Black Dyke fail in bid to retain Yorkshire brass band title as Carlton victorious (From Bradford Telegraph and Argus)
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Black Dyke fail in bid to retain Yorkshire brass band title as Carlton victorious
11:21pm Sunday 3rd March 2013 in News
Wilsden brass band take to the stage at St George's Hall conducted by Stuart Derrick
Black Dyke band failed in their bid to retain their Yorkshire championship title at Bradford’s St George’s Hall tonight.
The Queensbury band finished sixth out of 13 in the championship section of the competition with Brighouse & Rastrick taking second place meaning they will perform at The Royal Albert Hall in the national championship finals.
The surprise winners were Carlton Main Frickley Colliery band, conducted by Phillip McCann. Grimethorpe were placed third.
The annual two day competition, held on Saturday and today, drew spectators from as far away as Wales, Scotland and Italy.
Regional secretary and contest controller Peggy Tomlinson, who has organised the event for 17 years, said: “That’s the standard of the Yorkshire bands. The top section attract that sort of audience. Bradford should be really pleased that this event is held here.
“You can listen to a brass band play a piece of music and it’s so beautiful you can be moved to tears sometimes with the feeling and expression they put into it.”
Mrs Tomlinson said the region had a strong pedigree of brass bands.
“Originally bands started with collieries, carpet manufacturers and we’ve got the mills. A lot of it comes from the historical industrial heritage in this part of the country,” she said.
Bands from West and South Yorkshire qualify for the competition. This year 58 took part, each with 25 players, plus a percussion section depending on the music.
The logistics of organising the competition are huge. “It’s like painting the Fourth Bridge. We finish one and then start organising the next one,” Mrs Tomlinson said.
Yesterday afternoon performers were nervously preparing for their turn on stage where they performed to about 500 people. As one band took to the stage, another filed into a waiting area, polishing their instruments and listening to the competition.
The contest has five sections with competitors in each playing the same piece of music for two judges.
The evening Championship competition, which featured the English and European championship Black Dyke band and the Brighouse & Rastrick band, attracted around 1,000 spectators.
The top two from each of the five categories competing will represent the region at the National Brass Band Championships. The championship winner and runner-up will compete at the Royal Albert Hall in October and winners and runners-up from the first to fourth sections compete in September at Cheltenham.
The City of Bradford band came third in the first section class; Wilsden and Clifton, and Lightcliffe B came ninth and seventh in the fourth section respectively.
