The live worldwide internet broadcast from the 2016 Bolsover Festival of Brass starts at 8.40am at the Heritage High School in Clowne today.

The event is being broadcast live by the First Art project to reach every corner of the banding world, with the contest action starting at 9.00am with the first of 10 First Section contenders taking to the stage.

Just log in

All you have to do if you can't make it there yourself is to sit back and simply log into:
http://www.firstart.org.uk/broadcast

Live broadcast

There will be live broadcast performances of all the bands in the Championship and First Section (9.00am to 9.30pm) with the performances of the bands in the Second, Third, Fourth and Un-registered sections recorded for future broadcast.

The broadcast itself will be hosted by 4BR Editor Iwan Fox alongside studio experts Kenny Crookston of British Bandsman and Chris Thomas of Brass Band World magazines — so there is sure to be plenty of topical chat, opinions and viewpoints.

Social media

The event also has an 'in-house' social media expert on hand throughout the day, so your opinions, questions and viewpoints can be aired to the whole of the banding world. All you have to do is get in touch through social media!

And to make sure people don't forget how to get in touch, First Arts has produced special beer mats that will be available at both the event and the special fringe events to enable you to enjoy a quiet drink and make your voice heard!

Get in touch

So if you are family or friends, supporters, players, conductors and or even rival bands, you can directly get involved by interacting on Twitter @FirstArtProject using the dedicated hash tag #festofbrass

Fringe Festival

The 'Fringe Festival' events in partnership with the First Art organisation will be taking place in a number of local locations, such as the Diamond Centre in Kirkby in Ashfield and Shirland Miners Welfare in north east Derbyshire — enabling supporters and brass band lovers to link into the broadcasts from the comfort of community venues.

Diamond Centre

At the Diamond Centre a breakfast club will be served till 11.00 am and a special 'super kitchen' served from 11.30am -2.30pm (3 course meal only £2.99).

So if you are family or friends, supporters, players, conductors and or even rival bands, you can directly get involved by interacting on Twitter @FirstArtProject using the dedicated hash tag festofbrass

Shirland Miners Welfare

So why not go along and spend time at Shirland Miners Welfare (open to public from 11.00am-late) at 123, Main Road, Shirland, Alfreton. DE55 6BA.

They will be showing the festival in their function room from 11.00am and have drinks and bar snacks available.

They also support the Shirland Miners Welfare Band and their fine Youth Band, and the Welfare also sponsors two local brothers who play in the National Youth Orchestra of Great Britain.

Stonelow Court

And in what is a fantastic approach to bringing brass band music making into the community, the residents of Stonelow Court Sheltered Housing in Dronfield will be enjoying the contests throughout the day on a special broadcast link.

So if you have a family relative there, why not pop along and enjoy the brass bands together.