A TWENTY-five year long tradition of inter-generation music making in Ilkley will come to an end because of new funding rules.

The award winning senior concert band of Ilkley Music Centre has been told by Education Bradford officials it can no longer continue playing with both adults and youngsters in its ranks.

Derek Smith, band member, said that the decision had brought disaster on the band, which ironically achieved its highest accolade last year when it proudly won a silver award at the Boosey and Hawkes National Wind Band Festival in Manchester.

Four years ago the Department for Education and Science (DFES) offered Government funding to local councils for the provision of music services to youngsters, including youth bands.

Mr Smith said that while Leeds and Calderdale used the funding as extra cash to provide more services and continued to provide funds from their own budget, Bradford stopped supplying money from its own coffers, relying totally on the Government grant.

In 2001, along with other education services, the music service was taken over by the private partnership company Education Bradford, which continued to distribute the DFES cash to music centres around the district.

Now members of the 24-strong band have been told that the Government money can only be used to fund bands made up entirely of youngsters. The adults will not longer be funded and they will have to quit the band.

Mr Smith said: "Education Bradford's considered reaction to these problems is to remove adults from the activities of music centres effectively ending the years of successful development of community music making.

"This draconian measure will destroy overnight the Ilkley Music Centre Concert band, which is currently over 50 per cent adult."

Mr Smith said that there would also be other effects of the move including:

l Remove the opportunity for adult beginners.

l Prevent parents from joining their children in music making.

l Reduce the range of instruments available.

l Require children to travel greater distances to enjoy senior band facilities.

l Destroy the community band to which children would naturally progress after school days

Mr Smith also said that the band would be left unable to perform properly because only adults were strong enough to achieve some of the required notes on the wind instruments.

He said: "It is now the policy of the Bradford Music Service to create a pyramid of youth bands, topped by Senior Youth Bands meeting in one central location. This will result in the siphoning off of good youth players from local music centres such as Ilkley, further weakening the provision of music making facilities for the youth of this town.

"The provision of community music making in Bradford will end in December due to the council's decision, some years ago, to axe funding from their own budget and, instead, to rely entirely on the DFES funding.

"This cannot have been their intention, but the action has had consequences which were not foreseen and which will destroy one more facet of Ilkley life."

Other mixed music centre bands will also be affected by the decision and the adults from the Ilkley band may have to merge with the adults from North Bradford Music Centre band.

Dr Graham Cox, head of music, art and sport at Education Bradford, said: "Bradford music service is funded through the DFES to support