New year promises to be busy one for our talented musicians
AS the year draws to a close and bands across South Wales take a well earned break from all their festive performances and recent competitions, next year already promises to be a busy one.
Events in 2017 which will be of considerable interest to Welsh bands, young players and brass band enthusiasts include:
Saturday, January 28, sees young soloists, duets, quartets and various ensembles taking part in the West Wales Solo and Ensemble Competition at the Memorial Hall, Burry Port.
Saturday, February 18, will see Championship and First Section bands competing at the Welsh Open Entertainment
Contest at The Grand Pavilion in Porthcawl.
This is a great day of entertainment as each band plays a programme of about 20 minutes.
There are about 12 to 15 bands usually involved and the contest attracts bands from over the bridge.
In fact, the holder of the title 2015 Welsh Open Entertainment Champion is a band from Bristol – The Filton Band.
Saturday, March 18 and Sunday, March 19, will find all Welsh bands competing in the National Brass Band Championships of Great Britain to find the best two bands in each of the sections who will represent Wales in the finals which will be held at the Centaur Hall, Cheltenham Racecourse, on September 16 and 17 for the Lower Section bands and the Championship Finals will be held at the Royal Albert Hall, London on Saturday, October 14 (current Welsh Regional Champions are The Cory Band).
On Saturday, April 29, Tredegar Town Band will represent Wales in The European Championships which are being held in Ostend, Belgium (current champions The Cory Band).
The following month, on Saturday, May 6, the first contest of The League of Wales Championships takes place under the direction of the South East Wales Brass Band Association Spring Festival which will be held in Merthyr Tydfil.
Also in May a number of Welsh bands will be competing in The Senior Trophy or The Senior Cup or The Grand Shield, at The Winter Gardens, Blackpool on Saturday, May 13.
All three of these contests being stepping stones to gain an invitation to take part in The British Open Championships which takes place in Birmingham in September.
August 5 and 6 will see a lot of Welsh bands competing in The National Eisteddfod in Anglesey (current champions Tredegar Town Band)
September 9 should find
just two Welsh bands at the British Open Brass Band Championships in Symphony Hall, Birmingham. Tredegar have won it twice and Cory are the current champions. On September 16 and 17 the finals of The National Championships of Great
Britain take place at Cheltenham for lower section bands.
On Saturday, October 7, the second contest of the Welsh League takes place in The Memorial Hall, Burry Port, under the auspices of the West Wales Brass Band Association Festival.
On Saturday, October 14, the finals of the National Brass Band Championships of Great Britain for Championship bands takes place at the Royal Albert Hall, London. (Current Champions The Cory Band). Wychavon Brass Festival takes place on October 28 and a number of Welsh bands will be involved as winning the Championship section will gain an invitation to the Winter Gardens, Blackpool in May 2018.
Saturday, November 25 finds the third and final contest of The Welsh League Championship taking place at Merthyr Tydfil once again organised by the South East Wales Brass Band Association Autumn Festival.
Let us hope that the best two bands in Wales – Cory and Tredegar – can continue to be successful in the various fields of an expanding vista of brass band endeavours, for instance their combining to create an award winning CD in 2016, Tredegar entering the sphere of ballet and the folk arena and Cory winning every major title in Europe and Britain, creating new heights of musicianship and spreading their fame to America and Australia while maintaining their World Number One ranking for the 10th successive year.