Built in Stockport.
Heard everywhere.

Fairey began in 1937, formed by employees of the Fairey Aviation Works in Stockport. Under Harry Mortimer, musical director for more than three decades, the band established the standard that would define its contesting history.

The record now includes sixteen British Open victories and nine National Championship titles. Its most celebrated run came in 1993–94: the British Open and National titles were followed by the European Championship, making Fairey the first band to complete the contest treble.

Whit Friday has produced another rich chapter. In 1987 the band collected ten first prizes, two seconds and a third across thirteen contests; in 2015 it again secured the Saddleworth title.

Results are only part of the reputation. The distinctive “Fairey sound” has taken the band from British concert halls to Canada, Hong Kong, Switzerland, Sweden, Germany, the Netherlands, Belgium and Luxembourg.

Conductors across the decades have included Harry Mortimer, Leonard Lamb, Kenneth Dennison, Richard Evans, Walter Hargreaves, Geoffrey Brand, Major Peter Parkes, Roy Newsome, James Gourlay, Howard Snell, Allan Withington, Russell Gray and Gary Cutt. Phil Chalk was appointed the band’s current Musical Director.

Fairey has also consistently looked beyond the conventional brass repertoire. Acid Brass opened rock, pop, club and contemporary-art stages to the band, demonstrating how far the sound could travel without losing its identity.

The connection to the founding company has endured through changes of ownership and name. After sponsorship ended in 2002 and later partnerships followed, support from the founder company returned under KNDS. The band still rehearses at the Heaton Chapel factory and is known formally as the KNDS Fairey Band—and, throughout the banding world, simply as Fairey’s.