Hello out there. At a recent committee meeting we were discussing the thorny issue of weekly subs. We are currently a 3rd Section (4th in January) village band with quite a healthy membership and receive no sponsorship. Currently adult members pay £1 a week, young people still at school 50p a week and students have free membership. These subs obviously include the loan of an instrument and we practice twice a week. We would like to raise the level of subs but it would be helpful to have some idea about the subs that other bands pay. Any advice would be gratefully received Peter1608brass (Chairman Audley Brass)
in brid band the adult members currently pay £40 per year towards the hire of the practice room. not played in any other band that pays subs. sorry i can't be more help
We Pay subs. We have our own centrally heated band room and adults pay £1.50 per wk. That covers all our yearly outgoings for the upkeep and maintenance of our band room, but we recently decided to up our subs to £2 per week per adult and this will cover the cost of the 4 coaches that we usually use each year. Any other coaches will be paid for as and when we use them. Mine and my partners subs are paid in by standing order so I'll wait to be corrected if my memory of what we pay is incorrect.
Does somebody really go round and collect £1 off everybody every week? Sounds like a lot of time wasted when you could be rehearsing. We pay £50 once a year but we do have real problems collecting it.
Our members at Boxted pay (until the AGM in January where it is reviewed each year, but hasn't changed for a number of years) £15 a year and those entitled to a reduced rate, £10, which covers all costs for the year. We are very lucky in that the Methodist Church (or Chapel as they call it down here) accepts a donation for our use of the band room which has recently been overhauled at a cost of £20K, paid for by a few years of carol playing and a hefty contribution from the church. I know other bands in this area pay various subs, some pay none. The idea I like is one band put a tub on the side and people can choose whether to put anything in or not. Generally people put their loose change in, which doesn't sound much, but if you have 25 people throwing in loose change it all helps. They also raise money from a "tuck shop" each rehearsal.
We are required to pay £17.50 a month. Just about covers cost of rehearsal venues, new music purchased during the year, MD's fees, contest entries etc.
Doesn't this thread just show up the huge difference between self supporting subscription bands who "Pay to play", and sponsored bands where players are actually paid "Expenses" to turn up ? It's all Brass Banding, but worlds apart. - Wilkie
We don't pay subs at our band and I personally wouldn't pay. Thats the reason perhaps why we do alot of concerts. Maybe we are lucky that we have our own bandroom and that we don't contest alot.
Well, no. Everyone pays subs at our band, but we also pay expenses to those who travel more than 10 miles. We aren't sponsored, but we do pay expenses.
Well I play for 2 local bands, my contesting village 4th section band put subs up from £1 to £2 and did it over a 50 week year so thats £100 a year. This was to cover the fact that we added an extra rehersal night (now twice weekly). Obviously some people agreed and others did not, but its was a full band vote. The other band I play for is complete oposite as they do not have subs at all. Luckily for them they have free rehersal venue and council funding. So every band is differnt, but as i have noticed some people are shocked at any band paying £2 a week while others feel it should be more. Persoanlly i think any village / lower section band charging more than £2 a week is too much but i suppose it depends on circumstances. alks
I think our subs are now £2.50 a week, less for younger players. You can either pay each week, or get it straight out of your account at the end of the month... or do what I do pay a big sum after a few months. The reason the subs are this high is because our band hall is quite expensive... even though it has seen better days. We are currently looking for a band hall which is far more suitable in location and rent.
Wow. that sounds a heck of a lot of cash to pay out on a monthly basis, £210 a year.. Of the bands I have played with subs have varied from nothing, to around £75 per year normally by standing order.
At Battle (4th section band), we have free use of a rehearsal room and we pay £50 a year but students / under 18s pay £25 a year. About half the band are under 18. At Uckfield (3rd section band), there are no subs but there is a weekly raffle and people buy a strip of tickets for a pound each week if they want. Prizes are things like bottles of wines or boxes of chocolates. Once, the prize was some windscreen wash!
We pay subs and its about £110 a year. The question one has to ask themselves is if you were involved in any other club or organisation what would you pay for that. Bands are no different. If you are in a Golf club the green fees are about £450 a year for a modest club; Gym membership, about £35 a month. The list goes on. More and more these days we are expected to pay for our leisure activities, and why not. Without our subs money, which is a fraction of the annual running costs, the band would find it very difficult to compete.
£110 a year to turn up and get me shouting at you??? Cheap at half the price...................................
Thats a valid arguement, apart from you go to the gym or golf club when you want to - at band you are obliged to attened as regularly as possible. You are also expected to put other personal interests aside to attend engagements. Doesn't a pay to play policy equate to a play when you want policy? My issue with subs is this. If you are committed, you turn up regularly, you load the band bus etc, then you have to pay to play. Come every now and again "doing the band a favour" then you don't pay. Also, does the MD give any more committment than the bands leading members - and yet the band actually pays him. Serious double standards are an obvious source of argument. Isn't the fact of the matter that most bands pay subs so as they can spend all year doing contests, rather than putting extra work into concert material, getting some extra jobs as a result and earning some cash. If bands put on bteer public concerts we might even attarct more people to be involved with us, then we'd perhaps have a few more full bands, less use of deps and less need to pays subs that the bands pass on to deps.
We pay subs of £15 a month (its a different amount for couples I think, and free for children/students and the unemployed).... Just as an aside, if you are paying subs to a band which is a registered charity, you can claim 'Giftaid' from the government, which is some sort of tax refund on the donation. We did it last year, and it was backdated quite a long way and was a substantial amount of money. Worth doing.
