About the Felling Band
Find out more about the Felling Band, past and present
The Felling Band proudly competes in the 2nd Section and actively participates in various performances across the North East. With weekly rehearsals, the band is dedicated to sharing the joy of brass band music within the Gateshead area.
As a registered charity in England and Wales (reg. no. 1128512), our mission is to educate and engage the local community about the rich tradition and art of brass banding. There are many ways you can support the band, from attending our concerts in the North East, to donating, please get in touch if you are interested.
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.
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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.
