Brass Bands England (BBE) has launched a survey to find out people's views on the current state of brass band contests.

The aim is to create a comprehensive view of its present position, to collate ideas to improve it, as well as gauge the appetite for potential change.

BBE hopes that event organisers will be able to use the information to inform, develop and ultimately improve their future events.

Questions

4BR was informed that the questions in the survey have been sourced from responses given by the brass band community following a debate concerning the purpose and structure of brass band contesting in the UK which was held at the 2019 BBE Brass Band Conference.

The following consultation process was made open to anyone in the brass band community, with Alex Parker, Relationship & Partnership Development Manager telling 4BR: "Due to the large volume of questions submitted by the community, BBE has split the survey document into several smaller survey sections to make the process of completing them less arduous.

88% of responses included questions about the National Brass Band Championships, which will form a single part of the survey on its own."

Survey club

He added: "The survey questions will be issued to participants on a weekly basis as part of a 'Survey Club'. After each survey, there will be a name drawn randomly from the participants and each winner will receive a year's free individual membership of Brass Bands England."

88% of responses included questions about the National Brass Band Championships, which will form a single part of the survey on its ownAlex Parker

Research

4BR was informed that the survey will hopefully form one of the largest pieces of research ever conducted into the activities of banding in the UK and may inform the direction of activities for years to come.

Alex said: "The aim is for as many bandspeople to take part individually so that this direction can best reflect the consensus of opinions. This is your chance to have your say on what you want in your banding going into the future!"

Take part

To take part in the survey and join the survey club, go to: https://forms.gle/UxiYb7BcC5C7PNon8