The membership of the British Federation of Brass Band has taken the first official step towards becoming reconstituted as The English Federation of Brass Bands.

Vote in favour

At its Annual General Meeting held in Manchester on the weekend, a comprehensive vote in favour of the move was accepted.

70 members voted in favour, with 9 nine against and 8 abstentions. 4BR understands that steps will now be taken to undergo the necessary process of reconstituting the organisation in line with Charity Commission directives and rules.

Drop in bands

It is also understood that the new organisation will still be open to membership from bands throughout the UK. Currently the BFBB has 231 member bands — 12 of which are based in Northern Ireland, Wales and Scotland.

At the AGM it was revealed that as of 31st December there were 470 registered bands as well as 16,500 players – a drop from 540 bands and 17,000 players a decade ago.

Funding success

17 officers and representatives attended the meeting at the Royal Northern College of Music, where Chairman Robert Morgan MBE gave an upbeat appraisal of the work undertaken by the BFBB in the past 12 months or more, with particular emphasis on the success in gaining Arts Council England Funding for the next three years.

BFBB Development Officer Philip Watson and Treasurer Nigel Morgan gave reports, with the only opposed election of an executive officer seeing Robert Morgan re-elected as Chairman for another year.

The immediate target will be to see an increase in overall banding numbers from around its present figure of 1000 to 1500 by 2015, with the eventual target of 2971 postcode bands and ensembles in the UK reached by 20204BR

Ambitious aims

Ambitious details were also unveiled of the aims and objectives surrounding the successful application – including the aim of helping create a brass band in every postcode district of the UK.

It is hoped that through proactive work within communities that the current membership will be boosted from its present level to close to 3000 bands and small ensembles by 2020, each providing active youth participation.

Target

The immediate target will be to see an increase in overall banding numbers from around its present figure of 1000 to 1500 by 2015, with the eventual target of 2971 postcode bands and ensembles in the UK reached by 2020.