2015 West of England Regional Championships
New Forest Brass competed as a Second Section band for the first time since 1999, in the West of England championships. The test piece, Variations on Maccabeus by Kevin Norbury, was harder than recent pieces in lower sections, but we enjoyed the challenge and were pleased with our performance on the day. The adjudicators awarded us tenth place, which was enough to secure our place in the Second Section for next year. Thanks to Ian and all the band for their hard work, and to Ted Howard who kindly helped us out on Eb bass.
Torquay was less warm and sunny than in previous years, so we were glad we had booked a local church hall for a pre-contest practice rather than rehearsing in the hotel car park as in the past! We broke from tradition by going for steak on the Friday night, but of course celebrated our result with the obligatory curry on Saturday. We are now looking forward to rehearsing a programme for a concert at Waterside Theatre in April.
Second Section
Date: Saturday 14th March 2015
Venue: Riviera Centre, Torquay
Test Piece: 'Variations on Maccabeus' - Kevin Norbury
Adjudicators: Roger Webster and David Hirst
Result: (Band, Conductor, Draw):
- AW Parker (Drybrook), Joshua Ruck, 13
- Wotton-under-Edge & District, Ian Dickinson, 5
- Bodmin Town, John Maines, 9
- Downton, Paul Williams, 14
- Poole Borough, Chris Davis, 10
- Andover Town, Steve Large, 15
- City of Bristol, Bryn James, 7
- Phoenix Brass (Crewkerne), David Boorer, 6
- Sidmouth Town, Adrian Harvey, 1
- New Forest Brass, Ian Luxford, 8
- Ocean Brass, Edward March, 11
- Bugle Silver, Paul Uzzell, 12
- Swindon Pegasus Brass, David Mace, 2
- Weston Brass, Bryn James, 4
- Bream Silver, Phil Turner, 3