The last few days has seen a welcome level of positive regional and national media coverage for the banding movement.

It follows Radio 3's recent highlight coverage of some of the performances at this year's RNCM International Brass Band Festival, as well as images featured in the Yorkshire Post and The Times from the Yorkshire Regional Championships in Huddersfield.

The Times

More significant however was the article written by Richard Morrison in The Times (Wednesday March 11th) entitled 'Bold as brass: the new generation'.

It not only celebrated the talents of trombonist Peter Moore and trumpet soloist Matilda Lloyd (above), but also shone a light on the excellent work undertaken by Sean Chandler with the Shepherd Group Brass Band. All three are short listed in Royal Philharmonic Society Award categories this year.

Richard Morrison MBE has been a long term advocate for banding (his father Don was conductor of the Hendon Band for many years), and in the article he described himself as "biased" in believing were few finer sounds than a brass band in full cry.

He has been chief music critic for The Times since 1992 and was 'Columnist of the Year' in 2012 from the Professional Publishers Association.

Partisan ferocity

And whilst he admitted that even half a century after he played that "nothing has changed", he still felt "the partisan ferocity" of a brass band contest was still evident.

His short interviews with Moore and Lloyd in the article accentuated their positive experiences as young players.

However he was also understandably impressed not only by the six separate bands that form the Shepherd Group organisation, but specifically the work Sean Chandler undertakes to make it an inclusive environment for deaf children to enjoy playing a brass band instrument.