Kneller Hall Music School to Stay : Official

11.07.56am UTC (GMT +0000) Mon 18th Jul 2005

At a briefing on Friday with the two borough MPs, the Mayor and Deputy Mayor and community representatives, Colonel Jammes, the Commandant of Kneller Hall, said categorically that the Royal Military School of Music would stay for the foreseeable future - "at least ten years".

Vincent Cable said that he was "delighted to have this positive clarification. There has been a lot of scaremongering over the years with rumours that the school would close and become a prison or asylum centre. It is now clear that the future of the school is secure and that it will remain in our community. The bands of Kneller Hall have become a much loved feature of the local scene and they will remain".

Vincent Cable said that what also emerged from the briefing was "the important role which the bandsmen played within the armed services generally with a specialist battlefield role dealing with chemical and biological weapons and non-nursing support for army medical services. The army bands are not just decorative. They have a key role in the army".