At the recent AGM of the British Federation of Brass Bands in Manchester, the organization revealed that they had been in discussions to support a potential proposal for the hosting of a World Brass Band Championship event to take place in London prior to the 2012 Olympic Games.

Private organisation

When asked by 4BR, BFBB Chairman Robert Morgan revealed that there had been discussion with a private organization, to look into the BFBB supporting a potential application to hold the contest instead of the stand alone EBBA European Brass Band Championships that year.

Once in a lifetime

4BR understands that the discussions were with representatives of an arm of the Salvation Army, and it is believed that the event would have seen bands from around the world join European representatives for what Robert described as ‘a once in a lifetime event’.

The BFBB Executive Committee Report to the meeting had earlier stated, "The BFBB continues to work alongside EBBA in the promotion of European banding"4BR

Conflict

When asked if there was any possible conflict of interest between the BFBB’s involvement with EBBA, over supporting an event, which would possibly see the European Championship superseded for a one off occasion, this was denied.

The BFBB Executive Committee Report to the meeting had earlier stated, "The BFBB continues to work alongside EBBA in the promotion of European banding."

No financial input

Robert Morgan stated clearly that there would be no financial support for any proposal from the BFBB, but support for the event could be forthcoming in other ways.

He also made clear that he personally felt that there was little chance of the proposal coming to fruition, although he revealed that further discussions over the hosting of the 2012 European Championships would take place in Ostend in May.

Euro Champions?

The lack of firm proposals on the potential idea seemed to be confirmed with his thought that there would be a possibility that if a non European band won the contest, they would be declared ‘World Champions’, whilst the highest placed European Band could call themselves ‘European Champions’.