The death has been reported of Walter Ainscough, the well known band administrator and for many years a curator and trustee at the Brass Band Archive when it was based in Wigan.

It is understood that was aged 86. A private funeral was held at his wishes.

Music

Walter Ainscough was also associated at different times with bands such as Wingates Temperance, Leyland, Besses and Black Dyke and was responsible for being able to locate and preserve copies of historic pieces of music — many from the earliest years of the British Open Championships.

A cornet player with the Haigh Band he found his passion for brass band history and contributed many articles on some of the great bands and personalities of the early contesting movement, such as William Halliwell and William Rimmer.

Archive

He volunteered to work at the Brass Band Archive, first in Oldham when it opened in 1992 at the Doyen Recordings headquarters and more latterly in Wigan until it closed two years ago.

He also took time with his fellow curator Alan Marsh to educate people about banding history by taking items from the Archive to many competitions.