Award #20 - tMP Special Award for Outstanding Contribution to the Brass Band Movement

[Di]

Winner of Award #20
Outstanding Contribution to the Brass Band Movement

[imgleft]http://www.themouthpiece.com/images/awards07/5awards.jpg[/imgleft]​

Back in December we announced the winners of the tMP 5 Year Live Awards. These were the winners nominated and voted for by you, our members. As you will now know from previous years, there is one more award, The tMP Special Award for Outstanding Contribution to the Brass Band Movement. The recipient of this award is selected by the tMP Team.

The winner of the Third Special Award for Outstanding Contribution to the Brass Band Movement is:

Gavin Holman - Owner of "IBEW"

[imgleft]http://www.themouthpiece.com/images/awards07/Gavin.jpg[/imgleft]​

The IBEW started ten years ago as a set of links on the Harrogate Band website. In those early days there were few brass bands on the web, nor were there many other organisations. That soon changed and the IBEW grew to reflect the rapid increase of websites.

IBEW has two main aims. To host comprehensive references to brass band and other brass related online resouces; and to collate information about the history of brass bands over the last 170 years or so. The latter gives access to both original information and references and links to external sources, e.g. other websites and archives/collections. So much of the history of brass bands has been lost or never recorded, and the IBEW is one way to pull together fragmentary and isolated snippets of information that still exist into a resource that is available to all, online.

A number of services have evolved for the use of bands and individuals, including an events diary, vacancies listing, genealogical queries, personal contacts as well as providing access to over 1,000 UK brass bands and many other websites. The reference side of the IBEW has concentrated on historical material, which includes some 2,500 extinct bands, 3,300 recordings, 1,500 books and articles and 6,000 vintage band pictures.

Many people have contributed material and suggestions to the IBEW over the years, without whose help it would be a much poorer resource - my thanks to them all.

Gavin is the IT infrastructure manager at the British Library - an ideal job for someone who loves books and computers. His other interests include vintage paperbacks (Penguins, Pans etc.), the English language (logophilia and wordplay), mathematics and, of course, brass bands. He plays Eb Bass with the Harrogate Band and is passionate about the history of the brass band movement, particularly with finding ways to preserve the known history and search out the unknown. Gavin live in Arkendale with his long-suffering wife and two daughters who sadly, or sensibly, have eschewed brass instruments for woodwinds!

I wrote to Gavin earlier in the week to give him this news, his response was "I am always very pleased to get feedback and to hear when the IBEW has been useful - I suspect this comes into that category!" Please join us in congratulating Gavin for his drive an commitment in maintaining and developing such a worthwhile resource'

 

[DublinBass]

What a deserving person for the award!

Congrats Gavin!

 

[andywooler]

Congratulations Gavin, well deserved!

Gavin was one of the pioneers on the web in the days long before tMp - the IBEW has always been a key provider of traffic to my various sites over the years

 

[a very flat b]

Very well done.

I've refered to the IBEW many times.

 

[Brasspenguin]

Thank you!

Many thanks to all at TMP for this award - "dead chuffed" would sum up my feelings!

In true Oscars style (do you remember the short-lived Brass Oscars of the late 1990s?) I must acknowledge everyone who has contributed to the IBEW by submitting details, correcting errors, suggesting new items, and being a great crowd of people. One of the delights of the IBEW is encountering so many people from all over the world, all of whom have an interest in bands in some form or other.

Our prime objective is to make great music and enjoy ourselves while we're doing it - but there is a whole world of other stuff that makes up the brass band movement as well, and I like to think the IBEW, together with TMP and 4barsrest and all the dedicated webmeisters in bands around the world, has played a small part in keeping the movement relevant to the 21st century.

Gavin

 

[andywooler]

In true Oscars style (do you remember the short-lived Brass Oscars of the late 1990s?)

Intdeed I do!! For those that weren't around on the net in those days, I ran what was then called the oscars until the real Academy's solicitor kindly advised me to remove all reference to their trademark. It was renamed the "Harry's" for one year (after HM of course) but that didn't have the same feel about it.

 

[Brass Band]

Well done on the recent award.

good luck for the next 5+ years