Brass Bands England (BBE) has launched the second part of its Brass Band Contesting Survey, designed to find out views and opinions on the current state of brass band contests.

Don't worry if you have missed the first part as there is still plenty of time to take part in that too.

Seek opinions

The survey's aim is to seek opinions why contests take place, why we take part and what we want to achieve from participating in them.

In this second part it also asks how the public perceive what we do and how this outwards appearance can be improved and made more relevant. This follow up is significantly shorter than Part 1 and should take about 10 minutes to complete.

To take part in the survey visit the survey page at: https://www.bbe.org.uk/what-we-do/brass-band-contesting-survey

To complete Part 2 go to: https://forms.gle/1xEsfjoza5NzbwJu7

One participant from each part of the survey will be picked at random to receive a year's free individual membership of Brass Bands England.

Excellent response

Speaking about the response so far to the survey, BBE Partnership & Relationship Development Manager, Alex Parker, told 4BR: "We have had over 450 people take part which will be giving us a really clear picture of people's thoughts and opinions about contesting.

He added: "This is also really close to our target so we can produce a report that has statistically accurate confidence intervals in the results. With this in mind, if you have an opinion on contesting — either good or bad — we want to know.

We also want to hear from more people who don't contest anymore to understand why that is, so please share the link with those who might want to take part!"

Alex revealed that Part 1 has shown that 23% of people who have taken part in the survey play in the Championship Section, whilst only 12% come from Fourth Section bands and 5% from non-contesting bands4BR

Figures

Alex revealed that Part 1 has shown that 23% of people who have taken part in the survey play in the Championship Section, whilst only 12% come from Fourth Section bands and 5% from non-contesting bands.

London & Southern Counties are strongly represented with 20% of participants, whilst the North of England and Yorkshire trail with 12% and 14% respectively. Only 4% have come from Wales and 1.7% from Scotland.

Alex added: "We would encourage banders from Wales and Scotland to take part in the survey as the results could influence the direction of all of banding in the future!"