Whilst the contesting action was taking place throughout the weekend in Oslo, the Executive Committee of EBBA was making decisions about future host venues and the make-up of the European Championships over the next few years.

B Section

The Scottish Brass Band Association gave further details of the concrete progress they have made for the 2014 event in Perth, confirming their ability to hold the B Section if required.

At the EBBA Press Conference (above) it was announced that bands from Germany, Italy, Austria and Northern Ireland had expressed interest in attending a B Section contest next year.

SBBA also confirmed its intention to run a European Youth Brass Band Championship in conjunction with the main Championship and 7th European Solo Contest.

EBBA organise

EBBA itself will organise and underwrite the 2015 event in Freiburg in Germany, with Lille in France taking on the responsibility of hosting the 2016 Championships.

The European event will return to Ostende in Belgium in 2017, whilst Utrecht in Holland will provide the host venue in 2018. It is hoped that Palanga in Lithuania will be able to hold the event to coincide with its status as European Capital of Culture in 2019.

The question of possible ‘composite’ representative bands was also a matter for national representative bodies to clearly define and rule upon4BR

No registration policy

EBBA also confirmed that it has no plans to initiate a European wide registration policy for players. It was stated that registration issues were the responsibility of member nations.

The question of possible ‘composite’ representative bands was also a matter for national representative bodies to clearly define and rule upon.

EBBA also stated it had no intention to rule upon the thorny question of players performing with more than one band in separate National qualification competitions.

Modernise

Seeking future European Union funding streams to help with EBBA running costs and development was not currently on their ‘to do’ list following the rejection of its application a few years ago, but it was announced that a process of modernisation of the current EBBA framework and structure was being undertaken.