The Friends of Tameside Whit Friday Brass Band Contest Committee (FOTWFBBC) are delighted to announce a brand-new Whit Friday Brass Band Contest is coming to Hyde.
This year’s contest will start on Friday 24 May 2024 in Hyde,at the Market Place when the brilliant sound of brass will reverberate around the town. The Hyde contest will be organised by a team led by Councillor Betty Affleck and Councillor Hugh Roderick.
The Whit Band contest was founded back in the 1870’s in Stalybridge and has a long and illustrious history in Tameside but Hyde will be playing host for the first time this year.
The new “Hyde Central” contest will join sites in Droylsden,Denton, Dukinfield, Mossley, Stalybridge and Ashton who all share both a love shared heritage and the brilliance of brass, bringing the total venues involved across the borough back up to ten this year.
Cllr Hugh Roderick said of the new contest:
“We are brass band enthusiasts and local representatives of Hyde who have long harboured an ambition to bring the Whit Friday Band Contest to the town and we are grateful to the organising committee for giving us this opportunity. We have enjoyed the contest each year as attendees at venues across the Borough and we wanted to bring the excitement and tradition of a day of brass bands to the heart of Hyde.
We are also grateful for the support of local people and businesses who are helping to make the event possible, and we will be working toward making Hyde an established port of call for bands every year on Whit Friday.
We are really looking forward to putting on a festival of Brass!”
Cat Tomlinson Chair of the FOTWFBB Committee, said:
“As a committee, we are excited that there will now be a contest in Hyde, it is a fantastic addition to the current circuit of Tameside contests.
We’re sure the residents and businesses of Hyde, especially those based close to proximity of the market ground, will come together to enjoy the beloved tradition of a Whit Friday Brass Band Contest!”
For more information on the Whit Friday Band Contests herein Tameside go to
Tameside Local Studies & Archives
Heritage
Tameside Cultural Services
Portland Basin Museum