A Morecambe street band were invited to join a special celebration of culture alongside other similar bands from across the UK.
More Music’s Baybeat Street Band and Honk Youth Street Band, run by More Music and Lancashire Music Hub, joined other performers from across the UK and around the world last weekend to take part in HONK! Bradford, a vibrant celebration of acoustic music.
The weekend-long festival formed part of Bradford City of Culture 2025, filling the city with colour, sound and joy through performances, workshops and the Big HONK!
Baybeat and Honk Youth travelled from Lancashire to take part in the three-day event, performing in venues and public spaces across Bradford before joining other performers for The Big HONK, a mass performance involving 300 musicians from around the UK and across the world.
Festival highlights for Baybeat included special community performances at The Holme Centre in Holme Wood, and Kirklands Community Centre, a city centre performance in Norfolk Gardens and spontaneous busking across the city centre culminating in The Big HONK!
Baybeat is More Music’s street band, and meet weekly, performing at local festivals in and around Morecambe as well as travelling further afield.
The inclusive and intergenerational aspects of the band enable strong connections to be made between people of different ages, and a safe, supported atmosphere makes this group unique.
Speaking after the festival, a member of Baybeat reflected on the importance of being part of such a large, international gathering, and said: “It was a brilliant weekend – full of playing, sharing food, and coming together for a massed performance we’d been preparing for over a month.
‘’It felt amazing to represent Morecambe and be part of something so big.”
Marianne Barraclough, Executive Director at More Music added “We are so proud of Baybeat, connecting people from across Lancashire, and bringing so much energy to their performances.”
If you are interested in joining Baybeat, sessions take place on Tuesday evenings at More Music in Morecambe. You can find out more by visiting the website www.moremusic.org.uk
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