Black Dyke Band were blowing their own trumpets after scooping first prize in one of the toughest battles in the brass band year.

They beat Grimethorpe Colliery by just two points - 195 to 193 - to win the Yorkshire Brass Band Championship at a packed St George's Hall last night.

Hundreds of music-lovers packed into the hall in Bradford over the weekend to watch many of the world's top bands compete to win the highly sought-after title.

In the Championship section, a 1,200-strong audience watched 12 bands perform the test piece, Festival Music by Eric Ball, for judges David Read and Peter Bessano.

The bands were then judged on tune, musicality, dynamics and their overall performance.

And Queensbury's world-famous Black Dyke Band came out on top, just edging out the current national champions Grimethorpe, and beating last year's winners, Brighouse and Rastrick.

Mike Shenton, spokesman for the Black Dyke Band, said: "We are delighted to win this, the first big contest of the year. Even though we have already qualified to appear at the Royal Albert Hall in October, to re-qualify is an added bonus.

"The band are very excited as this is a very big contest and there is a lot of pride in winning it."

Mr Shenton said the band had also won two additional prizes, David Thornton, who plays the euphonium, won the soloist award, and triple cornet player Richard Marshall won the best instrumentalist.

The weekend was split up into five sections, with a total of 57 bands competing for the ultimate accolade, a place at the National Brass Band Championships.

The first section was won by Skelmanthorpe, with 189 points, with Stannington in second place with 187 points.

Winning the second section was Slaithwaite with 187 points, with the runner-up being Bradford-based YBS Concert Brass with 186 points. Rockingham won the third section with 186 points, with Garforth achieving 185 points in second place.

And in the fourth section Lofthouse 2000 triumphed with 176 points, with Skelmanthorpe B in second place with 175.

Now, each winner and runner-up in the five sections will go on to represent Yorkshire at the National Brass Band Championships of Great Britain at the Conference Centre in Harrogate in September.

Peggy Tomlinson, Yorkshire Regional Brass Band Committee's regional secretary, said: "The competition has gone very well.

"This is an important fixture in the brass band year, and St George's is the traditional home of the Yorkshire Championships. It has been well received by the audience and has been a great weekend."

Mrs Tomlinson said the competition was of a very high standard because seven out of the 12 bands competing in the championship section were already in the top 20 world brass band rankings. The Championships have been running since 1945 and have been hosted in Bradford for more than 30 years.

e-mail: ali.davies@telegraphandargus.co.uk

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