Big blow for Grimethorpe band as sponsors go bust

As the coal industry died, many began to struggle, but Grimethorpe Colliery Band appeared immune to the misfortune of many others - even becoming the inspiration for the 1996 film Brassed Off.

Every year the band travels the globe and last year it appeared at the London Olympics, but while the music played on, furious financial efforts were being made after sponsorship dried up.

Yesterday, band manager Nigel Dixon said the time had finally come to admit that even mighty Grimethorpe was now living a “hand to mouth existence” which he said “could not go on for ever”.

When Grimethorpe’s colliery closed in 1993, its then owner Richard Budge of RJB Mining agreed to continue sponsoring the band, and later incarnations of his firm, UK Coal and Powerfuel, continued the arrangement.

But when Powerfuel went into administration in 2010, the money stopped, and although the band continues to bring in cash from concerts, Mr Dixon said it faced an annual shortfall of around £30,000.

“When the company went into administration nearly two years ago that funding disappeared overnight, and there were quite a few small business putting in up to £6,000 a year,” said Mr Dixon.

“We feel that potential sponsors should be being proactive with us, but we are trying to engage with them. Our audiences last year were massive and being associated with the band could bring big rewards.

“We have approached people like Saga, because a high percentage of our audiences are 60 plus, but they just don’t get it. If it was a business we would be looking at putting it into administration.”

Mr Dixon said the band did have one individual benefactor, who wished to remain anonymous who paid for day-to-day expenses, but said even with their help and the earnings from the gruelling concert programme, things were looking grim.

He added: “We are living hand to mouth and we’re having to do a ridiculous amount of concerts in order to survive.”

As well as touring, Grimethorpe Colliery band has started an education programme with local schools in South Yorkshire, winning funding for those efforts from brass instrument manufacturer, Besson.

Last night, Barnsley East MP Michael Dugher, who represents Grimethorpe, said the financial problems faced by the band and others like it were the result of Government “snobbery”.

He said: “The current plight of the Grimethorpe Colliery Band highlights the very real financial pressures facing brass bands across the UK,” said Mr Dugher.

“Brass bands are an important part of our heritage, but when it comes to government funding and grants, they are clearly undervalued and underappreciated.

“Last year, the Royal Opera House received over £26 million in Arts Council funding and the English National Ballet received nearly £6.4 million.

“This compares to just £23,000 for the British Federation of Brass Bands. More resources are being committed but it is a drop in the ocean compared to other arts.

“Only snobbery at the heart of Whitehall can possibly explain why Brass Bands are not given the support they deserve compared to other branches of the arts. The Government must re-examine its priorities and look at how it can distribute funding more fairly.”

Mr Dixon said until more cash came from the Government or other grants, he, and people in charge of Yorkshire’s other brass bands, faced and “impossible task” in trying to make ends meet.

He added: “We are the most famous brass band in the world but a lot of the time, playing a concert costs our members money.

“But we feel that we must keep the tradition of brass banding going for future generations.”