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More than 5000 entries on the history, culture and life of Britain (published in 1993 by Macmillan, now out of print)
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brass bands
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Many countries have brass bands (which differ from military bands in having no woodwind instruments), but it was in Britain that a particularly strong tradition developed of amateur bands linked with places of work, particularly in Lancashire and Yorkshire. The Stalybridge Old Band, established by 1814, is usually quoted as the first brass band.
The two oldest surviving bands, both frequent winners of competitions, existed for some decades as brass-and-reed bands before dropping the woodwinds in the 1850s; they are Besses o' th' Barn (the name of a village near Manchester) and Black Dyke Mills (in Queensbury, near Bradford). These date from 1853 and 1855 respectively. The next oldest, again from near Bradford and equally well known, is the Brighouse and Rastrick (1881).
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The main annual contests are the British Open, held at Belle Vue in Manchester since 1853; and the National Championship, held from 1900 at the Crystal Palace and since 1945 in the Albert Hall. Between the wars an exceptional dominance was established by the Foden Motor Works Band, founded in 1902 at Sandbach in Cheshire. In the early 1990s one of the most successful was the Grimethorpe Colliery Band, formed in 1917; they won the Open in 1991 and the National in 1992, but the colliery itself, at Grimethorpe in Yorkshire, was closed in 1992.
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