The total number of bandsmen in 2005, both resident and trainee, decreased by 1.3 per cent, from 4,106 in 2004 to 4,051, the National Statistics Office said yesterday.

The number of persons in band committees increased, from 1,202 in the year 2004 to 1,766 during the year under review, a percentage increase of 46.9 per cent. Band club membership for this year stood at 22,411 members – a decrease of 13.2 per cent over the 25,832 members in 2004.

During 2005, band club membership registered 6.1 per cent of the Maltese population aged five to 84 years – a one-per-cent decrease over the previous two years.

Although not exclusively the domain of men, this sector is primarily dominated by males. In fact, 79.1 per cent of band club members in 2005 were men while 20.9 per cent were females. Women representatives on band committees amounted to 15.7 per cent of the total committee members, an increase of 1.1 per cent over 2004.

This survey registered also an increase of resident female band members during 2005. In fact, during 2005, the percentage of resident female band members amounted to 26.5 per cent of all the participants within this category – an increase of 0.8 percentage points as compared to last year.

In 2005, a total of 1,277 band programmes were performed throughout Malta and Gozo. Of these, 61.5 per cent were held within the same locality of the band club.

Band clubs produced various types of publications in 2005, such as books, magazines, audiocassettes and CDs. The Southern Harbour district was the most productive in this area – with over 30.7 per cent of total publications. The South Eastern and Northern Harbour districts follow, with 20.7 and 16.4 per cent of total publications respectively. Gozo band clubs were the least productive, with just over nine per cent of total publications.

The liveliest participation in band clubs was recorded in the Northern Harbour district, with a total of 893 bandsmen, of whom 463 were resident and 430 were trainee.

The Southern Harbour district was a close second with 774 bandsmen where 530 were resident and 244 trainees. The South Eastern district comprised the largest number of band club members – 5,140 males and 1,758 females – 6,898 members in all.

In the year 2005, band club expenditure decreased by 2.9 per cent over 2004, but increased by 3.6 per cent over 2003. The bulk of the expenditure – 41.7 per cent – went towards remuneration to bandisti. The ‘other expenditure’ category accounted for 35.1 per cent of total expenditure.

The total income of band clubs in 2005 increased by 33.8 per cent over 2004, from Lm847,087 to Lm1,133,734. The majority of income came from the ‘Other income’ category; in fact this garnered 44.5 per cent of total income.