Well-deserved recognition for our champions
CORY Band were nominated for a National St David Award earlier this year in recognition of its outstanding achievements of 2016 and continuing excellence.
The band has been recognised as World Champions for the past 10 years and achieved a Grand Slam by winning every major title in Britain and Europe in 2016 under their conductor Phillip Harper, a feat which has never been done before.
Their extraordinary achievements have been recognised by Rhondda Cynon Taff by presenting them with the Freedom of the Borough of Rhondda on January 25.
Very few people receive this great local honour and the few previous recipients are The Royal Welsh, Stuart Burrows OBE, tenor; Miners of South Wales; Elaine Morgan, writer; Welsh Guards; Bernard Baldwin MBE, founder of the Nos Galan Road Races; Tunisia shooting hero Matthew James and Dai Dower, boxer.
The St David Awards are presented annually by the Welsh Government to celebrate exceptional Welsh achievements and “the awards reflect and promote the aspirations of Wales and its citizens to be a modern, vibrant country, with a growing reputation as a confident and clever nation valu- ing innovation, community spirit and above all its people.”
The awards are the highest accolade that the Welsh Government confers on Welsh citizens and organisations nationally.
There are nine St David Awards and a shortlist of three nominees in each of the nine categories.
The categories are: Bravery; Citizenship; Culture; Enterprise; Innovation, Science & Technology; International; Sport; Young Person and the First Minister’s Special Award.
The three nominees in each of the categories were announced by the First Minister, Carwyn Jones, at the St David Award Launch on Thursday, February 16.
The winner of each category is selected by the First Minister with help from his team of advisers.
Cory were nominated in the Culture category along with Elfed Roberts, chief executive, National Eisteddfod, and Professor Jen Wilson, jazz musician and archivist.
The presentations were made by First Minister Carwyn Jones on Thursday, March 23 and the winner of the Culture Award was Professor Jen Wilson, but congratulations go to all the nominees as it is certainly a great honour to be recognised for their work by the Welsh Government.
On Sunday, March 19, at the Brangwyn Hall, Swansea, Cory continued the successful run of competition successes by winning the Welsh Region qualifying contest to reach the Finals of the National Brass Band Championships of Great Britain in October 2017.
They will represent Wales, as current Welsh Champions, in the 2018 European Championships of which again they are the current European Champions.
As current European Champions they will be at this year’s championships defending their title so this year Wales will have two bands taking part as Tredegar will also be there as 2016 Welsh Champions.
The organisers of the Brass in Concert Festival have announced that Cory band will present this year’s World of Brass in Concert event along with Welsh group Only Men Aloud.
The Brass in Concert will take place at Sage Gateshead on November 18 and 19 and is supported by Yamaha, Banks Group and British Bandsman paper. The concert will be the culmination of the day’s events and will have a film theme which will be presented by Cory and Only Men Aloud.
The chairman of Brass in Concert, John Woods, describes the event as a “Welsh Extravaganza” as “Cory and Men Aloud are at the pinnacle of musical achievement in the Land of Song”.
The concert should be a great prelude to the following day’s Brass in Concert Championships of which Cory are the current champions.
Philip Harper, musical director of Cory, is looking forward to working with Only Men Aloud.
He said: “It will help to reinvigorate the genre of brass and voices which has so much untapped potential in today’s musical world.
“As the world’s leading brass entertainment festival, Brass in Concert has been instrumental in recent years in bringing a new level of professionalism to the presentation of brass bands and we are delighted to be at the forefront as the event moves in a new direction.”