like anything else, contests in the brass band movement did not just appear out of a social vacuum. Contests for bell-ringers had been held for a hundred years prior to the establishment of brass contests. It would seem natural for bellringers who were also brass players to want to try their skills in a similar venue. While travel was held to a minimum for those involved in bell-ringing contests, with the rapid development of the rail system in the 1840s travel for brass bands became more far-reaching.