Players vie for place in Europe
THESE are the three bands who represented Wales at the finals of the 2016 National Brass Band Championships of Great Britain held at Royal Albert Hall.
Cory became the Brass Band Champions of Great Britain while Tredegar will represent Wales at the European Championships having won the 2016 Welsh qualifying round last March.
The Welsh Brass Band Championships take place at Brangwyn Hall, Swansea on Saturday and Sunday, March 18 and 19.
This is one of eight regional contests that takes place annually from which bands can qualify for an invitation to the finals of the National Brass Band Championships of Great Britain, which will be held at the Royal Albert Hall on October 14 for Championship bands and at the Centaur Hall, Cheltenham Racecourse on September 16 and 17 for Sections 1 to 4.
The winner of the Championship Section in Swansea also qualifies to represent Wales at the 2018 European Brass Band Championships which will take place in Utrecht in the Netherlands in early May 2018. Since being held in Scotland in 2013 at Perth, the European Championships have been held in Freiburg in Germany and Lille in France.
This year Wales will be represented by Tredegar Town band who won the 2016 Welsh Championship at Swansea.
The European Championships this year will be held in Ostend, Belgium and take place on April 29.
Over the last 10 years Wales have been represented at the European Championships by Tongwynlais, Tredegar on two occasions and seven times by Cory Band.
Cory are still the current European Champions and the Champions of Great Britain and these titles are gained from first of all getting an invitation to represent Wales in the finals of the National Brass Band Championships of Great Britain by succeeding at Swansea.
On Saturday the contest starts at 11am with Sections 3, 2 and 1. On Sunday March 19 the contest starts at 10am with Section 4 and then championship.
Although Wales has the fewest number of bands in nearly all the sections there has been a Welsh Champion of Great Britain at least once in every section over the last four years.
In 2013, Cory were British Champions and Tredegar runners up, Tylorstown were Champions of Section 1, Goodwick Champions of Section 2 and Ebbw Valley Champions of Section 4.
Again in 2014, Ebbw Valley were British Champions of Section 3 and Northop Champions of Section 4 while Cory were runners up to Black Dyke in the Championship Section.
The following year, 2015, saw Welsh bands nearly sweeping the board with Cory, Goodwick, Ebbw Valley and Usk all winning the Championship, 1st, 2nd and 4th Sections.
Last year Cory regained the title and Phoenix, from Fishguard, became 4th Section Champions of Great Britain.
Will 2017 see any Welsh bands becoming British Champions in order to try to emulate the past few year’s achievements? Let us hope so.