June 2025 - June 2026 Supported with funding from Awards for All

Local Heroes is a project which transforms individual skills into community assets.

Funded by Awards for All, we started this programme in July 2025 with six particpants who were keen to gain new skills that will benefit local communities. Since then, we have embarked on a number of assignments specially designed to help our Heroes build the confidence to deliver community activities. By the end of the year, all of those enroled will finish with a portfolio of achievments and qualifications that will allow them to feel ready to step up and bring creative activities to communites across the Eden Valley and beyond.

Mental Health

Last summer our heroes all completed Tabby Kerwin’s Perform mental health training course with a focus on well being in community music groups. This involved important discussions around how we can spot when someone in our groups might be struggling and how we can support people’s diffrent mental health needs so they can flourish in our creative sessions. Local Hero Cassie created “My Band and Me” a mental health resouce for brass bands which included a poster designed to be hung in our rehearsal spaces sign posting how members can access help and support and detailing each bands comitment to the well being of it’s members.

Summer Sessions

Over the Summer holidays of 2025 Julie, Raven, Sandra, Kath and Cassie led a series of music making sessions for young people across Barrow in Furness. Part of the “Playcations” project the team spent two weeks in various locations around the town. Armed with our plastic instruments we led vibrant have-a-go work shops which saw young people picking up trombones and cornets and forming instant brass bands. This inititive allowed our participants to gain invaluable skills in leading groups of young people in music making. These skills have since proved to be useful in other parts of the project.

School Sessions

Raven and Kath have been putting the skills they learned over the summer sessions to great use in our local schools. They are now both able to lead lessons and have been doing just that for a full term in four different schools where they have been delivering Drum and Brass’s six week BAND! programme.

Conducting Course

Led by Julie, some of the Heroes attended a course on conducting for community ensembles.

Safeguarding Training

A highly important aspect of our Local Heroes program was taking part in safeguarding training, meaning we are all now trained to spot and handle any wellbeing or welfare issues that might arise in our groups. The training comes with a certificate from Brass Bands England.

Band Weekender

As part of the delivery side of our project, the Heroes organised and delivered a “Brass Band Weekender” in which members of bands from across Cumbria gathered in Kirkby Stephen to put together a “concert in a weekend”. Julie hosted a discussion on mental health in bands during the weekend. This was inspired by Cassie’s “My Band and Me” mental health initiative.

Inclusive Prcatice Training

Our heroes have all taken part in incusion and diversity training which saw them leading importnat discussions around things such as uncouscience bias and privilege. Invaluable lessons for anyone who wants to lead community groups.

Individual Achievments

The programme has seen Chloe move into a mentoring role in her local community band, helping other players on their musical journey. Heather has used the confidence gained from the programme to take up the challenge of playing soprano cornet in her local band.

Cassie and Chloe