President

David Read

David Read

Vice President

Banding Resources

Members

Bob and Peggy Tucker Memorial Bursary

Bob and Peggy Tucker Memorial Bursary

scaba is proud to present an initiative to encourage and assist young players to experience a unique opportunity that will help them achieve greater awareness of their playing capabilities and future prospects on their chosen instrument.

 

scaba ‘Band of the Year’ competition

scaba ‘Band of the Year’ competition

The competition will be open to all bands who are paid-up members of scaba for the current year.
To win the prize, a band must compete in both the Spring Contest and the Autumn Contest, in the same year

Current Member Listing

Current Member Listing

Find out who’s a member and get their contact details, links to websites and google map.

 

Contesting

Contesting

Everything you need to know about contesting, including dates, rules and regulations, forms and previous contest results.

Vacancies

Vacancies

Find deps and advertisements for permanent positions.

 

SCYB

SCYB

The Southern Counties Youth Band was formed in 2014, since then we have gone from strength to strength. Find out more and get the membership application form here.

 

Photo Galleries

  • All
  • Autumn Contests
  • Entertainment Contests
  • Quartet & Ensemble Contests
  • Solo & Duet Contests
  • Spring Contests
  • SYCB
2023 Spring Contest

2023 Spring Contest

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2020 Spring Contest

2020 Spring Contest

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2019 Autumn Contest

2019 Autumn Contest

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2019 Easter Residential Course

2019 Easter Residential Course

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2018 SCYB Residential

2018 SCYB Residential

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2019 Spring Contest

2019 Spring Contest

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2018 Spring Contest

2018 Spring Contest

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2017 Spring Contest

2017 Spring Contest

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2017 Entertainment Contest

2017 Entertainment Contest

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2017 Easter Residential Course

2017 Easter Residential Course

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2016 Spring Contest

2016 Spring Contest

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2016 Easter Residential

2016 Easter Residential

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2015 Entertainment Contest

2015 Entertainment Contest

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2015 Autumn Contest

2015 Autumn Contest

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2015 Easter Residential Course

2015 Easter Residential Course

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2015 Q&E Contest

2015 Q&E Contest

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2016 Solo & Duet Contest

2016 Solo & Duet Contest

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2014  Rehearsal & Concert

2014 Rehearsal & Concert

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2014 Entertainment Contest

2014 Entertainment Contest

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2014 Solo, Quartet and Ensemble Contest

2014 Solo, Quartet and Ensemble Contest

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2012 Autumn Contest

2012 Autumn Contest

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2011 Autumn Contest

2011 Autumn Contest

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2011 Entertainment Contest

2011 Entertainment Contest

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