Celebation all around at Ebbw Valley after Open win
SOME 57 brass bands competed at the 102nd British Open Spring Festival which took place at Blackpool’s Winter Gardens on Saturday, May 11.
Two bands from the Grand Shield section gained qualification to the 2024 British Open which takes place in Birmingham in September.
Four bands were promoted from the Senior Cup and Senior Trophy to replace the relegated bands in each section.
The test piece for the Grand Shield was A Brussels Requiem by Bert Appermont and the djudicators were Morgan Griffiths and Lynda Nicholson.
The result of the 20 bands competing in this section were as follows:
1st: Oldham Band (Lees) (John Collins) Qualified
2nd: Carlton Main Frickley Colliery (Allan Withington) Qualified
Both bands are invited to compete in the 2024 British Open in September
3rd: Rothwell Temperance (David Roberts) 4th: Friary Brass (Nigel Taken)
5th: NASUWT Riverside (Prof Nicholas Childs)
6th: Desford Colliery (Ian Porthouse)
7th: Skelmanthorpe (Jonathan Bates)
8th: Rainford (Sarah Groarke- Booth)
9th: Camborne Town (Gareth Churcher) 10th: GUS (Dr David Thornton)
11th: Redbridge (Chris Bearman)
12th: City of Bradford (Matthew Ryan)
13th: Wingates (Martin Heartfield)
14th: St Dennis Silver (Darren R Hawken) 15th: Fishburn (Duncan Beckley)
16th: EverReady (Russell Gray)
17th and Relegated to Senior Cup: Milnrow (Lee Skipsey
18th and Relegated to Senior Cup: Ratby Co-operative (Chris Jeans)
19th and Relegated to Senior Cup: Llwydcoed (Joshua Ruck)
20th and Relegated to Senior Cup: City of Hull (Dean Jones)
Best Instrumentalist: Principal Cornet of Oldham Band
The test piece for the Senior Cup was The New Jerusalem by Philip Wilby and the adjudicators were Andrea Price and Alan Morrison.
Twenty bands competed in this section and results were as follows:
1st and promoted to Grand Shield: Amersham (Paul Fisher)
2nd and promoted to Grand Shield: Wantage Silver (Chris King)
3rd and promoted to Grand Shield: Stannington Brass (Sam Fisher)
4th and promoted to Grand Shield: Ashton-Under-Lyne (Martyn Evans)
5th: Thundersley Brass (Melvin White)
6th: Dalmellington (Andrew Duncan)
7th: Elland Silver (Brett Baker)
8th: Pemberton Old Wigan DW (Ryan Watkins)
9th: Unite The Union (Jonathan Beatty) 10th: Shepherd Group (Richard Wilton)
11th: City of Cardiff (Melingriffith) (Christopher Bond)
12th: Kingdom Brass (Thomas Wyss)
13th: Derwent Brass (Jack Capstaff)
14th: Tylorstown (Robert Westacott)
15th: Kirkintilloch (Hedley Benson)
16th: Verwood Concert (Kevin Smith)
17th and relegated to Senior Trophy: Acceler8 (Jef Sparkes)
18th and relegated to Senior Trophy: Boarshurst Silver (Jamie Prophet)
19th and relegated to Senior Trophy: Brass Band of Central England (Howard J Evans) 20th and relegated to Senior Trophy: Roche Brass (Keith Maxwell)
Best Instrumentalist: Principal Cornet of Dalmellington Band
The test piece for the Senior Trophy was Journey to the Centre of the Earth by Peter Graham and the adjudicators were Helen Douthwaite-Teasdale and John Doyle.
Seventeen bands competed in the Senior Trophy and the results were as follows:
1st and promoted to Senior Cup: Ebbw Valley Brass (Gareth Ritter)
2nd and promoted to Senior Cup: Newtongrange Silver (Anne Crookston)
3rd and promoted to Senior Cup: Haverhill Silver (Paul Filby)
4th and promoted to Senior Cup: Marsden Silver (Andrew Lofthouse)
5th: Tongwynlais Temperance (Owen Farr) 6th: Roberts Bakery (Mike Jones)
7th: Pontardulais Town (Matthew Jenkins) 8th: Enderby (Gareth Brindle)
9th: Eccles Borough (Mareika Gray)
10th: East London Brass (Jayne Murrill) 11th: Blackburn & Darwen (Daniel Thomas) 12th: Woodfalls (Paul Holland)
13th: Longridge (Mark Peacock)
14th: Parc & Dare (Dewi Griffiths)
15th: Yorkshire Imperial (Garry Hallas)
16th: Unison Kinneil (Raymond Tennant) 17th: Easington Colliery (Michael Fowles) Best Soloist Trombone: Steve Sykes of Ebbw Valley Brass
Meanwhile, seven Welsh bands took part in the various sections of the 102nd British Open Spring Festival and the overall result was a real “mish-mash”.
Ebbw Valley Brass can be congratulated on winning the Senior Trophy, which is the first step in gaining an invite to take part in the British Open Brass Band Championship which caters for the best bands in the UK.
They will now be invited to take part in next year’s Senior Cup, which will be the second step on the way to the British Open.
The other Welsh bands competing in the Senior Trophy were Tongwynlais Temperance, who finished in a very respectable fifth, Pontardulais Town in an acceptable seventh and Parc & Dare finishing in a disappointing 14th place.
Competing in the Senior Cup, which is the second step away from the British Open, were City of Cardiff (Melingriffith), who finished 11th, and Tylorstown, who finished in 14th place, which was quite disappointing for both bands as they were hoping to finish in the top four places to get promotion to the Grand Shield.
The only Welsh band competing in the Grand Shield was Llwydcoed, who were striving to finish in the top two places in order to get an invite to compete in the British Open in September 2024.
Alas, it was not to be. Despite finishing as the seventh best band in the 2023 National Finals of Great Britain, Llwydcoed had a bad day at the office and finished in a very disappointing 19th place.
Well, that’s banding for you. It is never a smooth ride for bands competing in band contests, but they do manage to accept the bad days with the good days.
They’ll be back!