The South West Brass Band Association's 61st Annual Championships took place at Torquay on Saturday 3rd November, 2007.

As usual, the two main rivals in the youth section, St. Dennis & Mount Charles, met again for their annual bout at this well attended contest. This year the test piece was the deceptively difficult "Newstead" by Goff Richards. The two bands gave very different but well presented performances of the piece but it was St. Dennis who the adjudicator, William Relton, favoured this time. Most agreed that it was very close to call which was reflected by the one point difference. There is always next year.......

Full Report & Adjudicators Remarks...See Articles

Full results (from 4barsrest.com) were:

Open Section:
(Own Choice)
1. St Dennis (Brian Minear) - 196pts
2. Bodmin (Huw Williams) - 195 points
3. St Keverne (Stuart Chappell) - 191 points
4. Forest of Dean (Jackie Gwynne)
5. St Austell (Roy Newsome)
6. Lympstone SWT (Charlie Fleming)
7. Sherborne (Paul Cosh)
8. Milton Keynes Brass (Paul Fensom)

Second Section:
'Hollywood' by Goff Richards
1. St Stythians (Derek Jonston) - 188pts
2. Soundhouse Brass (Gary Pumford) - 187pts
3. South Molton Town (Terry Treherne) - 186pts
4. Phoenix Brass (Crewkerne) (Paul Slator)
5. Michelmerch Silver (Lawrence Bulchart)
6. Torbay Brass (Barry Cole)
Best Instrumentalist: Euphonium Player with Michelmersh Silver.

Third Section:
'Three Memories for Brass' by William Relton
1. Heyl Town (Derek Jonston) - 195pts
2. Bugle Silver (David Pope) - 193pts
3. Pillowell Silver (Paul Uzzell) - 192pts
4. Totnes (Ian Wilkinson) - 191pts
Best Horn Section: Heyl Town

Fourth Section:
'Lydian Pictures' by Simon Dobson
1. Sidmouth Town (Adrian Harvey) - 191pts
2. Pendennis Brass (Falmouth) (Steve Thomas)- 190pts
3. Okehampton Excelsior Silver (Des Law) - 188pts
Best Basses: Sidmouth Town

Junior/Training Section:
Own Choice, preceded by 'Praise my Soul'
1. Shirland Youth (Marie Smith) - 183pts
2. St Keverne Youth (Gareth Churcher)- 175pts
3. Double TT Brass - Totnes (Ian Wilkinson) - 170pts
Best Instrumentalist: Euphonium player, Shirland Youth

Youth Section
"Newstead" by Goff Richards
1. St Dennis Youth (Brian Minear)- 192pts
2. Mount Charles Youth (Simon Dobson) - 191pts

Best Instrumentalist: Kimberley Bazeley (Euphonium) St Dennis Youth

Mount Charles Band made their annual trip to The Winter Gardens, Blackpool to take part in the 2007 Spring Festival which incorporates The Grand Shield, The Senior Cup & The Senior Trophy events. The band competed in the Grand Shield hoping to "qualify" for the British Open. The test piece was the fiendishly difficult "The Night To Sing" by Bramwell Tovey which draws it's inspiration from the many powerful emotions that came together on the night of VE day - 8th May 1945. Under the direction of Gary Cutt they played against 18 other bands and finished with a very respectable 9th place.

Full results (from 4barsrest.com) were:

Grand Shield

Test Piece:
The Night to Sing, Bramwell Tovey

Start time: 1130hrs
Venue: The Opera House

Adjudicators:
Frank Renton and Alan Morrison*

Results:

1. PolySteel, P. Harper, 15
2. Sellers International, P. McCann, 10
3. Leyland, R. Gray, 12
4. Tongwynlais Temperance Silver, G. Pritchard, 3
5. Virtuosi GUS, R. Wiffen OBE, 11
6. BTM (PHS) Band, J. Katsikaris, 6
7. Tredegar, A. Ramsay, 17
8. Staffordshire, D. Maplestone, 7
9. Mount Charles, G. Cutt, 14
10. Yorkshire Imperial Urquart Travel, R. Farr, 16
11. BT, M. Fowles, 1
12. Redbridge, M. White, 18
13. Burry Port Town, M. Thorne, 13
14. Newstead Welfare, D. Beckley, 5
15. Pennine Brass, I. Porthouse, 19
16. Sovereign Brass, T. Jones, 4
17. Ashton Under Lyne, P. Chalk, 9
18. Fishburn, R. Evans, 8
19. Alliance Brass, J. Clark, 2

