The Wychavon Festival of Brass was born out of an idea by The Vale of Evesham Tourism Association. They wanted to provide great Brass Band music in Evesham, Worcestershire. They decided to hold a Brass Band Entertainment Contest that would help the development of local bands and bring great Brass Band music to the notice of the people of Worcestershire.

The Wychavon District Council backed the idea and has been very supportive throughout the development of the Festival.

The first contest was held in Evesham in 1990 and took place in the Market Square and All Saints Church. It was a beautiful day, 18 bands performed and many Evesham people still wish that we could hold the contest in the centre of Evesham.

The District Council wanted everybody in the District to enjoy the music so we agreed that the contest would move around the three towns of Wychavon,  Evesham, Pershore and Droitwich.

During this period Brass Band music has developed considerably within the District with the Pershore Midsummer Brass’ spectacular event, sadly this event has now ceased, Sunday afternoon concerts in Abbey Park, Evesham, Millennium concerts in all three towns and Sunday concerts in Droitwich Spa.

At the end of 2004 we suffered a sad blow when our founder, Roger Spragg, died. However, as he wanted, we continued and were determined to be better than ever.

We now hold our contest in Pershore and Evesham. In 2005 we returned to the town centre of Pershore, which improved the quality of our halls. The new No. 8 Arts Centre was used together with the better halls in the High School.

In 2006 we completed the cycle by returning to the Market Place in Evesham where we started in 1990. All Saints Church remains the best venue for listening to great brass band music  and this was complimented by having The Public Hall and The Evesham Workingmen’s Club. The town enjoyed a busy day with brass band players packing the local hostelries.

In 2003 we held our first event for young musicians. In partnership with Worcestershire Youth Music we held a series of workshops and master classes at Evesham High School. This continued in Droitwich in 2004 with even more students and in 2006 we ventured to a new venue in Worcester. We are determined that all young musicians in Worcestershire shall have the chance to play wonderful brass band music.

2009 saw the Wychavon Festival of Brass return once more to Droitwich Spa town centre facing new challenges in the use of the Norbury Theatre. It proved a great success and we hope to return in 2012.

In 2010 we returned to Evesham for the 21st birthday celebrations, but the Public Hall had closed so we ran the event over two days. This was an advantage because we used All Saints Church all day on the Saturday and for the first time the contest was recorded by Chorum Recordings.

2011 was our most ambitious event to date when we hired the No. 8 Arts Centre in Pershore for two days, the most modern theatre in the area, to bring the event into the centre of Pershore. This was an artistic success, but not a financial success.

In 2012 we continue to experiment and in this year we combine with the prestigious Salt Festival in Droitwich Spa to provide a bigger festival for the town.