Kingdom Brass is celebrating after securing new rehearsal facilities through a government scheme.

For the past 18 months the band has been working on a Community Asset Transfer (CAT) application alongside Fife Council which allows community groups to apply for ownership of surplus council buildings.

Long term plans

Band Secretary John Todd told 4BR: "When we moved out of our old rehearsal base about 10 years ago to the other side of Cowdenbeath, we were advised by the council that as we had secure premises we could eventually apply for a long term lease on the building.

We therefore launched the Kingdom Brass Youth Initiative and Percussion Academy and built a superb youth setup that eventually led to the formation of our 'B' Band.

However, plans for a long term lease were withdrawn and we had to scale back our youth development programme, until we could get a permanent home secured.

The band will now put their £80,000 refurbishment plan in place which will give them state of the art facilities and the ability to relaunch their Youth Initiative4BR

First group

He added: "The CAT process was recommended to us, and we became aware that the library building in Kelty was now vacant.

I think we are one of the first community groups in the country to go down this route. It's taken us 18 months to get the application completed and through various council committees, so to finally have it all approved is great news."

The band will now put their £80,000 refurbishment plan in place which will give them state of the art facilities and the ability to relaunch their Youth Initiative.

John concluded: "We now have a brand new 'Patrons Scheme' in the pipeline, all ready for our 20th anniversary next year."