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Wednesday, 10 December, 2025
Brass Bands England (BBE) has announced that its Chief Executive Officer, Kenny Crookston, will retire from the position at the end of 2025. Kenny (62), who has been working part-time for BBE since semi-retiring earlier this year, has decided to step down as CEO but will continue to represent BBE through a new advisory and advocacy role.
Kenny Crookston stated: "Having worked at the ‘sharp end’ of brass banding for over 20 years, firstly as Editor of British Bandsman magazine (2004-2018) and for almost eight years as CEO of Brass Bands England, I have decided that now is a good time to take a step back to focus more on some personal goals and those of my family. It has been a tremendous honour to lead BBE's operations and I am extremely proud of what the organisation has achieved in that time."
He added: "BBE has grown enormously since 2018, and the CEO role has become ever more demanding in many respects. I feel that now is the right time for the organisation to be reinvigorated through a new structure and fresh ideas. I offer my deepest thanks to my colleagues past and present and to Chairman Mike Kilroy and the other board members for the support they have given me as CEO. I'm very much looking forward to representing BBE in numerous ways and continuing to support brass banding through my new role."
During Kenny Crookston's tenure, BBE has grown from 181 member bands in 2018 to over 550 organisations representing more than 650 individual bands today. Much of this growth was achieved through advocacy and support during the COVID-19 pandemic of 2020-22, while the introduction of the organisation's safeguarding programme, BandSafe, which has provided a safer environment for the banding community and substantial savings in administration nationwide, has also contributed significantly to BBE’s expansion. Among other highlights, Kenny has also played key roles in the successful restructuring of the National Youth Brass Band Championships, the introduction of BBE’s Brass Foundations programme, presentation of the 2022 European Brass Band Festival and the ongoing growth of Brass in Concert which, for the past two years, has sold out during the month before the event.
BBE Chairman, Mike Kilroy, commented: "It's difficult to overstate the impact that Kenny Crookston has had on BBE and brass banding in general over recent years. 2018 was an important year for the organisation, when the introduction of executive leadership through enhanced Arts Council England funding gave us a firm platform for growth. Our expansion since then has been well beyond all our expectations and I would like to thank Kenny for his outstanding contribution, which has been pivotal in making BBE what it is today.”
Mike Kilroy added: “Brass Bands England will make further announcements in due course but, in the meantime, we are very pleased that Kenny’s knowledge and experience will be retained by the organisation and the brass banding community. I know that he will continue to give his full support to BBE, focussing on the development of new strategic networks, membership benefits and improving the visibility of brass bands across multiple channels. Many challenges lay ahead for brass banding, but as we have seen at some recent events there is also plenty to be optimistic about and BBE will continue to provide our members with the best range of services and products possible, to help to equip their bands with the tools to become more robust, sustainable, attractive to new players and creatively innovative.”