Top two bands qualify for the British Open

Best soloist: Euphonium, Sellers

*Alan Morrison replaces James Gourlay

Full Report & Adjudicators Remarks...See Articles

New Pictures Online 30/05/07

Click The Links Below For More (from 4barsrest):

Introduction

Live Coverage

Results

Mount Charles Youth Band won a gold award at the National Youth Championships (Community Section) on Sunday 29th April 2007. They were disappointed to have missed out on a "top three" placing and to have not retained the title they have held since 2005. However, under their musical director Simon Dobson they gave a very respectable, musical and mature performance. 14 bands competed and only 5 gold awards were given (including the top three). Our congratulations go to the two other Cornish youth bands in the community section - Camborne Youth (1st) and St. Dennis Youth (3rd).

Full results (from 4barsrest.com) were:

Community Championship
Adjudicators: Markus Bach and Dr Roy Newsome

1. Camborne Youth, Alan Pope, Gold Certificate
2. Youth Brass 2000, Chris Jeans, Gold Certificate
3. St Dennis Youth, Brian Minnear, Gold Certificate

Mount Charles Youth, Simon Dobson, Gold Certificate
Sellers International, Mark Bousie, Gold Cerificate
Enderby Youth, Trevor Hounsome, Silver Certificate
Horbury Victoria Youth, T Greatorex, Silver Certificate
Lions Youth, Nigel Birch, Silver Certificate
Tewitt Youth, Craig Ratcliff, Silver Certificate
Chalford Youth, Steve Tubb, Bronze Certificate
Dobcross Youth, Morgan Griffiths, Bronze Certificate
Fred Longworth Community Youth, M. Wilson, Bronze Certificate
Macclesfield Youth, Louise Renshaw, Bronze Certificate
Poynton Youth, Andy Hirst, Bronze Certificate

Best Instrumentalist: Zoe Hancock, Flugel, St Dennis

Full Report & Adjudicators Remarks...See Articles

New Pictures Online 11/05/07

See results at 4barsrest

Pre-Contest Concert At St. Stephens Community Hall - Saturday 21st April 7.30pm

As part of it's preparations for the National Youth Brass Band Championships (community section) on Sunday 29th April, the Youth Band held a pre-contest concert at St. Stephens Community Hall on Saturday 21st April at 7.30pm. The Band's special guests were the Liskerret Male Voice Choir from Liskeard with whom the Band also had a very successful concert last year at Lux Park sports centre.

For more information on the choir click here.

The Choir's website is here.

The concert was a big success and the audience were treated to nearly two and a half hours of top quality playing and singing. The choir were superb and also said how happy they were to be there in support of the youth band.

The band's performance included some stunning solo items from Karl, Jack, Jenna & Rachel in the percussion section (Russky Percussky), Yasmin on flugel (Orange Juice) and Glen on solo cornet (Buster Strikes Back). The performance of the contest programme was excellent and will have given conductor, Simon Dobson some great information and pointers for rehearsals in the forthcoming week.

The National Youth Brass Band Championships is an annual event at the Royal Northern College of Music at Manchester run by the British Federation of Brass Bands. The Youth Band have taken part in the "community section" for several years and have won for the last years in a row. Naturally, they are looking to repeat this performance!

The Band are required to play a set test piece and a short programme of music not to exceed 20 minutes. The winning combination last year was "Lucerne Song" (Eb Bass feature - Mark Bullock), "Feather Theme" (Flugel feature - Yasmin Stevens) and the test piece "A Caledonian Journey". The Band was directed by Black Dyke's principal cornet, Richard Marshall on his conducting debut.

This year the set piece is "Scenes Du Lac" by Dr Roy Newsome (who is one of the adjudicators). The band will be directed by it's new conductor - Simon Dobson (see article here and the conductors page).

More information on the contest can be found here and here (from 4barsrest).

