Real life Brassed Off as Yorkshire's Black Dyke Band aims for the stars

Siobhan Bates, principal horn player with the world-famous Black Dyke Band, practices at Black Dyke Mills, Queensbury, West Yorkshire, for this weekend's Yorkshire Regional Brass Band Championships taking place on Saturday and Sunday (7 and 8 March 2020) at Huddersfield Town Hall. Siobhan, a music student at Huddersfield University, recently won the best soloist award at UniBrass, the contest for all British universities' brass bands held at Bangor University, north Wales. The
Black Dyke Band Ð the world's most successful brass band Ð was formed in 1855 by John Foster, a manufacturer of worsted cloth at Black Dyke Mills. It has has been the champion brass band of Great Britain twenty-three times. Former guest conductors include Andre Previn, Sir Edward Heath,and Sir Paul McCartney. — Siobhan Bates, principal horn player with the world-famous Black Dyke Band, practices at Black Dyke Mills, Queensbury, West Yorkshire, for this weekend's Yorkshire Regional Brass Band Championships taking place on Saturday and Sunday (7 and 8 March 2020) at Huddersfield Town Hall. Siobhan, a music student at Huddersfield University, recently won the best soloist award at UniBrass, the contest for all British universities' brass bands held at Bangor University, north Wales. The Black Dyke Band Ð the world's most successful brass band Ð was formed in 1855 by John Foster, a manufacturer of worsted cloth at Black Dyke Mills. It has has been the champion brass band of Great Britain twenty-three times. Former guest conductors include Andre Previn, Sir Edward Heath,and Sir Paul McCartney.

There are few things more quintessentially ‘Yorkshire’ than the stirring sounds of a brass band.

From village fetes to church services – and, if you’re lucky, Christmas Eve carols in the pub – for many the tunes evoke a bygone era.

And on Saturday argulable the most celebrated brass band in the world – the Black Dyke Band – will be hoping to once again bring the Championship of the National Brass Band competition home for the 24th time.

The band, based in Queensbury, West Yorkshire, is renowned across the world for its exemplary performances.and earlier this year even played on the Pyramid Stage at Glastonbury.

Formed in 1855 around the area’s mill community, it is now recognised the world over.

Members will be led at the Championships at London’s Royal Albert Hall by principal cornet Richard Marshall, who has played with the Black Dyke Band since 2006.

It comes after they won the Yorkshire title at Huddersfield Town Hall in March.

The Royal Albert Hall has been home to the Championships since 1945.

Names that include Brighouse and Rastrick, and Grimethorpe Colliery, have also all brought the title back to the region.

The camaraderie and competition of the brass band world was most memorably portrayed in the 1996 drama Brassed Off, starring the late Pete Postlethwaite alongside Tara Fitzgerald.

And ensuring the legacy of brass is a key project for bands in the region.

With many being formed around collieries that have long since shut, there is a risk this most traditional of hobbies could die out in the region’s towns and villages.

Members of the Black Dyke Band offer lessons and work with local communities to encourage children to take up instruments – and continue the legacy of music to stir souls.