9th May 2009 - Grand Shield
Adjudicators: Nigel Boddice, William Relton
Test Piece: Contest Music, Wilfred Heaton
Venue: Winter Gardens, Blackpool
After the high of winning the Yorkshire Area, the band looked forward to the Grand Shield with some confidence. We didn’t really feel that we’d played badly enough to be demoted out of the British Open last year, and it was a combination of two early draws and the demise of the Sellers band that made us drop through the trap door back into the Grand Shield. We were out to prove a point, and left no stone unturned in our preparations.
Our run into the contest was quite light, but with a heavy rehearsal schedule the weekend before, with rehearsals Friday, Saturday, Sunday and on the morning of the bank holiday Monday. We were playing well throughout the last week and hoped that this would transfer well to the stage.
We opted not to stay in Blackpool overnight to save money, and the band members met up bright at early at 6:30am on the Saturday morning for the coach ride across the Pennines. We had a short rehearsal in a church hall after some excellent bacon sandwiches, provided by the people at the church, and then settled in to wait for the draw. We were surprised when the phone rang just after the draw had started, but it turned out to be the conductor’s son Ben who wanted to talk to his dad! Shortly after, we found out that we had been drawn thirteenth and we worked out that we would be playing early afternoon.
We had a few hours to kill and the band members settled in to chat and wait. The people at the church were excellent at providing us with cups of tea. Some members of the band indulged in an impromptu football match in the gardens at the back of the church, and others took the short walk up the road to the corner shop to buy lunch.
We had a final short rehearsal and then took the short coach ride in to the middle of Blackpool. We had to wait on the coach for 15 minutes before they would let us in, but finally got into the hall, got changed, set up the small amount of percussion required, and then registered waiting to go and play.
Our performance was excellent, just how we planned it, apart from some percussion stick throwing at the start. The piece starts with two loud timpani notes, and I was surprised by the bounce from the timps on stage, resulting in me losing my stick. It cartwheeled through the air above the bass section, hit a horn player on the back, bounced off a bass player and then ended up at another bass player’s feet. I quickly picked up a spare stick and carried on, retrieving the stick at the end of the performance. Thankfully it didn’t put anyone off and I was able to control my laughter and carry on!
The rest of the performance was very clean and we felt that it was very musical. There is a long held very high note for the solo cornet in the middle of the second movement, which did beat many players on the day. Our solo cornet James McCabe played a lovely long note, holding it for about 8 seconds. Some in the band wondered if it would ever end!
Come results time, and the results for all three sections, Senior Cup, Senior Trophy and Grand Shield were announced in the one ceremony. There was a fantastic atmosphere in the hall, with some good-natured heckling of the compere on stage. Things went well in the other sections with our old flugel player John Ward winning with his band Milnrow in the Senior Trophy, and our conductor’s brother John getting second place in the Senior Cup.
At the Grand Shield results the first thing to be announced was the soloist’s prize, and that went to Tredegar’s solo cornet. The soloists prize is usually a good indicator of who has done well in the contest, and so there was a ripple of surprise around the audience when Tredegar were given fourth place. When the second place band was read out and we still hadn’t been given a place, there were many band members on the edges of their seats and a large chain of hands being held. The section we were sat in erupted with noise when we were announced winners. The band invaded the stage for photos and to get their hands on the magnificent Grand Shield itself.
The full results of the contest were:
1. Rothwell Temperance (David Roberts), 13
2. Virtuosi GUS (John Berryman), 5
3. Mount Charles (Andrew Duncan), 8
4. Tredegar (Ian Porthouse), 18
5. Flowers (Garry Cutt), 11
6. Newstead Brass (Duncan Beckley), 3
7. Bactiguard Wire Brass (Paul Andrews), 7
8. Sovereign Brass (Trevor Jones), 4
9. Reg Vardy (Russell Gray), 10
10. Redbridge (Jeremy Wise), 15
11. Thoresby Colliery (Ian McElligott), 9
12. Pemberton Old Wigan JJB (Mark Bentham), 14
13. Freckleton (Gareth Pritchard), 19
14. Wingates (John Hinckley), 16
15. Jaguar (Coventry) (Dave Lea), 1
16. Tongwynlais Temperance (Philip Harper), 12
17. East Yorkshire Motor Services (Frans Violet), 6
18. Kibworth (John Hudson), 2
19. Aveley & Newham (Nigel Taken), 17
This is the second of two excellent results in the first two contests of the year, and the swift return to the British Open means the band will once again be playing in the Symphony Hall in September. The set test is a new piece, Titan’s Progress by Hermann Pallhuber.
Tim Sawyer
Stick Thrower Extraordinaire
20th May 2009
Photos
 Band Celebrating |
 Band Celebrating |
 Girls with Shield |
 Dai with Shield |
 Paul with Shield |
 James, Proud Father and Shield |
 Dave Roberts with Shield |
 Girls in the bar |
 Band in the bar |
 Shield 1 |
 Shield 2 |
 Shield 3 |
 Shield 4 |
 Shield 5 |
 Shield 6 |
 Back in the bar |
 Non players with shield |
 Mr Padgett |
 In another bar |
 Andy and Shield |
