Following a decade of playing in brass bands formed for particular events, musicians from the Preston area, aided by others from West Yorkshire, formed the Red Rose Brass Band in 1969. Since then this New Orleans style brass band has been heard regularly at carnivals and festivals throughout Lancashire and the surrounding Counties. In recent years the band has travelled to London to play on demonstrations, has been a frequent visitor to Birmingham to play there at The Jazz Festival and has travelled North to Edinburgh to try to prevent a local brewery from closing! Amongst the more memorable outings the  band has had, was a day playing for the National Bathtub Racing Championships, several visits to Donnington Park and much closer to home, the three parades at the 1992 Preston Guild... we are hoping for a return booking on the latter but as it is not until the year 2012, we shall have to wait and see! The band usually consists of eight players plus a Grand Marshal, but it can be enlarged to eleven players on special occasions, or reduced to six players if that is what the event demands. Weddings, Funerals, market openings, Christmas shopping have all been on the bands engagements lists over the years, but the band is most frequently seen leading the processions on field days, gals and demonstrations. The style of music played by the band can be compared to that of the brass bands of New Orleans, Louisiana and consists of a mixture of marches, rags, spirituals and both traditional and popular songs from past and present times. "All the colour and cacophony of the New Orleans Parade played by one of Britain's leading exponents" - (Birmingham International Jazz Festival Programme 1993.)