Joining us

No. The band will provide all of your uniform prior to your first engagement with us. Whilst we wear a Scout uniform, it is different to your normal Scout or Guide uniform and must be kept separate. Our band uniforms will not have all of your regular badges and awards, so please don’t sew anything on yourself – we’re grateful to a small team of ‘in-house’ volunteers who sew for us to keep all our uniforms looking smart and consistent! You’ll be told beforehand about which upcoming engagements require uniform as we don’t wear it for our regular rehearsals. In addition, you’ll be provided with a blue polo top that we occasionally wear, and you’ll have the option of buying a grey band hoodie.

Yes. You must already be a member of a Scout Group or Guide Company. We generally take young people from age 8 onwards, so equivalent to Cubs or Brownies.

No. If you do, that’s great, let us know what you play and we’ll fit you in! Many of our members join the band without playing an instrument or having any musical knowledge and that’s were our team of instructors help out. We’ll guide you towards choosing your first instrument; sometimes we have to match you up based on your size (some of our instruments are very large and heavy!), but often you’ll be able to choose what you prefer. For our younger and newest members, we run the Band Training Programme (BTP). Each week, members of the BTP have dedicated sessions together where they learn some of the basics of music theory, through fun games, activities and worksheets. This is in addition to general tuition that will be provided by your instructor.

Yes. If you don’t already play an instrument (or simply want to play something different) then the band will provide your instrument, case and music. Your instructor will give you information on how to look after it, any any accessories that you might wish to purchase. Instruments are valuable and we ask that you take good care of it; not least we want to make sure that they look and sound their very best when we’re performing!

Yes. We do have a termly subscription which is currently set at £25/term, great value compared to many activities and significantly lower than music tuition! The subscription covers the costs of the hire of our rehearsal venue, instruments, music and uniform. We are fortunate to have a Parent Fundraising Team that helps to supplement our incoming by running regular fundraising events. There are occasional activities and events that necessitate additional costs, such as camps. Whilst we try to keep subscriptions low, we don’t want the cost to be prohibitive to young people joining, so please do reach out to us if you have concerns.

You’ll obviously need your instrument every week, but there are a couple of other things too:
• You must bring a folder that you can start to store your new music in; we have a big repertoire so it needs to be a folder that you can easily find things in alphabetically!
• You must bring all of your music that you’ve been given so far (in the folder above!)
• New members will probably (depending on their instrument) be given a ‘Learn As You Play’ or similar book which will be used by the instructors to teach the new instrument.
• We like all our members to have their own music stand; initially we can provide one but they make for a good birthday present! For performances, we will generally use the band’s own music stand.
• For most of our instruments, it’s possible to purchase an instrument stand. This keeps the instrument supported and safe when it’s out its stand but not being played.