One Voice Conference: 14th June 2008
June 24, 2008
The BFBB One Voice Conference took place on Saturday, 14th June in Birmingham and delegates from all brass band associations throughout the country were invited to attend. The event was skilfully chaired by Paul Hindmarsch and over thirty delegates participated in the presentations and wide-ranging discussions.
The presentations covered a number of salient issues for brass bands and particularly focused on links with local authorities and local communities. Ian Carter from the Southern Counties Amateur Brass Band Association, Peter Fraser from the Scottish Brass Band Association and Louise Renshaw from Macclesfield Youth Band all spoke about the promising initiatives and developments in their associations and bands, while Alun F Williams of Greater Gwent Music Services and Steven Legg of Gloucester Music Services gave fascinating insights into their work and the connections that bands could make in this sector.
The evaluation forms for the conference have been handed to me and they make vary encouraging remarks, many congratulating the BFBB on running a superb event and asking for an annual seminar. I am happy to echo their sentiments. For those who attended, it was informative, thought provoking and constructive; for the BFBB, it was a successful event which should be repeated annually. A detailed report about the conference will be made available from the BFBB after further evaluation.
