Banding together: Brass Bands England

2020 has been really tough for the banding community in general. The vast majority of the people who take part in banding are amateurs, who aren't paid for the work they do. Not only has that meant that they have had a lot of strains and stresses in their working and personal lives, on top of that they've had to think about what their band situation is looking like, and how they're going to deal with the pandemic situation in their off time as well.

Because most members of the banding community are amateurs, they come under slightly different restrictions to professionals, and it took quite a long time to get to a situation where we could hold rehearsals again. Obviously [as this article goes to press] it isn't happing once again. It's been a long journey. Some organisations were able to get back together again quicker than others – those that had large, appropriate spaces to work in, for example, where they had ventilation and spacing. But lots of people who have small band rooms, or who rent from schools, have found it much harder. Some people did manage to get up and running fairly quickly when those restrictions lifted. Some people haven't managed to have a rehearsal yet, or had just got their first rehearsal in before we went into lockdown again.