The Felling Band
Brass Banding Excellence
In The Heart Of The North East
The Felling Band is a hard working, friendly brass band based in the centre of Gateshead, not far from the area of Felling from which the band takes its name.
The band's origins are subject to some debate amongst historians with most quoting a founding date of 1873. There are however mentions of "a Felling band" as far back as 1832 which places us as one of the oldest bands in the UK.
​
The band then performed under various names such as the Felling Chemical Works Band, the Heworth Colliery Band and the Washington Glebe Band until becoming the Felling Town Silver Band (and later just Felling Band) in 1972.
The band are a competing band and following a meteoric rise in the early 2000's they became one of the leading bands in the North East of England, with the band winning the North of England Area Championships in 2012 and subsequently competing in the National Finals in the Royal Albert Hall London for the first time in the band’s history.
Unfortunately, the subsequent years saw a steady decline in the band's fortunes with a loss of players that prevented us from competing and almost led to the demise of the band.
However, a hard core of dedicated players took the decision to fight on and after a period of re-growth in 2018 the band recommenced competing and in 2019 took our place again in the 2nd section of the North of England Championships. Thanks to the dedication and hard work of the players we were delighted to be able to claim a fantastic 3rd place at the Championships - an achievement that we would go on repeat in both 2020 and in 2022!!
As well as being a busy contesting band Felling also give a number of concerts in its native North East. The band has a strong history in fostering and nurturing local talent, especially in young players and provides a fantastic opportunity for brass players who wish to perform and contest at the highest levels both regionally and nationally.
Felling band also provide a fantastic concert programme with soloist, duets, ensembles with music for everyone with a repertoire ranging from traditional brass band music through to classical, jazz, broadway and modern pop/rock classics.