Brass The Baton is basically a relay race involving 5 conductor’s batons, each representing one of the 5 Olympic rings and coloured accordingly. Starting in Europe in May at the prestigious European Brass Band Championships each of the 5 batons will be passed by participating Brass Bands / Ensembles across the UK and Internationally, until they reach their final destination:- the London 2012 Festival in July.

All Brass Bands / Ensembles can participate

Brass Bands / Ensembles will be invited to take part and 5 unique routes will be mapped out for each baton before the start. One baton will be dedicated to be passed only by youth / training / beginner bands; another could be assigned to travel through Europe and possibly around the world.

The relay race will last for at least 10 weeks providing 350 potential performance days (i.e. 5 batons x 10 weeks of 7 days) where each Brass Band / Ensemble taking part will be encouraged to find the most innovative way of performing with, and passing on, one of the 5 conductor’s baton.

A special piece of music will be commissioned entitled “Brass The Baton: Going The Distance”, it will comprise 5 parts that can be performed independently along the route of each baton. The world premiere performance of the complete piece will only occur when all 5 parts / batons / massed bands of brass musicians come together for the project finale during the London 2012 Festival in July.

London 2012 Inspire Mark

To date the creative concept has been developed by the British Federation of Brass Bands (BFBB) working in collaboration with Rambling Brass and they are extremely pleased to announce that the project has recently been granted the London 2012 Inspire Mark, the badge of the London 2012 Inspire programme which recognises exceptional and innovative projects inspired by the 2012 Games.

Seb Coe, Chair of the London Organising Committee of the Olympic Games and Paralympic Games said: ’We want to use the power of the Games to inspire change. The Inspire programme is recognising the work our partners all round the UK are doing to help us achieve this vision now – one year away from the start of the Games. I congratulate everyone involved in Brass The Baton for securing the Inspire mark and wish you every success with your work.’

Partnership & Collaboration

Other project partners across England, Scotland, Wales and Northern Ireland are now being contacted to ensure that all brass bands throughout the UK have the opportunity to take part in Brass The Baton.

BFBB is also in discussion with the European Brass Band Association regarding the details of the launch event for the start of the relay at the 2012 European Brass Band Championships and with London based partners regarding the staging of the world premier of “Brass The Baton” during the London 2012 Festival.

Terry Luddington, BFBB Liaison Officer, stated “Brass The Baton is designed as a collaborative project where all partners and participants will be encouraged to contribute towards the shared goal of engaging as many brass band musicians, volunteers, audience members, children and young people as possible in order to leave a lasting legacy of increased participation in Brass Band music making for the future.

Invitation

We would now like to hear from all Brass Bands / Brass Ensembles / Festivals / Contests / Venues / Conductors / Volunteers interested in getting involved in Brass The Baton. At this stage please just send an email to brassthebaton@mad4bb.com to record your interest and we’ll be in touch soon with more information.” 

Olympic founder inspires arts

The Festival of the World event – part of celebrations for the London 2012 Games – will open over the Diamond Jubilee weekend at London’s Southbank Centre.

It will run from 1 June 2012 through to the last day of the Paralympics on 9 September.

An artists’ village will be set up at the Queen Elizabeth Hall for creative people from around the world to swap stories and chat.

Major attractions include Welsh bass baritone Bryn Terfel and Senegalese singer and human rights champion Baaba Maal, while Gustavo Dudamel and the Simon Bolivar Symphony Orchestra headline a four-day Sounds of Venezuela event.

Please help if you can, it won’t cost anything and will take about 5 minutes of your time today.

Six BFBB member bands have been nominated for a Nat West CommunityForce award:

Deeside Silver Band

Enderby Youth Band

Gloucester Excelsior Training Band

Macclesfield Youth Brass Band

Ouston, Pelton District Community Brass Band

York RI Golden Rail Band 

There are 393 x £6k awards being made so each of our member bands has a chance of winning if we can get them enough votes. As Louise Renshaw has indicated from Macclesfield Youth Brass Band:

“We’ve had over 260 votes so far and are currently in the top 3 projects in Cheshire but with just 5 days to go, the voting is going bananas and we really need more votes to keep us in with a chance of winning one of the three cash prizes.

