The Whitworth Vale & Healey Brass band is a North West 3rd section band located just outside of Rochdale. We perform in concerts and contests across the country throughout the year. The Whitworth Youth Band rehearses on a Wednesday night (19:30-20:30, 19:15 arrival), the band is made up of performers of a Grade 1 standard and above. The youth band often performs alongside the main band, and in October 2015 they competed at the Rochdale Town Hall in the Rochdale Brass Band Contest. In 2013 the Whitworth Band Academy was established, as part of this initiative we offer some local primary schools whole class tuition for 1 hour per week. The scheme was piloted in St Bartholomew’s C of E Primary School (Hallfold, Whitworth) where it has since returned on a number of occasions. Other local schools taking advantage of our Academy scheme include Our Lady and St Anselm’s Roman Catholic Primary School (Whitworth) and Britannia Community Primary School (Britannia). As part of the scheme we offer a (group based) beginners session on Wednesday evenings 18:00-19:00, and we offer individual lessons 19:00-20:00 (also on a Wednesday). The band is currently in a strong position in terms of players, and we look forward to seeing some of the Academy/Beginner players in the main band in years to come. If anybody is interested in booking the band or joining the band as a player, please contact our secretary Michael Whitby.