Since purchasing The British Bandsman I have been unsure on the future of BrassFestUK, running both didn’t seem to make sense, so I considered closing down BrassFestUK and putting all of the projects through The Bandsman.

As with any decision I slept on it and have changed my plan, the basis of the original idea of BrassFestUK which was to commission a new piece aimed at 4th and youth/training bands to play and encourage them to play on a specific weekend to members of the public, I feel there is still good reason to keep this as an annual project.

I know that BrassFestUK has done more than the annual BrassFestUK weekend, with Solo Contests and of course a huge amount of projects during lockdown, but going back to the original idea for BrassFestUK makes sense and with support from The Bandsman I still see a role for BrassFestUK in the banding calendar.

I hope to continue working closely with Pennine Music and Cory Band who have given me a huge amount of support for the BrassFestUK project and keeping the team together is an essential part of the annual event.

I feel that with the help from The Bandsman that BrassFestUK can continue to offer a worthwhile event each year and new projects aimed at the lower section bands can continue to be introduced.