New - 4barsrest contest preview, click here.

Youth Band players, parents & supporters - click here for Hotel information.

The Youth Band would like to congratulate some of it's players on some recent outstanding achievements.

We have six players who have recently passed grade exams:-

Stephanie Wilkins (front row) has achieved grade 6 with merit, Tilly Tompkins (1st Trombone) achieved grade 5 with distinction, Patrick Smith (2nd trombone) achieved grade 5 with merit and Florence Stokes (3rd cornet) achieved grade 4 with merit.

Florence's brothers, Albert (Bb Bass) & Freddie (2nd Baritone) received a pass and a merit respectively in their grade 5 theory exams.

Many of the players have attended the recent Cornwall Youth Brass Band Easter Course with Elgar Howarth ending with a finale concert in Newquay on Easter Monday. All of them worked extremely hard throughout the course and will have certainly gained valuable experience and knowledge and, no doubt, will have had a great social time!

Special congratulations go to Solo Horn player Joanna Powell, who attended the National Youth Brass Band Easter Course at Harrogate culminating in a grand concert at the Royal Northern College of Music in Manchester.

Very well done to them all!!

Please let Rob know of anybody's future (or even past) musical achievements.

The band report some player changes in time for the Grand Shield contest in Blackpool Winter Gardens in May.

Jon Small returns to the band on Soprano Cornet after his 8 month break due to work commitments, whilst Andrew Jay returns to 2nd man down to complete the cornet line up.

This also coincides with the news reported earlier that Alex Kerwin will be playing on the front row for the band at the Shield also.

The band are delighted that these moves have been made, and would like to thank Andrew for his unwavering team ethic in moving onto the front row. He has done a great job on the Soprano seat especially at the Royal Albert Hall where he played a significant role in the band's performance of Les Francs Judges.

The band are also delighted to welcome Laura Kelly onto 2nd Trombone, previously of Bodmin Band who has been rehearsing with the band for the last 2 months. Martin Sanders moves onto Solo Trombone, to complete the line up.

See Players

We would like to thank Nick Hudson for his support and encouragement over the last 12 months, where he has covered whenever possible in between his own busy solo commitments.

Nick is certainly a fantastic player and has become a friend of the band. We are very confident that we will be performing together again in the very near future.

See Nick's Biography

Currently serving as a Warrant Officer 1st Class Bandmaster within the Royal Marines Band Service, Dean has recently been selected for the appointment of Corps Bandmaster. He is due to relocate to Head Quarters in Portsmouth in the near future, and he does so with our best wishes and sincere thanks for his continued support and hard work over the last year. We feel sure that we will continue to see him at many contests in the future.

See Conductors

Mount Charles Senior Band will once again represent Cornwall at The Royal Albert Hall after qualifying in the Championship section at the 2007 West of England Regional Championships at the Riviera International Conference Centre, Torquay on Sunday 11th March 2007. The band were placed 2nd out of 11 bands with 195 points, just being piped to 1st place by Philip Harper's PolySteel who received 196 points.

Full results (from 4barsrest.com) were:

1. PolySteel, P. Harper, 3, 196
2. Mount Charles, A. Duncan, 6, 195
3. SWT Woodfalls, Dr. N. Childs, 9, 194
4. Camborne, F. Renton, 8, 193
5. Aldbourne, C. King, 4, 192
6. Bournemouth Concert Brass, N. Taken, 5, 191
7. Yeovil Town, D. Barringer, 7, 190
8. St. Austell Town, D. Loukes, 2, 189
9. Lydbrook, D. Williams, 1, 188
10. Sherborne Town, P. Cosh, 10, 187
11. Poole Borough, P. Randell, 11, 186

The top 2 bands qualify.

For the full report, remarks & pictures please see the Articles Section

See results and more at 4barsrest

The band are delighted to be working with Simon Kerwin during April on their preparations for the Grand Shield contest in May. The band who will be conducted by Garry Cutt, will have Alex playing front row for them for that contest also.

Simon, Alex and their family are returning to England in April following a successful 3 year spell in New Zealand. Alex has kept in touch with the band, after first playing with them at the Spennymoor contest in 2002.

See article on 4barsrest