£6000 is a huge amount of money for any charity and our volunteers could use it wisely to teach even more youngsters to play an instrument and enjoy being able to join a band. It’s sooooo close and every single vote is important.”

Jen Prior from Gloucester Excelsior has explained the voting process below:

“To vote you need to use the following link: http://communityforce.natwest.com/

This will take you to the Nat West Communityforce website and you need to click on ‘register’ at the top right hand side of the screen.  You will then need to put in your email address and a password.  Once you have received an automated email confirming your registration you will be able to go back into the website.  To do this it is best to use the following link as this will take you directly to our cause:

http://communityforce.natwest.com/project/4371 - Gloucester Excelsior Training Band”

You are allowed 3 votes but can only vote once for each cause.  So please use all three votes, the links for the other bands are:

http://communityforce.natwest.com/project/1574 - Macclesfield Youth Brass Band

http://communityforce.natwest.com/project/3933 - York RI Golden Rail Band 

http://communityforce.natwest.com/project/2024 - Ouston, Pelton & District Community Brass Band

http://communityforce.natwest.com/project/128 - Deeside Silver Band 

http://communityforce.natwest.com/project/4343 - Enderby Youth Band

If you haven’t got time to vote on-line you can vote by phone call 0800 2100 246 Lines open 24/7.

So let’s all go M.A.D. (Make A Difference) and spread the word to vote for these bands, voting closes at midday Monday 24 October.

Terry Luddington

BFBB Liaison Officer

Mobile: 07803 147101

Email: terry@bfbb.co.uk

Twitter: @tlmad4bb

Facebook: Terry Luddington

BFBB Website: www.bfbb.co.uk 

Making A Difference Website: www.mad4bb.com

Having been without an MD for a while due to the retirement through ill health of Chris Atkins, the Band was pleasantly surprised when Rodney, who has lived in Whitstable for over 23 years, dropped into a practice evening which subsequently led to discussions over the vacancy.  After a couple of rehearsal sessions and public performances it was agreed that Rodney take over as MD with immediate effect.

He is a very experienced military musician having joined the Royal Marines Band Service in 1956 at the age of 14 and retiring 30 years later as the Corps Bandmaster, senior Warrant Officer Royal Marines Band. 

Rodney was awarded the Meritorious Service Medal for 27 years excellent service. 

After a spell as Bandmaster of the Metropolitan Police Band, he then opted to look for employment closer to home, and joined the Kent Association of Local Councils as Parish Councils Adviser..

This work left him little time for hobbies or other interests but now having recently fully retired, he is keen to enjoy making music with a group of musicians who show an obvious enthusiasm, and real potential, and hopes that it won’t be long before Whitstable Brass has a much wider reputation.  

This ambition might be better achieved through the recruitment of a few more players, and the Band would welcome any approach from brass players looking to take part in a very interesting and enjoyable musical activity.

Anyone interested should contact the secretary, Sheila Holness, on 01227 266248 or sheilamholness@yahoo.co.uk

Roy first adjudicated for scaba at the Autumn Contest in October 1981 and then again in October 1985.

In 1989 he returned to award the top prize in the Entertainments ‘B’ section to Genet Group (Chertsey) and the ‘A’ section to Hillingdon.

Roy also led a Workshop in the Leas Cliff Hall, Folkestone which was organised by Shepway District Council working in conjunction with scaba.

On all of these occasions Roy was accompanied by Muriel and on so many occasions past members of the NYBB would espy ‘Mrs Newsome’ in the audience and have to go and ‘catch-up’ with her.

Roy gave so much to so many.  He will be a great loss to the banding fraternity and leave a huge void, but we at scaba are blessed with having known and worked with him.

Our thoughts and prayers go to Muriel and the family.

First band on stage 0915hrs – look forward to seeing all bands.  Have a safe journey and enjoy the day.

