the cooperation band | |
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| Background information | |
| Also known as |
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| Origin | Glasgow, Scotland |
| Genres | British brass band |
| Years active | 1918––present |
| Labels | Doyen |
| Website | www |
The Cooperation Band (stylised as the cooperation band) is a British brass band based in Glasgow. It has won the Scottish brass band championship a record 36 times, and the National Brass Band Championships of Great Britain twice. [1]
The band was formed in 1918 as the Scottish Co-operative Wholesale Society (SCWS) band, originally drawing its players from the SCWS tobacco factories in Glasgow. It continued to receive sponsorship from the Co-operative Group, adopting a number of names relating to the group's business, most recently the Co-operative Funeralcare Band [2] from 2009 until 2019. [1]
As the CWS (Glasgow) Band, they won the National Brass Band Championships of Great Britain in 1990, and repeated this feat in 1996. [1]
In 2018, it was announced that the Co-operative Group would withdraw its sponsorship, [3] and the band's future seemed in doubt. However, a new sponsorship deal was arranged with Scotmid cooperative society, which brought with it a new name of "the cooperation band". [4]
In 2024, the cooperation band appointed Katrina Marzella-Wheeler as their Principal Conductor, the first woman to hold this position in the band's history. [5]