Brass Bands

I was upset to hear on the radio that Grimethorpe Colliery Band may soon cease to exist. The band, formed in 1917, is no longer being sponsored by UK Coal (they felt it was an unethical use of funds when they are facing large scale redundancies) and, if £50-60,000 a year in sponsorship is not found then...there will be more scrap metal in the area!

I'm not really sure why I felt sad about it. I am not particularly a fan of brass bands - the music is pleasant and inoffensive but often somewhat "amateurish". The band featured in the movie 'Brassed Off' which I enjoyed, but not that much. I have mixed feelings about the sort of post-Victorian philanthropy that led to the band's formation (lets send a bunch of men down underground to risk life and limb and to make them not worry so much about it we'll provide libraries, music lessons and art groups); it always seems patronising.

Maybe I'm upset because they seemed to always be there. I remember hearing them play on my dad's car radio when I was very young. Some of their members performed on a Kate Rusby song I quite like. I guess I didn't think they'd ever not be there (much like my father's generation thought coal-mining would always be a major UK industry!). It seems that within my lifetime it has become impossible to think that anything will last forever. maybe that has always been true, but the emphasis in our society now seems to be on disposability. Or, as Terry Wogan might say, "...is it just me?"