The runners and riders coming under starters order next weekend are:

Third section – adjudicator Kevin Wadsworth

Youth Section – adjudicator Kevin Wadsworth

Second Section – adjudicator Paul Norley

First Section – adjudicator Kevin Wadsworth

Championship Section – adjudicator Kevin Wadsworth

Our network can now quickly reach over 3,000 Brass Banders and is growing every day

The MAD4BB network continues to grow and we can now communicate quickly with over 3,000 Brass Banders online. It provides a very effective way of getting your message out there fast. Here’s some examples of how we help you communicate:

• as the next featured band on our homepage (e.g. Chalgrove Band),
• as the next big annual event (e.g. Wychavon Festival of Brass),
• as an interesting Blog Post (e.g. Bandstand Marathon 2011).
• as the next promotional video (e.g. Lofthouse 2000 St James Park)

£5M funding and More MADness for Brass Bands….

This is the title of a FREE funding seminar we are offering to Brass Band Associations and Brass Band Festivals around the country. Our next outing is being hosted by North West Area Brass Band Association (open to NWABBA member bands only) on Sunday 18th September, click here for full details. Further opportunities to attend this seminar are coming up across the country all the time and are listed below:

• In January (date/time TBC) scaba, the banding Association of the south are looking to host the event

If you would like to see this seminar hosted by your local Brass Band Association or Festival then please ask them to get in touch and we’ll take it from there.

Mapping the world of Brass Bands

We’re mapping the world of Brass Bands, with over 300 bands already on the map and growing every day.

With www.mad4bb.com now regularly appearing on the first page of Google it will become the one stop shop for the public to find your Brass Band in the future. So if you want to attract new players, volunteers, audiences to your band then we recommend you click here for the UK Map, European Map, World Map and add your band today.

MAD4BB Roadshow - 24th/25th September & 8th October – click here for full details

The roadshow is your opportunity to meet with us face to face to see how we can help your band Make A Difference. We have divided our day into 30 minutes slots where you can have a one to one chat to see how we can help your band go MAD. If you’re at the National Finals in Cheltenham or the SCABA Autumn Contest in Folkestone then let us know and make sure you pop down to the BFBB/MAD4BB trade stand for a chat.

If you would like to see the MAD4BB Roadshow at your local Brass Festival then please ask them to get in touch and we’ll take it from there.

Save the date – Saturday 7th July 2012 will be the next ”MAD for Brass Bands Day” 

This year at least 225 bands performed at more than 160 venues across the country on the first MAD4BB Day 9th July 2011. We managed to get good publicity for bands in print, broadcast and online media as part of our National Publicity Campaign to attract more players, volunteers and audiences to Brass Band music making for the future. So save the date now and make MAD 4 Brass Bands Day part of your plans for 2012.

45 Funding schemes for Bands

Extra funding for bands is key to Making A Difference and we regularly sift through the 1,000s of funding schemes available to not for profit organisations throughout the UK. We only publish the most relevant schemes (in our opinion) on www.mad4bb.com for Brass Bands to consider making an application for grant assistance.

Here’s some of the most recent regional schemes added this month

Hampshire Arts Activity Grants for 2012 – to £5k

Manchester Airport Community Trust Fund – to £3k

Lincolnshire Community Activities Grant Aid – to £20k

The Hadfield Charitable Trust (Cumbria) – prefers to fund capital items

Please Click here for the full funding index on www.mad4bb.com.

Feedback and Comments

It is important to us that we add real value to the Brass Band sector for the future benefit of everyone involved so please feedback your comments on the Making A Difference programme and how you think we are doing, we would love to hear from you.

Terry Luddington

BFBB Liaison Officer

Mobile: 07803 147101

Skype: Terry.Luddington

Email: terry@bfbb.co.uk

Twitter: @tlmad4bb

Facebook: Terry Luddington

BFBB Website: www.bfbb.co.uk 

Making A Difference Website: www.mad4bb.com

Would you be willing to donate them to a very good cause?

The Salvation Army in Maputo, Mozambique is trying to set up a Territorial Brass Band. It would be the first band in this African Country.

Please contact either

Clive Rubery – tel: 01252 321720 or email clive@rubery610.com  

Richard Mupaya – tel: 01252 315728 or email Richard@richardremovalslive.co.uk

Kevin Wadsworth will be the adjudicator for the event which will take place on Saturday 8th October.

This own choice test piece contest has to be restricted to thirty performances (so that we finish at an acceptable hour!) so don’t hesitate with getting your entry in.

The scaba Team look forward to welcoming your band to what is always an excellent contest.

Phil reached the great age of 94.

He was a wonderful supporter of scaba for many, many years.