Online band contest a resounding triumph
CONGRATULATIONS to Cory and Kapitol for organising this great event and many thanks to all the sponsors, which enabled the audience to watch the online contest for free. The sponsors for the trophies for each section were World of Brass, Besson, Wright & Round, Thurrock Marching Brass, Yamaha, Unibrass. Special awards were donated by Jonathan Bates Music, Yamaha, New Moon Insurance, Indoor Music Games. The headline sponsor was Kapitol Promotions and Major Partners were HM Royal Marines, Unibrass, Besson Musical Instruments and Arts Council Wales.
The 2nd Section contest took place on March 12 and 4th Section on Saturday, March 13. March 19 saw the Universities competing followed by the 1st Section on March 20.The final weekend of March 26 saw the Youth Section followed by the 3rd Section and Championship on March 27-28. It was an extremely well-organised event and the organisers were rewarded with a very high standard of music being produced by all the sections. I think it true to say that the 2nd Section, who were the first to play, certainly set the bar very high indeed. It was great to listen to.
The Youth Section took place on Friday, March 26. There were five bands: Abbey Brass (Jedforest), Elland Silver Training, Elland Silver Youth, Gresley Colliery Youth and M3 City of Cardiff Melingriffith. The adjudicators for the Youth Section were Gareth Johnson, Glyn Williams and Steve Kane. The sponsor for the Youth trophies was Besson
Result: 1st – City of Cardiff(M3). 2nd – Elland Youth. 3rd – Lions Youth.
Many congratulations to City of Cardiff (M3) who also had the awards for having the Best Trombones, Best Basses and the Yamaha Percussion Award for the Best Percussion Section.
Carol Flannery-Davies, conductor of City of Cardiff M3, must be feeling very pleased with her band!
The Third Section took place on the afternoon of Saturday, March 27 followed by the Championship in the evening and being completed on the Sunday, March 28.
The Third Section fielded 12 bands and they were Brilliante Brass, Cardiff North Lakes Brass, Gillingham Imperial Silver, Ireland Colliery Chesterfield, Langholm Town, Littleport Brass, Musikgesellschaft Brass Band Rehetobel, Towcester Studio, United Brass, Weymouth Concert Brass, Whitworth Vale & Healey.
The adjudicators for the Third Section were Sion Rhys-Jones, Steve Jones and Helen Williams and the trophies sponsor for the Third Section was the Thurrock Marching Band.
Result: 1st – United Brass. 2nd – Weymouth Concert. 3rd – Langholm.
The Championship Section started on Saturday evening and finished on Sunday, March 28. There were 16 bands taking part: Aldbourne, Amersham, Brunel Brass, City of Cardiff (Melingriffith) M1, Enderby, Easington Colliery, Filton Concert Brass, Friary Brass, Lydbrook, Lyngby-Taarbaek Brass, Michelmersh Silver, Paris Brassband, St Dennis, The GUS Band, Unison Kinniel, Whitburn.
The adjudicators were Nigel Seaman, Steve Stewart and Tom Hutchinson. World of Brass sponsored the trophies for the Championship Section.
Result: 1st – Whitburn. 2nd – Amersham. 3rd – Friary. There were prizes for the best section and City of Cardiff Melingriffith M1 was awarded Best Horn Section.
City of Cardiff M1 finished 9th.
At the conclusion of the contest Philip Harper gave thanks to all the sponsors, the adjudicators and the competing bands and gave a special mention of Ali Woodman, who is a percussionist with Cory Band and is a very efficient, non-stop beaver of a background worker who ensured that everything went smoothly to ensure a trouble-free contest.
We are all very grateful for Ali’s efforts.
Philip took the opportunity to present Ali with his trophy for being 2020 Cory Band’s Member of the Year.
During this Kapitol Cory Online Championships, Amersham Band opened a door to a brand-new vista for the future standing of brass bands in the entertainment world.
Their programme simply forgot that they came from what has been described as a boring, run of the mill brass band genre, to put on a show that would have graced the Palladium stage and had theatres clamouring for their services. I was bowled over at their professional standard and entranced by the enthusiasm which they created.
What a performance and I am sure that in years to come people will look back to this moment and say that this was the day when brass bands were looked on in a different light and banding has never been the same ever since.
What a momentous moment!