Jay Mildren – director of Jersey Premier Brass – will be doing his first skydive next month in order to raise funds to help the brass ensemble travel to the UK to take part in the National Brass Band Championships of Great Britain. He spoke to TOM OGG
14,000 feet with a parachute strapped to their back. Often it is simply for the thrill of doing so. Equally as often it is in support of a charitable cause.
In the case of Jay Mildren, however, it is for an altogether more unique purpose: to raise funds so that Jersey Premier Brass can travel to the UK and take part in the finals of the National Brass Band Championships of Great Britain.
Held on Saturday 19 and Sunday 20 September, the prestigious event will see the Jersey-based ensemble representing the Island – and the London and southern counties as a whole – on the stage of the Barbican Theatre in York.
“There are 25 bass players, four percussion [players] and then myself, so 30 people in total,” says Jersey-born Jay, chatting in-between rehearsals at the Jersey Young Farmers Club in Trinity.
“I would estimate that we need to raise something like £18,000 in order to get everyone over to the UK and into a hotel for a couple of nights. It’s not going to be cheap, but the National Brass Band Finals is such an important event that we can’t possibly miss it.”
To this end, Jay is asking Islanders to sponsor his upcoming skydive, which will be taking place on Sunday 19 July, and which he describes as “a huge personal challenge”.
“When we do Jersey Premier Brass performances, they’re almost always free to attend, and we then shake buckets to get a little bit of money as people leave,” he says.
“We might get a couple of hundred quid, which is great, but obviously we’re going to need a lot more than that to get us all to York.
“Last year, we were lucky enough to have a quite a hefty grant from a local business, which was fantastic, and that is something we’re looking at again this year. We’re going to reach out to local businesses to see if any of them would like to take part in a ‘sponsor a seat’ initiative, with 25 seats – one for each brass player – available for sponsorship. I’m thinking it would be easier for us to aim for lots of smaller donations rather than one big donation.”
Founded in the early years of the 20th century, the National Band Championships of Great Britain has been an annual fixture for over a century, with brass outfits from across the UK competing to make it into the finals each and every year.
To land a place in the finals is, therefore, a very big deal indeed, and Jay – director of Jersey Premier Brass – is understandably proud of the achievement.
“Jersey Premier Brass has been going since 1997, doing various competitions over the years, and, throughout that time, we have moved up and down the division,” he says, describing said division as “basically like football”.
“There are championship divisions: first, second, third and fourth section. At the competitions at which we have performed, all of the bands will play the same piece, and the adjudicators will be looking for accuracy, dynamics, quality of band sound, tuning, interpretation, and so on. You basically get marked against the other bands – and the best band wins. As for promotions or relegations across the different divisions, points are scored over a two-year period, and the top two will be promoted and bottom two relegated, a little like football leagues.
“In 2025, we went to the qualifying heats in March – and we won,” he continues. “And we agreed then that we would go to the finals in September [of that year] and we came third out of 18 bands, which was great.”
Jay and the team once again took part in the qualifying heats this year, and, once again, they finished third out of the 18 bands competing.
“Two years on the trot,” says Jay, his pride clearly evident.
Islanders who have seen Jersey Premier Brass in concert will know that such success is fully deserved, and yet Jay says that “selling a brass band locally can be really quite difficult”.
“In the UK, brass bands are everywhere, but not here. And so we’re always trying to get out there and promote the band and impress upon people that, look, we’ve got a really good brass band right here in Jersey, a band that go away to the UK and compete in competitions, and do so successfully.
“We don’t generally perform at big events, such as the Liberation ceremonies, simply because we don’t march. The Island band [The Band of the Island of Jersey], which I used to be in, they do the marching parades, but we don’t. We generally organise our own concerts.”
Such concerts include an annual concert at the Town Hall in March, and another annual concert in November, as well as regular concerts in Howard Davis Park throughout the year. As mentioned, most of these are free to attend, although the band have performed a special ticketed Christmas concert over the last few years.
“It’s always absolutely lovely,” says Jay. “We screen The Snowman – the Raymond Briggs cartoon from the 1980s – and perform live along to the film. We stage it at Haute Vallée School, with the whole movie showing on a big screen, and we perform the entire 30-minute soundtrack. It is a really good event, very popular.”
When, then, did Jay first develop his interest and passion for brass instruments?
“My dad was a musician in the military in the forces in the UK and so I was born into it,” he replies. “I had my first drum when I was three years old, which was amazing. My mum was very trusting and allowed me to smash it all around the house.”
It was at the age of five that Jay first turned his attention to brass, playing the cornet, before joining the Band of the Island of Jersey, aged eight, and taking part in many performances and uniformed displays.
“I was still interested in drums and so, at the age of ten or 11, I switched back to the drumkit.”
In total, Jay would remain with the Band of the Island of Jersey for three decades. In addition, he would regularly provide musical backing for stage musicals, typically performed by the Jersey Amateur Dramatics Club or the Jersey Green Room Club, and directed by Tim Evans.
“Tim took me under his wing and I ended up doing musicals with him for 20 years,” says Jay. “In fact, I’m just about to do another one at the Opera House in July. It’s something I always enjoy – I’ve taken part in nearly all of them.”
The only real break in the above came when Jay was in his early 20s and spent a number of years living in London, during which time he joined the Central Band of the Royal British Legion.
“They threw a form in my face and basically told me to join, so I did,” he laughs.
“I spent two-and-a-half years playing in a semi-professional military band, travelling around the country and taking part in concerts and parades. It was amazing. A really high-level band. Most of the guys were ex-forces and the conductor at the time, Captain Ted Whealing, was a former marine who had fought in wars. He had been on the Royal Yacht Britannia and was in charge of the music for the Festival of Remembrance at the BBC. So, yeah, it was a really, really high calibre of musicians that I was playing with. And you end up honing your skills as a result.”
It was 2005 when Jay moved back to Jersey and joined Jersey Premier Brass, initially playing percussion, before returning to his “brass roots” in 2014.
“I took over the flugelhorn chair and I played that for seven years – and then Covid hit.”
It was at this time that Jersey Premier Brass conductor Tim Pritchard decided to step down after 21 years with the band, which led to Jay being asked if he could temporarily take over the role while a replacement was found – and he’s been doing it ever since.
“I thought, ‘I’ll give it a bash’, thinking that I’d relinquish the position when we found someone to take over,” he says.
“I think my first competition with the band might have been 2022. It is, as you can imagine, very different to just playing in a band. You have to, you know, change your level of authority and get people on board with what you’re doing. It’s like changing from being a junior to a manager. You’re responsible for the musical side of things, such as making sure the band play well, and you’re responsible for making sure that you have a band at every gig, that the rehearsals are all organised, and so on.
“It really is a lot of hard work, but the enjoyment you get out of it when you do a concert, it makes it all worthwhile.
“And, of course, I’ve made a really great bunch of friends.”
*For more on Jersey Premier Brass, visit jerseypremierbrass.org.je. For more on Jay’s skydive, or to donate, visit https://www.justgiving.com/crowdfunding/jay-mildren
