The Manchester District of the NWABBA recently held a Training Day in co-operation with the Fodens (Richardson) Band, just one week after they had been crowned North West Regional Champions for a record 15th time.

Coaching team

The event took place at the Hollingworth Business and Enterprise College at Milnrow, near Rochdale, where over eighty players from the North West Association bands enjoyed a day of coaching and playing under the guidance of Mark Wilkinson, Glyn Williams, Sheona White, Les Neish, Anna Hughes, Simon Minshall and Ben Coombs.

At 4pm over 80 happy and enthusiastic players left the College with only one popular request — "When will the next one be?"4BR

Masterclass

The day started off with each section tutor holding a masterclass for their respective instruments before splitting the players into two bands.

One band held a full rehearsal on the test piece ‘Indian Summer’ under the guidance of Gareth Westwood whilst the other band had sectional rehearsals on ‘Dimensions.’ After lunch Gareth rehearsed Dimensions whilst sectional rehearsals took place on Indian Summer.

Grand performance

The day ended with both groups giving a grand performance of their pieces.

At 4pm over 80 happy and enthusiastic players left the College with only one popular request — "When will the next one be?" And for an Association concerned with the future progress of its member bands, that's all they wanted to hear.