Warwick Corps of Drums have been benefiting from support from Brass Bands England as part of its Brass Foundations education project.
Brass Foundations, created as part of a successful Cultural Recovery Fund application, is Brass Bands England's education programme. It is led by a team of five experienced Youth Development Brass Specialists. The programme includes a variety of services aimed at helping youth bands to grow, such as access to online training resources, Zoom calls, and tailored advice and support in brass education.
Warwick and BBE have been in contact since the start of 2021 and in that time they have put together a promotional video and gotten in touch with various schools and musical organisations. They have also discussed at length many different ideas around member recruitment and retention, which will hopefully lay the foundations for the next generation of Warwick players.
More recently, Sheila from BBE was able to attend one of Warwick's rehearsals and meet the band in person. The knowledge flowed both ways - Warwick showed Sheila the basics of being in a marching band, and Sheila gave Warwick a helping hand in cleaning their music!
Speaking about the partnership, Warwick's Jessica Wyatt said "I would like to say a massive thank you to Shelia and BBE for their continued support and if any other bands are in the same position as we are I would recommend talking to BBE. "
"Having that extra support and ideas has helped the managment of Warwick to realise we arent at an end we are only at the beginning and we are excited to see what the future holds for us. "
For more information on the Brass Foundations programme and how to get involved please email BBE’s Education and Development Manager Sarah Baumann on sarah@bbe.org.uk.