Halifax Minster recently hosted its Youth Band Festival in association with Elland Silver Band.

It saw eight training and youth bands from across the region perform 12-minute own choice programmes, showcasing their talents before joining together for a spectacular massed band finale.

Great success

The event was hailed as a great success, with the bands giving outstanding performances showcasing their abilities in full.

A spokesperson told 4BR: "This inclusive, non-competitive event, encouraged all levels of music making, providing an opportunity to gain performance experience and simply enjoy playing in a great venue.

Children as young as 6 years old performed with their individual bands and the massed ensemble, providing a unique experience. The inclusivity of the festival also encouraged adults, alumni and peers to sit in with bands to mentor and support young performers."

Taking part

Taking part were Elland Silver Starter, Training & Youth Bands, Dobcross Training & Youth Band from Saddleworth, Red Admiral Youth Band from Mawdesley, Shepherd Youth Band from York and the National Youth Brass Band of Great Britain Ambassador Ensemble.

The event also received a £4,000 'Culturedale' enhancement grant to help raise its profile and outreach to grassroots musicians.

New work

Composer Nick Brocklehurst was commissioned to write 'Band Together' to perform in the massed band finale. It took its inspiration from musical theatre and popular culture and proved to be a great audience pleaser.

Next Step Films filmed the event for their on-demand service NXTOD and a film about the festival and its wide-ranging benefits. It can be enjoyed at: www.nxtod.com

Funding also provided the opportunity for a young professional to work on an Arts project, with Hollie Wright, a media student at Salford University adding her skills with branding and social media. The media page for the Festival has now reached over 55,000 views.

Volunteers from Elland Silver Community Band and Halifax Minster were also on hand to steward the event and serve refreshments.

All the bands were outstanding, and a real showcase of the amazing work which is being delivered at grassroots levelSamantha Harrison

Huge success

Speaking about the success of the event, Samantha Harrison, Festival organiser and Elland Youth Band Musical Director told 4BR: "This year's festival was a huge success. All the bands were outstanding, and a real showcase of the amazing work which is being delivered at grassroots level.

The additional funding has enabled us to build on the foundations of this event, and to celebrate all that is good about music making. I encourage all bands to do this and get involved with bringing musicians together.

'Band Together' is the perfect piece to do this, and I'd love to see this go viral."