Astley Youth Band’s 13 year old Flugel Horn player Kirsten Broadhurst has plenty to smile about this weekend. She’s just heard that she’s won a BBC Fame Academy Bursary for £1200 to buy a new Flugel Horn!

 

Kirsten has been learning to play brass since the age of 7. She started on cornet in Astley Youth Training Band, changing to Flugel Horn at the age of 8, when she also joined Bolton Training Brass Band. She has worked her way steadily through the grade exams, and has progressed to Principal Flugel Horn player with both Astley Youth Band and Bolton Youth Brass Band, and this summer her hard work was well rewarded when it was announced that she would be Principal Flugel Horn with the newly formed National Children’s Brass Band of Great Britain!

 

Kirsten is a year 9 pupil at St George’s R.C. High School in Walkden. Over the last 6 years she has studied Flugel Horn with Helen Minshall and Claire Chalk, and recently she has started lessons with Mark Wilkinson, Principal Cornet player with the Fodens Richardson Band. Last term Kirsten passed her Grade 7 exam with Merit, a marvellous achievement for such a young player! The new Flugel Horn could not have come at a better time for Kirsten, as the instrument which she has been playing on for the last 5 years is on its last legs. This new instrument will enable Kirsten to make progress as she prepares for her Grade 8 exam, and her audition for the National Youth Brass Band later this year.