Swinton and District Excelsior brass band is part of a national initiative launched by Brass Bands England to save the many UK brass bands who are struggling to survive through the COVID-19 pandemic. Brass bands are at the heart of their local community, and many risk disappearing altogether without your help. 

We have our own band room which means our summer concerts pay all our ‘normal’ bills. Now with going into another national lockdown just six weeks into restarting rehearsals it now means our other biggest earner Christmas playing is also in jeopardy. We are asking for our local surrounding areas to help us raise the money to #saveourbrassband. To do this we are asking for donations or buying a reward from the rewards section.

Swinton band is a family band, the band formed in 1936 by a group of ex-bandsmen who lived in the village and wished to resume their musical activities. Since then the band has grown and progressed hugely throughout the last 79 years! We currently have around 30 members in our main band, as well as 20 plus training band members. 

The ages in our band range from 7-87. The band offers free lessons and instrument loan, so our only income is from concerts, Christmas and donations. 

Unfortunately due to the current pandemic the band has not performed in the 2020 concert season, our rehearsing came to an abrupt stop when we were actually on the bus on the way to our area competition in Durham on the 15th March. 

Why are we crowdfunding?

Our brass band risks not being able to continue because to be COVID safe we can't use our own band room, so while paying all the day to day bills there we are also paying out weekly to use a local venue to accommodate the Main band and a different one with multiple rooms to be able to teach our training band.      

Your donations will be used to secure our future and make it possible for us to be able to get back to our own band room in hopefully the not so distant future. 

To be able to resume rehearsals in our band room we will need to make the venue COVID secure as it is not big enough to socially distance. 

We don't want to be another COVID statistic and we hope to be able to be back in full flow providing our community with entertainment very soon!

About Swinton and District Excelsior band

Swinton and District Excelsior band is a 3rd section brass band, we are based near Malton between York and Scarborough. We perform concerts throughout the year all over North Yorkshire, from Filey to Pocklington to Easington. Performing for many different reasons. We do Sunday afternoon concerts throughout the summer season as well as private events, dog shows, a local march competition in Easingwold and other entertainment competitions. We also support remembrance day yearly in Helmsley and this means a lot to every band member.

Swinton band are also a very social band, we go out for regular meals, days out at the beach and cinema trips (cheeky pub visits too!!) 

The band has grown from strength to strength over the past years and we don't want to see all our hard work gone to waste by this pandemic, we want to keep providing our local community with entertainment for years to come as well as keep providing teaching and keep the brass banding community very much alive. 

Since restarting rehearsals we have appointed a new conductor, we are looking forward to working with Pete when it is safe to do so. We hope to see you all in the not so distant future. 

Thank you for your continuous support and we hope that you find something on this page to take your fancy! 

About Save Our Brass Bands

Brass bands exist in every corner of the UK, with over 30,000 people of all ages and standards taking part in weekly activity – rehearsing, performing and providing entertainment for their local community.

But we risk losing this forever!!

Brass Bands saw their main source of income disappear in an instant when they ceased being able to perform in March in response to the Covid-19 pandemic. 

Months later, we still don’t know when normal performances will be able to take place. A significant loss in income over the Summer months, paired with necessary expenditure needed to make rehearsal spaces Covid compliant means that many Brass Bands are in a perilous financial situation.

Without urgent support, we could lose our nation’s amazing Brass Bands. Please help us to make sure they survive this crisis and will be there to be enjoyed by future generations.

#SaveOurBrassBands

Please donate, share this page widely and do what you can to help us to make sure our Brass Bands survive this crisis.