When a volunteer teacher came over from Italy to work in Yorkshire, he hardly expected to be taking part in a great Yorkshire musical tradition.

Bari

However, Bartolomeo Girardi from Altamura, near Bari (that's Bari in Italy, not Barry in South Wales) has joined Harrogate Band and is loving every minute of it!

Bartolomeo (or Bart, as he is known) is working on an EU programme as a volunteer teacher for people with disabilities.

He had never even heard of brass bands before coming along to his first practice, but once he came he found he was hooked.

I had never even heard a Yorkshire brass band before I came along to Harrogate, and I was really curious to find out more. It's been great funBartolomeo Girardi

Love playing

Bart told 4BR: "I love playing for the band — everyone’s so friendly and welcoming and the standard of playing is as high as the orchestras I play with back home. I had never even heard a Yorkshire brass band before I came along to Harrogate, and I was really curious to find out more. It's been great fun."

As for the repertoire?

Bart added: "The band has played pieces from Verdi’s 'Nabucco', 'Napoli' and many more that I’ve been brought up with back home. The other great thing is that with music being an international language I can cope ok in rehearsals — in fact, when you think about it, everyone else is speaking my language!"

Fan club

The band are delighted with their new recruit too: "He’s an absolute delight to work with. His dedication and work ethic are fantastic especially when you consider that he uses a wheelchair and comes to rehearsals from Leeds using public transport. He says he’s going to go back to Italy and tell them all about us so maybe he’ll set up a fan-club up for us out there!"