Garforth Brass in tune with community’s musical education needs thanks to wind farm fund backing

A West Yorkshire community brass band is opening up new opportunities for local people to learn and play with the help of a four-figure grant from a local wind farm’s community benefits fund.

Garforth Brass set up a dedicated training band ten years ago to help tackle a gradual decline in numbers that has followed from musical education becoming less of a priority in the school system.

The training band offers free instrument loans and tuition, and is open to people of all ages who want to learn how to play a brass instrument, to develop their playing to a higher standard or to take up an instrument once again that they previously played.

A £1,000 grant from the community benefits fund linked to the Hook Moor Wind Farm has now covered the cost of hiring the room in which the training band practices every Wednesday evening for a full year.

And it is now encouraging people of all ages who think they’d like to join the training band to come along and give it a go.

The grant will also pay for new pieces of sheet music that will help to keep the band’s repertoire fresh, as well as some new music stands and marching lyres, which are needed to hold music in place when the band is playing while walking.

The training band currently has around 20 members and performs occasional community concerts to help to raise money to cover its costs, with a number of its players going on to feature in Garforth Brass’s competition band.

The community benefits fund linked to the Hook Moor Wind Farm, which is owned by leading independent renewable energy producer ERG and managed by OnPath Energy, provides around £11,000 of funding for local good causes every year.

The fund operates in line with ERG’s ESG Plan objective of fostering shared value and supporting the sustainable development of the local communities hosting its renewable assets.

Garforth Brass treasurer Janet Lymath says: “Brass bands are a big part of Yorkshire’s heritage, especially in relation to our former mining villages, but there are far fewer opportunities available in schools and elsewhere for people to learn how to play brass instruments – and if there aren’t enough musicians, there’ll be no more brass bands.

“Our training band is part of working to keep this legacy alive, both in terms of helping musicians progress to the standard required for our competition band and also for enjoying playing and performing with other people just for the joy that it brings.

“We’ve been successfully building our numbers up, and while most of our training band members are young people, we’re also very much open to new adult members as well, whether or not they’ve played a brass instrument previously.

“Our experienced players provide group tuition and mentorship for new members, and we’ve already seen some of our training band members going on to take key roles in our competition band.

“Having the funding in place to cover our room hire costs for a full year enables us to plan ahead with confidence and we’re really grateful to have had this backing from the Hook Moor Wind Farm Fund.”

Local groups that have benefitted from previous Fund grants include Aberford & District Parish Council, the Micklefield Regeneration Partnership, Parlington Angling Club, St Mary the Virgin Church in Micklefield and the Aberford Literature Festival.

Melissa Falconer, Head of Business Development UK of ERG, says: “In acquiring the Hook Moor Wind Farm, ERG has embraced the responsibility of upholding all commitments to ensure that the site remains both a producer of clean energy and a trusted “Good Neighbour” to the local community.

“This means more than just providing support; it is about genuine alignment of values. For the Group, being part of this landscape means looking after it, from supporting community organisations like Garforth Brass to caring for the wider environment.

“ERG views the Wind Farm not just as an infrastructure, but as a “shared asset” held between the company and the community; a collaborative resource designed to foster a sustainable future where clean energy production and the preservation of rural heritage go hand in hand.”

Tom Chaplin, partnership and community manager at OnPath Energy, adds: “Garforth Brass is making a brilliant contribution to musical education within its community and the excellent results of their approach can be clearly seen, as well as heard.”

Eligibility for the Hook Moor Wind Farm community benefits fund is normally restricted to projects and activities within the parishes of Aberford and Micklefield, but projects outside these areas, such as Garforth Brass, may also be eligible if they can be shown to benefit people living within them.

Environmental and community projects which are interested in applying to the fund should first contact the fund manager via [email protected] or on 0191 378 6342 to confirm that their group or project is eligible.