Barrow’s brass band heritage to take centre stage during Barrow Music Week
Barrow’s brass band heritage will take centre stage during a festival event bringing musicians, families and historic recordings together.
Brass Day will be held at Barrow Town Hall as part of the sixth annual Barrow Music Week, providing a dedicated celebration of the town’s long connection with brass music. The free event is designed to bring together young musicians and established bands from across Cumbria while giving local families an opportunity to experience brass instruments for themselves. Organisers hope the event will not only celebrate the past but also encourage renewed interest in brass playing among younger people.
A central feature of the day will be the opportunity for visitors to explore archive footage connected with the historic Vickers Brass Band. The band was an important part of Barrow’s musical history before folding in 2012, and its story remains closely connected with generations of local musicians and families. Visitors will also be able to listen to rare recordings through a QR code, providing an opportunity to hear performances from the town’s musical past while attending a contemporary festival event.
The event is being supported by professional trumpeter Helen Quayle, who has a particularly strong personal connection to the Vickers Brass Band. Quayle played in the band alongside her father, Jack, giving her first-hand experience of its musical tradition and the role it played within the local community. Her involvement is helping bring together the historic material, current musicians and opportunities for families to discover brass playing in an accessible setting.
Young musicians will have an important role throughout Brass Day, with developing players appearing alongside more established bands. The programme is intended to show that brass music is not simply something connected with the past, but can continue to provide opportunities for young people today. Organisers also want families to have the chance to pick up a brass instrument and experience making music themselves, potentially encouraging people who have never played before to become involved.
For Quayle, the event represents an opportunity to connect Barrow’s musical heritage with its future. She has highlighted the breadth of brass music, pointing out that it can embrace both traditional and contemporary styles. Playing as part of a group can also give young people practical musical experience while helping them develop friendships and confidence through taking part in a shared activity.
The longer-term ambition is to see interest generated by Brass Day develop beyond the festival itself. Organisers hope that introducing more young people and families to brass instruments could eventually help create the conditions for a brass band to flourish in Barrow again. The event therefore provides both a celebration of what has gone before and an opportunity to consider how the town’s brass tradition might develop in the years ahead.
Quayle said she would like to see a new generation discover brass music and build on the musical history associated with the town. Interest among young musicians is already evident, and the festival provides a platform where that interest can be brought together with experienced players and historic material. The combination of live performances, opportunities to try instruments and archive recordings is intended to make the event accessible to people with very different levels of musical experience.
Brass Day forms one part of a wider programme for Barrow Music Week, which will bring a range of musical experiences to venues around the town. The festival will run from October 7 to October 11 and will open with an opera performance at Barrow Town Hall. Its programme is intended to showcase different aspects of music while providing opportunities for residents and visitors to take part in performances, exhibitions and community activities.
The wider festival will also include a singing event involving nearly 200 primary school children, adding another strong community element to the programme. That activity sits alongside the Brass Day initiative in giving younger residents an opportunity to participate in music rather than simply attend performances. Together, the events reflect a wider programme aimed at bringing music into different parts of Barrow and involving people across generations.
The inclusion of historic recordings also gives the festival a strong local-history dimension. Rather than focusing solely on new performances, Brass Day will allow visitors to hear material connected with musicians and organisations that helped shape Barrow’s musical identity. The Vickers Brass Band archive provides a direct link between those earlier generations and the young musicians taking part in the current festival, creating an opportunity to explore how local musical traditions have changed over time.
Holding the event at Barrow Town Hall will place the brass celebration within one of the town’s established civic venues. The venue will provide a setting for musicians, families and visitors to come together while also forming part of the wider Music Week programme. With performances, archive material and hands-on opportunities included, the event is designed to offer something for people who already know the brass tradition as well as those encountering it for the first time.
Brass Day will ultimately combine live music, local history and participation in an effort to reconnect Barrow with a distinctive part of its cultural identity. The presence of young musicians alongside established performers will give the event a forward-looking element, while the Vickers recordings and archive footage will preserve a link with the town’s earlier musical life. Organisers hope that bringing those elements together can encourage more people to discover brass music and help sustain interest in the tradition for future generations.
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