Kirkby playathon helps raise funds for greater musical access

A fantastic 24 hour marathon of music making, including brass sound baths and a dawn chorus of bird song has raised funds to help make Kirkby Stephen Band's HQ fully accessible.

Ice creams were on hand on teh hottest day of the year to keep players cool

Saturday, 28 June 2025

Players from Kirkby Stephen Silver Band have emerged triumphant after their 24-hour 'playathon' that helped raise funds to provide wheelchair friendly access to their rehearsal headquarters.

After a great deal of logistical and musical planning, the marathon session got underway on what was also the hottest day of the year.

Enjoyed

Spokesperson Raven Taylor told 4BR: "Any anxieties we had soon disappeared as we enjoyed ourselves from the off. Everyone played their part — from part swapping to shift swapping to get through."

The band started in 'full strength' mode before breaking into smaller ensembles to vary the workload and play the wide variety of repertoire that was chosen.

Beer and brass sound baths

There was also a pop up cafÃ© to entice listeners (as well as a bar thanks to MD Ian Simkins owning a brewery!), with plenty of holiday makers stopping by to find out more about the band and the ambition it has to turn their rehearsal HQ into a community music hub.

There were also special guests to help out too, with Hari Trivedi from Leicester leading a fantastic 'brass sound baths' where the players combined some of the lower brass instruments with his crystal singing bowls.

At 4.00am in the morning, baritone player and wildlife expert Andrew Ramsay scored a 'Dawn Chorus piece based on different bird calls — getting players to mimic the sounds4BR

Dawn Chorus

At 4.00am in the morning, baritone player and wildlife expert Andrew Ramsay scored a 'Dawn Chorus' piece based on different bird calls — getting players to mimic the sounds.

Raven added: "These were wonderful additions to a fantastic communal effort — one which was also great fun from start to finish, even if we were all a bit exhausted! The support from the local community, visitors, holiday makers and on-line friends pushed us on to the end.

We finished with a grand finale with all the band back together — tired, emotional and triumphant."

So far the initiative has raised over £2,000, with plans to try something 'very different' in the future to help meet the band's ambition.

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