PREVIEW & PREDICTIONS: Brass At The Guild
Brass At The Guild provides bands with the perfect opportunity to get a good insight into performing the Regional Championship’s set works under contest conditions. The alternative, if your band has finished defrosting from Skegness, is to give your Butlins test piece another go.
Either way, this move, made by the committee at Lancashire Contests a few years ago, has proved extremely popular and year on year, more bands seem to be making the journey to Preston from all corners of the UK, in the middle of their preparations for the upcoming ‘Area’ contests. Both the Guild Hall and the Charter Theatre offer great benefits to bands looking to enter contest mode, coupled with a bar, food and trade stands all set in one location, the Brass At The Guild contest is becoming a regular feature of many bands’ calendars.
Championship Section
The Guild Hall
Test Pieces: Pageantry (Howells) or Butlins own-choice
Adjudicator: Michael Fowles
Pre Drawn Start: Approx 3.30pm
The top section will no doubt see Pageantry performed by all of the bands competing. Nine bands will be looking to impress Michael Fowles and receive a critique of what they will need to improve upon if they are to impress at the Regionals. There can be little doubt that all eyes will be on the defending champions, Hepworth , as they return for their first outing under their new MD, Leigh Baker.
Blidworth and Thoresby will be batting for the Midlands here, with Thoresby looking to go one better than last year where they finished as runners up. Blidworth, along with Longridge and Hatfield are newly promoted this year and so will be looking to take the chance of performing their test piece early, with a view to securing their championship section status for another year come the Regional Championships.
City of Bradford could potentially be looking to cause an upset here as they enter their third year in the top section. Using the time to find their feet at this level, there is little doubt that MD Lee Skipsey knows how to get what he wants from his bands. Milnrow had to withdraw here last year, but they finished 2016 on a high with a win at the Rochdale Contest.
Wingates will be hoping that they can once again grab a podium place here as they did last year, albeit one or two places higher. Easington Colliery are the only representatives from the North of England area who haven’t contested here since 2008.
Prediction:
1. Hepworth
2. Thoresby Colliery
3. Wingates
4. City of Bradford
Competing Bands:
Blidworth Welfare (Martin Heartfield)
City of Bradford (Lee Skipsey)
Easington Colliery (Ian Robinson)
Hatfield (Stan Lippeatt)
Hepworth (Leigh Baker)
Longridge (Mark Peacock)
Milnrow (Matthew Brown)
Thoresby Colliery (Ian McElligott)
Wingates (Paul Andrews)
The results and prize presentation will take place at the conclusion of the section
First Section
The Guild Hall
Test Pieces: The Land of the Long White Cloud (Sparke) or Fantasy for Brass Band (Arnold)
Adjudicator: Michael Fowles
Pre Drawn Start: Approx 1.30pm
Only six bands will be competing for the title here in the smallest of all the sections competing this weekend. There is a good mix of bands here with representatives from the North of England, Yorkshire, the Midlands and of course, the North West area. Freckleton are back in the first section after a few years of bouncing between the first and championship sections. A performance here will give them something to build upon as they look to return to being a top section band. Also competing from the North West will be Poulton-Le-Fylde who finished in fourth place here last year and Oldham (Lees) who will play on the back of their third place at Butlins. Will they opt for the Butlins test piece or give Land of the Long White Cloud an early run?
Harrogate will be very strong contenders here in the first section. Joining them from the North of England will be Ripon who last year, finished sixth and then went on to qualify for the National Finals at the Regional contest. That just leaves Marsden, who many will consider favourites for the title following their relegation this year. It will be their first appearance at Brass At The Guild since 2008.
Prediction:
1. Marsden
2. Oldham (Lees)
3. Harrogate
Competing Bands:
Freckleton (Paul Dalton)
Harrogate (Dean Jones)
Marsden Silver Prize (Alan Widdop)
Oldham (Lees) (John Collins)
Poulton-Le-Fylde (Matthew Ryan)
Ripon City (Martin Hall)
The results and prize presentation will take place at the conclusion of the section
Second Section
The Guild Hall
Test Pieces: Rhapsody in Brass (Goffin) or Inclusion (Sharman)
Adjudicator: David Hirst
Pre Drawn Start: 10.00am
The second section is fielding the largest group of bands with twelve all competing for the title and looking to impress adjudicator David Hirst. Most of the bands here are on their home ground hailing from the North West, however Bakewell Silver from the Midlands and Royal Buckley Town from Wales will be looking to upset the locals, alongside Horbury Victoria under the experience direction of Duncan Beckley.
Besses o’th Barn are back in the second section following promotion this year, alongside Blackpool Brass who were regular podium place finishers here when competing in the third section. Delph Band are a solid second section band and are capable of taking a podium spot away from anyone on their day. Whitworth Vale & Healey will be looking to capitalise on their relegation this year and hit the ground running as they prepare to look for a good result both here and at the Regionals.
