Shirley Woodward has a long history of brass band administration. Currently she holds down the posts of General Secretary of the North West Area Brass Bands Association and Chairman of the North West Regional Championships, offices which she has held for more than twenty years. Her organisational skills have been used over those years to take charge of many contests and banding events. She highlights the provision of a band of 300 players for the closing ceremony of the Manchester Commonwealth Games as one of her special memories. They all got wet through, but it was an event of a lifetime! She believes that banding helps us all to meet and work with a wide range of interesting people from all walks of life and that there cannot be any better way for young people to enjoy making new friends whilst learning skills which will last them a lifetime.
Coming from a background of education, her interest in supporting and protecting young people in banding led her to join up with Gary Walczak and Heidi Bradley in developing what has now become the basis for the BBE’s Child Protection Policy embodied in the ‘Bandsafe’ initiative.
She has a strong belief in the necessity of a robust central body to represent our bands when building up relationships with national bodies and governmental departments. She believes that the role of Brass Bands England in providing help, advice and support to our bands is crucial to the future development of brass banding, in particular its role in helping to influence new legislation which may impact on all our banding lives.