Dinnington Colliery Band
Dinnington Colliery Band
The heyday of the band movement was several decades ago when there were around 37,000 brass and silver bands up and down the country. The number of bands has dwindled massively since then and today many of those that remain are fighting to survive. Dinnington Colliery Band is one of these. The colliery that encouraged and supported them closed in 1992 and as time passed members dwindled to just six, five of them from the same family. As for the practise room, it looks as if it has been wounded by many encounters with vandals.
The BBC has produced a programme called 'A Band for Britain' featuring Dinnington Colliery Band and their struggle to get the band back up to strength and into competition. Sue Perkins, the winner of BBC Two's 2008 classical conductors reality show, fronted the programme.
The series of four programmes follow the band through recruitment, new members, disappointment, new uniforms, a new director/conductor and back into competition. The result so impressed the record label Decca, that the band were offered a record contract worth £1 million. The advance is to be spent on a new practice room.
You can now buy the recording at Amazon. There is also a video to watch.