Just as the prospect of an Argentina vs Germany World Cup final threatened to send the entire Favela Brass team into a state of deep depression, we’ve received some fantastic news! Longridge band, one of the oldest brass bands in the UK (dating back to 1845) based in the Ribble Valley, Lancashire, has just made an extremely generous donation of brass instruments to the project:

We are very grateful indeed to Fred Little and Longridge Band for these instruments, which take us one step closer to our dream of creating a uniquely Brazilian youth brass band in our small favela (shanty-town) in Rio de Janeiro.

We’d also like to thank David and Shelagh Richardson (Shelagh on left in photos) ever so much for making the connection between the band and our project.

As well as the instruments, the band also donated a very smart set of unused uniforms:

It’s very difficult to thank people adequately for donations of this generosity. I imagine that the best form of reward for the donors of these instruments would be to see them one day being played to a high standard by children who would never otherwise have had a chance to play a brass instrument. For that reason this donation is not just of great practical assistance, but is also an inspiration for us to do the very best we can in our work at the project.