A BRASS band has suffered a major blow in its efforts to find £40,000 to buy a whole new set of instruments.

Giggleswick and Settle Brass Band has received news that its bid for a grant for £1,000 from Craven District Council towards the cost of the instruments has been unsuccessful.

Reg Trusler, president of the band, said the news had come as a surprise, but added members still intended to put together an application for lottery funding.

The idea behind the project had been to improve the playing quality of the band by replacing all or as many as possible of the existing instruments.

Mr Trusler said that the band had then planned to release the older instruments to Settle High School to encourage the teaching of future bandsmen and women.

The band also said in its application to the council that funds for new instruments would enable it to give a better quality of concerts to local people.

Mr Trusler added: "The instruments we have are not of super quality and it is to the detriment of the players if we want to do any competing, because they are not of the standard they should be.

"When you consider that £1,000 only buys one instrument and that just part of a bigger instrument can cost up to £3,000 we are really pinning our hopes on the possibility of lottery cash coming through now."

Although the band's application for a community chest grant was turned down by Craven District Council's community development committee, Mr Trusler added that he hoped the council would help the group put together an application for lottery cash.

Mick Cartledge, service development manager for the council, said the reason the band's application had been unsuccessful was because it had not demonstrated the right qualities necessary for a community chest grant.

He said: "The community chest grants within this district are for those projects which seek to improve the economic, social or the environmental quality for Craven residents."

Mr Cartledge added: "This application was to replace existing items and was not for something new and for this type of grant we are really looking for more innovative projects."

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