Hazel Grove are another band who find themselves relegated this year and will be hoping they can start bringing in the silverware again as they did in this section between 2013-2014. Flixton Band will be pulling out all the stops as they look to impress potential MD applicants whilst Crewe Brass haven’t competed since the Regionals last year where they finished in an impressive fifth place. The final two bands are complete contrasts in Pemberton Old Wigan DW ‘B’ and Horwich. We believe Pemberton will be the clear favourites should they chose to perform the Butlins Test Piece which they won on a couple of years ago, whilst Horwich are to all intent and purposes, a new band back from the ashes, so many eyes shall be on them this weekend.
Prediction:
1. Pemberton Old Wigan ‘B’
2. Royal Buckley Town
3. Hazel Grove
4. Delph
5. Whitworth Vale & Healey
Competing Bands:
Bakewell Silver (Jim Henson)
Besses o’ th’ Barn (Kenny Pain)
Blackpool Brass (John Pearson)
Crewe Brass (Jamie Meredith)
Delph (Jonathan Davies)
Flixton (Jason M Smith)
Hazel Grove (Nigel Beasley)
Horbury Victoria (Duncan Beckley)
Horwich RMI (Matt Ryan)
Pemberton Old Wigan DW ‘B’ (Mike Golding)
Royal Buckley Town (Brett Baker)
Whitworth Vale & Healey (Christopher Binns)
The results and prize presentation will take place at the conclusion of the section
Third Section
Charter Theatre
Test Pieces: Darkwood (Dan Price) or The Lion and the Rose (Wilby)
Adjudicator: Ian Brownbill
Pre Drawn Start: Approx 4.00pm
Eight bands will be looking to get to grips with either Darkwood or The Lion and The Rose, though we do suspect that it will be the Dan Price work that fills the alcoves of the Charter Theatre. Both Oughtibridge and BD1 will cross the Pennines to take on the North West stronghold in this section with BD1 hoping that they can break into the podium places to set them up for a good assault on the Regionals title in Huddersfield.
Pilling Jubilee could be looking for a podium place too this weekend having steadily improved since the arrival of Len Charnock at the helm. Stacksteads will be hoping to repeat the result here from twelve months ago; a podium place was theirs, however it didn’t go their way in Blackpool a few weeks later and they finished seventeenth. Also hoping to improve on their recent Regional Championship results will be the Rivington and Adlington band, using this as a good chance to get feedback from the experienced adjudicator, Ian Brownbill.
Eccleston Brass see themselves relegated this year and so will be hoping to get a good result straight away now they’re competing in a lower section. Farnworth & Walkden return to defend their crown and following a fifth place at the National Finals in September, they are well equipped to do so and will be our favourites for the day. Skelmersdale will be hopeful too of something positive from the weekend as their new leader, James Hall steps out in front of an adjudicator for the first time as an MD, good luck to him.
Prediction:
1. Farnworth & Walkden
2. BD1
3. Pilling Jubilee
4. Eccleston Brass
Competing Bands:
BD1 (Lee Skipsey)
Eccleston Brass (John Wood)
Farnworth & Walkden (Matt Shaw)
Oughtibridge Brass (Gavin Somerset)
Pilling Jubilee (Len Charnock)
Rivington & Adlington (Malcolm Wilson)
Skelmersdale (James Hall)
Stacksteads (Fred Bowker)
The results and prize presentation will take place at the conclusion of the section
Fourth Section
Charter Theatre
Test Pieces: St Andrews Variations (Alan Fernie) or Butlins own-choice
Adjudicator: Ian Brownbill
Pre-Drawn Start: 10.00am
As in the third section, just eight band will be looking to take home the title with what we presume will be most bands performing St Andrew’s Variations. BMP (Europe) Goodshaw are already well on with their ‘Area’ preparations having used the piece at Butlins a couple of weeks ago and came away as runners up. They will be a tough band to beat at the weekend.
Thornton Cleveleys Band are next in line for us as they surprised a few at the Regionals last year by taking the title. They then went on to surprise even more when they just missed out on a podium place at the National Finals. With those results behind them, that will put a little pressure on them to do well here. Another band performing persistently well at the moment are Tarleton Brass who finished as runners up here last year, but just missed out on a place at the Nationals after finishing fourth at the Area.
Both Lostock Hall Memorial and Brindle Band will be hoping they can do better at this years’ Regional Championships, after they both performed well here twelve months ago and finished fourth and third respectively. Blackley are another band who can do well on their day whilst new band, Allerton Brass will be looking forward to only their second contest outing, following their win at Rochdale back in October. Tingley Brass are the lone voice from Yorkshire and will be hoping they enjoy their first trip across the Pennines to the Guild Hall.
1. BMP (Europe) Goodshaw Band
2. Thornton Cleveleys Band
3. Allerton Brass
4. Brindle
Competing Bands:
Allerton Brass (Adam Taylor)
Blackley (John Atkinson)
BMP Europe Ltd Goodshaw (Joshua Hughes)
Brindle (Keith Richmond)
Lostock Hall Memorial (Phil Edwards)
Tarleton Brass (Gillian Bould)
Thornton Cleveleys (Stephen Craig)
Tingley Brass (John Belton)
The results and prize presentation will take place at the conclusion of the section
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