REPORT & RESULTS: Whiston Festival of Brass
There was a fantastic day of banding at the recent Whiston Festival of Brass. The day went perfectly with the festival starting at 1pm. After the opening Ceremony by the Mayoress of Rotherham and a brief interlude of Irish dancing, the contest commenced with the Junior Contestants taking the stage.
All went well with the sun shining and lots of stalls and other things to do around the village. With the temperatures rising, there was even a sing-along session for young and old alike, with Elsa & Anna from “Frozen”.
A spokesperson for the event told A4B: ‘All the bands were pre-drawn, but it was really great to see a lot of bands arriving earlier in the day to capture the feeling of the Festival. The whole point of the day was the contest itself, of which the results were announced at around 8pm.’
The final band on stage, Strata Brass, rounded off the day’s proceedings with a free for all opportunity for playing members including kazoos and paper & comb to take part in the Acrobat Challenge. The local minister of the Methodist Church then asked everyone in the audience to take part in a brief prayer for the latest round of atrocities in Manchester & London. The band then giving a soul stirring rendition of the hymn “Manchester”, arranged by Andi Cook, by way of remembrance.
The whole evening finished with the 1812 overture along with synchronised fireworks, which even though it was still relatively light, had the whole audience stood in applause for what has been an extremely long day. Next year’s event will take place on Saturday 7th July 2018.
Full Results:
1. Thoresby Colliery (David Holling)
2. Strata Brass (Jonathan Bates)
3. Chapeltown Silver (Andrew Dennis)
4. Stannington (Derek Renshaw)
5. South Yorkshire Police (Jack Capstaff
6. Worsbrough Brass (John Hopkinson)
7. Shirland Welfare (Lynden Cooper)
8. Maltby Miners Welfare (Terry Clifford)
9. Loxley Silver (Lee Dunkley)
Most Entertaining Band: Thoresby Colliery
Best Instrumentalist: Thoresby Colliery (Mandy Holling, Flugel)
Best 1st/2nd Section Band: Stannington
Best 3rd/4th Section Band: Shirland Welfare
Junior & Unregistered Bands:
1. Shirland Training (Ian Beckett)
2. Lions Junior Brass (Tom Hancock)
3. Rotherham Schools (Jeremy Wade)
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