Young brass players from across the UK gathered in Bromsgrove, Worcestershire, on Saturday May 24th to attend the first ‘masterclass’ training session staged as a collaboration between the Wychavon Festival of Brass (WFB) and members of the world famous Foden’s Band. Supporting and helping to develop young brass players has long been one of the objectives of WFB in addition to staging its annual contest. Historically, WFB has held frequent training sessions of one sort or another in the past but, for various reasons, has not been able to do so for several years. Happily, 2025 has seen the reintroduction of a youth project, achieved by joining forces with Foden’s and the hope is that this collaboration will become an annual event. The masterclass was held at Bromsgrove School, familiar to many brass players who may have attended summer schools there. Facilities are excellent and allowed the Foden’s team to rehearse in break-out groups before coming together to perform on stage in the prestigious Routh Hall for parents and siblings at the end of what had been a very busy day. The Foden’s contingent was led by MD Michael Fowles and in attendance were Mark Wilkinson, Darren Lea, Jonathan Bates, Stewart Baglin and Mark Landon who each led a sectional on their chosen instrument. Playing members of the WFB joined in the sectional rehearsals and on the performance stage. Michael was clearly impressed by the concentration levels, behaviour and ability of these young players who were all sight reading some tricky pieces! The concert programme consisted of three pieces and the band, most of whom had never met before Saturday, gave a stirring rendition of the march ‘Star Lake’. This was followed by an affecting and musically sound performance of the 2020 Fourth Section test piece ‘Neverland’ – quite an achievement in such a short space of time! The final item was a rattling performance a Foden’s special--- ‘Dynamite’, arranged for band ahead of the Foden’s 2024 South Korea tour. It was clear that everyone had a fruitful and enjoyable time. Parents and children found the day entertaining and useful, Foden’s player and WFB committee members had a lot of fun. Chief organizer of the day and WFB committee member Iain Willis was delighted at the outcome. “Things could hardly have gone better’’ he said as he was packing away. Chair of WFB, Val Trim is confident that this is a collaboration that will be fruitful in years to come. ‘The future of the brass band movement lies in the hands of our young players –and we must do all we can to support them.’  Mike agreed. ‘It’s great to be involved in projects such as this—and Foden’s were delighted to be there to encourage and enthuse our young players!’

On Sunday 25th May Foden's were featured on a fabulous new programme with Hannah Peel where we performed the 'Prelude' to Wilfred Heaton's epic Partita for Band'! The programme is available to listen back via https://www.bbc.co.uk/programmes/m002cbtv