1884

Liverpool Exhibition/Eistedfodd earliest mentioned attendance at any contest – unsuccessful.

On June 6th against all the predictions to the contrary Rothwell Temperance Brass Band carried off the first prize at the Brass Band Contest at Soothill, Batley with “Joan of Arc.”

The Soothill victory is the Band’s first recorded prize, and a complimentary paragraph in the Rothwell Times confirms this impression by coining the title Rothwell Temperance Prize Brass Band, but concludes with “all praise to Roddill Temperance” (Roddill Temp. is a long standing local abbreviation and 'Rodillian’ has achieved respectability in the name of a local school, choir and rugger team.)

A further reference to the Band’s win at Soothill for playing “Joan of Arc” shows the other side of the coin. “I am told by those who live near the Hall, that the number of times they have practiced the selection is legion. The piece is called Noah’s Ark and those who are under the necessity of undergoing the infliction of having to listen both on Sunday and Weekday to the Band practices are heartily sick of the same.”