It has been announced this morning that the National & Yorkshire Champion, Brighouse & Rastrick has made the historic decision to welcome the first female player into their ranks.

Milestone

The announcement stated: "Laura’s appointment is an historic milestone for Brighouse & Rastrick, probably the most famous brass band in the world, as Laura is the first female to ever be offered a permanent position in the band."

Boys Only Club

Band president Paul Beaumont commented: "Laura is an extremely talented cornet player and we are very pleased to welcome her to the band, which I must admit was previously seen as a ‘Boys Only Club’.

Although Brighouse & Rastrick dates back to 1881 and has a long history of tradition, the band recognise the need to move with the times and we are delighted that talent such as Laura’s will be part our band."

There is a high level of very talented female musicians so although Laura is the first, it is doubtful that she will hold that position for long as there are bound to be other female musicians queuing up to join herPaul Beaumont

More to come

It would appear that the decision to finally open the doors to the ‘Boys Only Club’ may well see Brighouse welcome more female players to their ranks, as Paul added.

"There is a high level of very talented female musicians so although Laura is the first, it is doubtful that she will hold that position for long as there are bound to be other female musicians queuing up to join her."

Shameful tradition

The decision by Brighouse & Rastrick is seen by many people as a long overdue end to one of the brass band movements more shameful ‘traditions’ – the implicit exclusion of female players from leading bands.

Over the past 15 years, previously traditional bastions of male dominance such as Foden’s, Black Dyke, Cory, Fairey, and most recently Grimethorpe have all accepted the need for change and have welcomed ever increasing numbers of talented female performers into their ranks.