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2016 West of England Regional Championships

We returned to Torquay once more to compete in the Second Section of the West of England Regional Championships. We had a long day's wait as we were drawn to play as the last band of the section, so in the meantime we held the band AGM. We really enjoyed playing the test piece, The Mermaid of Zennor by Philip Harper, which although easier than last year's piece was still a challenge. We were reasonably pleased with our performance, and we received some nice comments from some online commentators, one of whom predicted us to come 4th! In the end the adjudicators disagreed and we were placed 13th out of 16 bands, which was a little disappointing, but that's how banding goes sometimes! It was still enough to keep us in the Second Section for another year.

Thank you to Ian for all the hard work in preparing the band, and to everyone who performed, with a special mention to Ian Parkes who switched from trombone to Bb bass, which really helped the balance of the band. Best wishes to Josie Miell who would have joined us, but was unwell - get well soon Josie! And thank you to Stacey, Kizzy and Zoe who helped us cover for Josie's absence by switching parts at the last minute.

As always we received a warm welcome from Paul and Mike at the Westgate hotel and enjoyed Chinese and Indian meals. We are now looking forward to a busy concert season, starting with our spring concert with the NFB Training Band at Waterside Theatre in April.

Riviera Centre, Torquay

Second Section
Date: Sunday 13th March 2016
Venue: Riviera Centre, Torquay
Test Piece: 'The Mermaid of Zennor' - Philip Harper
Adjudicators: Richard Marshall and Philip Littlemore

Result: (Band, Conductor, Draw):

  1. City of Bristol, Bryn James, 5
  2. Sidmouth Town, Adrian Harvey, 7
  3. Lympstone SW Communications, David Shead, 6
  4. Soundhouse Brass, Lee Clayson, 4
  5. Bodmin Town, John Maines, 15
  6. Bream Silver, Philip Turner, 1
  7. Andover Town, Steve Large, 12
  8. Denmead Brass, Estelle Flood, 13
  9. Camborne Junior Contesting, Alan Pope, 9
  10. Swindon Pegasus, David Mace, 10
  11. Ocean Brass, Edward March, 14
  12. Poole Borough, Chris Davis, 11
  13. New Forest Brass, Ian Luxford, 16
  14. Shrewton Silver, Michael Dunford, 3
  15. Downton, Paul Williams, 2
  16. Bugle Silver, Steve Osborne, 8

4barsrest Report

Adjudicators' comments