The plight of the brass band movement during the current Coronavirus pandemic in the UK continues to attract the attention of the national media, with Talkradio, the sister station to the popular Talksport station, the latest media outlet to provide a feature item.

Steered away

Presenter Mike Graham interviewed Mark Wilkinson, Band Manager and principal cornet of Foden's Band, who rather neatly steered him away from any notions of stereotype perceptions and misunderstandings about the challenges brass bands faced at the current time.

During the 10 minute feature interview, the presenter was obviously sympathetic to the plight of bands, although he was also rather misinformed in some of his off the cuff assumptions — quoting the figure of "400 alone apparently in Yorkshire".

He was keen however to say that he was a big fan and that he understood that, "it was crisis time in the brass band world"and that he thought there was "a silent, pretty huge majority of brass band fans in this country".

Actual

Mark was able to point out that the lack of rehearsals, concert appearances and the cost of making rehearsal rooms Covid-19 compliant had hit all bands hard and that the actual demographic of members, including his own, was not what Mike possibly perceived.

Optimistic

When asked when he thought Foden's would be back on the road, Mark gave an optimistic, but realistic assessment of "perhaps May"- but it may take them longer to get up to what Mike suggested was "a premier sound again"despite leading the way with their popular multi-media approach.

Mark was able to point out that the lack of rehearsals, concert appearances and the cost of making rehearsal rooms Covid-19 compliant had hit all bands hard4BR

Enjoy

The feature can be enjoyed on the programme at around 1.19 mins at: https://mail.google.com/mail/u/0/?shva=1#inbox/FMfcgxwKkbdkcqqHFFVVjNTzcCCxKbKl?projector=1