North East Midlands Brass Band Association

Welcome to the web site of the North East Midlands Brass Band Association.

Latest News

  • NEMBBA Autumn Contest Results

    Championship Section

    1. Newstead Brass (Martin Heartfield)

    Best instrumentalist: Lynden Cooper (euphonium, Newstead Brass)

    First Section

    1. The Hucknall & Linby MC Brass Band (Chris Ledger-Knapp)
    2. Thoresby Colliery Band (Luke Pallister)
    3. City of Coventry Brass (Lee Woodward)
    4. Chapeltown Silver Prize Band (Gary Hallas)

    Best instrumentalist: Karl Booker (euphonium, The Hucknall & Linby MC Brass)

    Second Section

    1. Hathern Band (Gary Wyatt)
    2. Shirebrook Miners Welfare Band (Chris Banks)
    3. Bollington Brass Band (Craig Mann)

    Best instrumentalist: Rachael Johnson (tenor horn, Bollington Brass Band)

    Third Section

    1. Long Eaton Silver Prize Band (James Dennis)
    2. The Wigston Band (Colin Jones)
    3. Whitwell Brass Band (Rob Deakin)
    4. Newark Town Band (Gary Wyatt)

    Best instrumentalist: Alison Harding (cornet, The Wigston Band)

    Fourth Section

    1. Swinton & District Excelsior Band (Stephen Hague)
    2. Matlock Band (Chris Banks)
    3. Ireland Colliery Chesterfield Band (Sarah Fellowes)
    4. Croft Silver Band (Henry Dunger)

    Best instrumentalist: Simon Challender (cornet, Ireland Colliery Chesterfield Band)

    Training Band Section

    1. Long Eaton Silver Prize Training Band (Sharon Stansfield)

    Best instrumentalist: Henry Siviter (cornet, Long Eaton Silver Prize Training Band)
    Youngest player: Rowan Nicolson, aged 9 (Long Eaton Silver Prize Training Band)

    The contest held a minute’s silence before the first and championship section results in memory of Duncan Beckley, MBE (for many years associated with Newstead Brass) and Peter Tombs (for many years associated with Thoresby Colliery Band).

    A big thank you to everybody who worked so hard to make today’s contest a success.

    • Our adjudicator Sandy Smith.
    • Our stewards and helpers: our president (and best instrumentalist in the championship section), Lynden Cooper, Mike Allcock, Lisa Balsom, Judith Beckett, Melanie Cooper, Brian Draper, Kevin Holdgate, Patricia Hope, Heather Hoy, Elaine and Daniel Nicolson, Emma Palmer, Jo Priestley, .
    • Newstead Brass for the loan of the percussion and Mark Davis who transported it to and from the venue.
    • The Long Eaton Silver Prize Band who provided the music stands for the contest.
    • Our venue, The Post Mill Centre and their staff, for hosting the contest.
    • Our bands, without whom we would not have had a contest, and all of you who came to support the bands.
  • Additional Percussion For Our Autumn Contest

    We have added a tam-tam to the percussion we are providing for our contest on Sunday 16th November. The full list of provided percussion may be viewed here.

  • Long Service & Lifetime Achievement Awards

    The site now lists all the Long Service and Lifetime Achievement Awards made by NEMBBA since 2022.

  • Final Information

    I have now issued the final information to bands competing in our contest on Sunday 16th November. Copies of all the contest documentation (apart from the draw) are on the Documents page.

  • Percussion Provided

    A list of the percussion we will be providing for our November contest has been emailed to all the band secretaries. A copy may be found on our documents page.

  • Entries Now Open For Our February Contest

    Entries are now open to our annual area test piece contest at the Post Mill Centre on Saturday/Sunday 21st and 22nd February. The second and third sections will be on the Saturday, and all the other sections on the Sunday. For further information, please see our events page. To keep within the venues fire regulations, we need to limit our sections to a maximum of ten bands. Please note that the first, second and third sections were fully subscribed very quickly last year.

    Our treasurer has requested that no entry fees be paid until after 1st December, but entry forms may be returned now to reserve your place at the contest.

  • NEMBBA Officers 2025/26

    At our recent AGM, the following officers were re-elected for the forthcoming year:

    President Lynden Cooper
    Chairman Melanie Cooper
    Vice-Chairman Brian Draper
    Administration Manager Robert Stansfield
    Assistant Administration Manager Kevin Holdgate
    Treasurer Kevin Holdgate
    Trophy Officer Jo Priestley

    The life vice-presidents of NEMBBA are Michael Allcock, Judith Beckett, Lynden Cooper, Melanie Cooper, Brian Draper, Stan Lippeatt, Marie Smith, and Sharon Stansfield.

    The AGM appointed three NEMBBA delegates to the Midlands Regional Committee:

    Michael Allcock
    Alex Gibson
    Antony Fawbert

    The NEMBBA officials on the Midlands Regional Committee are:
    Ann Street (Midlands Region Minutes Secretary)
    Robert Stansfield (Midlands Region Trophy Officer)

  • Draw and Timings for our November Contest

    I have now issued the draw and estimated timings to all the bands who have entered our contest on Sunday 16th November in The Post Mill Centre, South Normanton (bands, please do not put your draw or test piece on social media).

    If your band does not receive my email, please let me know and I will resend it.

    The estimated timings for the day are:

    9:45 a.m. Training Band (1 band)

    10:10 a.m. 4th Section (4 bands)

    11:25 a.m. Results (Training Band and 4th Sections)

    11:45 a.m. 3rd Section (5 bands)

    1:10 p.m. Results (3rd Section & Lunch)

    1:40 p.m. 2nd Section (3 bands)

    2:45 p.m. Results (2nd Section)

    3:00 p.m. 1st Section: (5 bands)

    4:45 p.m. Championship Section: (2 bands)

    5:35 p.m. Results (1st & Championship Sections)

  • Entries Closed For Our November Contest

    We have now reached our capacity of 20 bands for our open own-choice test piece contest, which is being held on Sunday 16th November 2025 at Post Mill Centre, Market Street, South Normanton DE55 2EJ and I need to close the contest to further entries. My apologies to those bands who are missing out, particularly to those bands who have supported our autumn contest over the last three years. If any bands are still interested in entering, please email me (admin@nembba.org.uk) and I will let you know if any bands withdraw.

  • NEMBBA AGM

    The North East Midlands Brass Band Association’s A.G.M. will be held from 1:30 p.m. on Sunday 19th October at Shirland Miners’ Welfare Institute, 121-123 Main Road Shirland, Alfreton DE55 6BA.

    Representatives from all brass bands within NEMBBA’s geographical area of Derbyshire, Nottinghamshire and Lincolnshire are invited to attend, together with representatives from other member bands from outside our area (bands who contested with us last February or will be contesting with us in November).

    The primary business of the A.G.M. is to receive our officer’s reports, to elect/re-elect our president, chairman, administration managers, treasurer, trophy officer, and delegates to the Midlands Area Committee, to discuss our February and November contests, and consider other contests or events which we could run. This is also an opportunity for you to make suggestions as to how NEMBBA can better support your band.

    Please share this post to anyone who may be interested in attending if they are not already members of this group (or tell them about it if they are not on Facebook). I have also emailed these details of the A.G.M. to all band secretaries for whom I have contact details.