HITTING the right note with the National Lottery last week Besses o'th' Barn Band found their lost chord with an Arts Lottery Fund grant of £44,061 to buy new instruments. The band was one of 11 Greater Manchester organisations - four of them bands - sharing a total of £916,895.

Besses Band, the one-time leaders in competition banding, last September took eighth place overall in the British Open Championship.

And they did it with a percentage of second-hand instruments - and dressed in uniforms that have seen better days.

Said manager Cyril Howarth, who has been instrumental in getting the cash: "The money will buy all the brass, but it won't buy the percussion. To do that we'd need around £49,000."

He added: "We will probably be using some money to buy percussion, but in any event now's the time to buy!

"Prices are very competitive at the moment. We can get around 30 per cent off."

The overall rating of Besses Band in the competition field was 15th in the country last year.

Its musicians achieved this status, says Mr Howarth, without having a full set of instruments.

"Members who can afford it have been buying their own. Others who may not have a lot of money have bought second-hand - and for competitions the band has been hiring percussion equipment."

Admitting that the Besses Band of today is a far cry from the heady days of the late 19th century when it won competitions and toured continents, Mr Howarth said the band were delighted with their grant - but still need a wealthy sponsor.

"We're in need of new uniforms," he admitted. "And with our new instruments we'll probably be looking forward to better results."

ZTo give you some idea of the cost of running a brass band, a new Tuba costs around £5,000!

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