My Passion with Sarah Brooks: When playing means working for principal Sarah

I started learning a brass instrument at the tender age of eight. My older brother played the drums and he'd started playing with our local brass band.

I felt like I was missing out on the fun, so I was given a baritone by a family friend – admittedly not as cool as a drum kit.

After a few years of lessons at the local music centre, I joined Wetherby Silver Band when I was 10, where I stayed until 2007, competing in, and winning a number of contests in the Yorkshire area. I moved on to my current instrument, the euphonium, at the age of

about 14.

In 2007, I joined the West Yorkshire Fire & Rescue Service (WYFRS) Band and am currently the principal euphonium player.

For me, banding is about getting together with a group of friends and family (both my brother, Richard, and my fianc, Andy, play with the same band), playing some music and having a great time socially.

Playing with the band provides me with excellent opportunities to travel, as we get to play in some amazing places, including Belgium, Poland, Canada, London and all over the Yorkshire region.

I also really enjoy the buzz that you get from playing some fantastic venues, such as the Menin Gate in Ypres and the Fire Service Memorial in London – which is to be held this year at St Paul's Cathedral. It's also a great honour to play at local events, representing the fire service and the region.

My highlights have been playing in the Remembrance Day parades in 2007 and 2009 at the Menin Gate in Ypres, Belgium. It was a privilege for the band to be invited by the Last Post Association of Belgium to take part in these ceremonies.

It was an incredibly moving experience to be standing beneath the gate at 11am on 11/11, as 55,000 poppy leaves fell from the top of the gate, to commemorate those British and Commonwealth soldiers who were killed in the Ypres Salient of the First World War and whose graves are unknown.

The next big challenge for the band is to travel to Halifax, in Nova Scotia, Canada – as guests of the Bridgewater Fire Band – to perform in a variety of concerts in the region.

This will obviously be an expensive trip for the band, so we have been fund-raising with the aim of raising as much money as possible to make the individual cost to each member a little bit lower.