ABBA make U-turn following legal advice

Having issued a press release on October 1^st 2015 stating: "From 1st January 2016 trainee adjudicators must be 30 years of age or older” – a policy which received criticism in the pages of BBW earlier this month - the Association of Brass Band Adjudicators (AoBBA) have now issued a further press release having decided not to implement an age restriction.

The press release states: “AoBBA initially suggested that only applicants who have attained the age of 30 before admission to the Association would be considered; however, following legal advice sought in October this year, it was decided that no age restriction would be applied.”

This is positive step by AoBBA, whose new training scheme is one of a number of recent initiatives developed by the organisation demonstrating its commitment to maintain the highest standards of adjudication within its membership.

The new training scheme, due to be launched next month, is designed to allow trainee adjudicators to develop their skills alongside experienced mentors from the association, allowing the trainee to hone their assessment skills over a period of 2 years, with a minimum of six adjudication assignments in a variety of contest formats (e.g. set piece, own choice, entertainments).

Alongside this new trainee programme, 2016 will see AoBBA repeating a number of its successful projects including its Junior Adjudication Panel (a joint initiative with the Yorkshire Brass Band Association), and the popular Test Piece Workshops to be held on 14th February at the Bailiffe Bridge Community Centre in Brighouse. The highly regarded Area Test Piece Score Analyses will also be published for the 1st, 2nd, 3rd and 4th sections in the new-year.

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