On Saturday October 19th D+B directors Julie and Davina visited the very favourably situated City of London School (it’s for boys so no need to specify, there is also a City of London School for Girls – that IS specified!). I’m digressing. It’s by the Thames at one end of the Millennium Bridge. Very nice.

We were at the Brass Bands England conference 2025 – “Creative Communities”. This was a fun event with a great presentation by Shri Sriram on how he worked with a brass band on his own composition “Just a Vibration” in 2015.

Julie spoke on a panel about fundraising led by D+B colleague Beth Lambert.

She argues that brass bands deliver an amazing service but it goes often unseen in a busy and competitive sector. Without extra capacity i.e. time and money, they cannot compete in today’s digital-heavy, bling-focussed I-want-it-all-now environment. Like sport, you just got to stick at learning an instrument. It doesn’t just happen. But the journey is the joy and the rewards are life-long