They call it the best free show on earth and it certainly felt that way when the band took part in the Whit Friday marches in Saddleworth for the first time for three years. It was a year not to be missed, with a huge turnout of both bands and audience enjoying warm sunny weather and the half term holiday. A record 160 bands visited the Saddleworth villages over Friday afternoon and evening.
After a final outdoor rehearsal with friends and deps joining us, we hopped on the bus and began our route, meticulously planned by Cath Tinker and David Charlesworth, hoping to visit nine or ten villages with a little luck (and not too much traffic).
In the end, we made it to Friezland, Denshaw, Delph and Dobcross over the course of the afternoon and evening. We were delighted to welcome Danny Wakefield back as MD for the day, conducting our first performance of our standing march, Castell Coch by Welsh March King, T J Powell.
Our first stop was at Friezland, a contest open to bands from the third and fourth sections. The band played well and adjudicator Tim Newbigging praised our euphoniums for their technical playing and Alan Hall for his lyrical cornet solos, commenting that the band “has promise this one!”
Our next stop was Delph. It was thrilling to march down King Street through enormous cheering crowds playing our street march, Maybe It’s Because I’m a Londoner, by Hubert Gregg. We played Castell Coch in the iconic contest ring on Gartside Street, performing shortly after Brighouse and Rastrick Band gave their contest winning performance of George Allen Knight Templar. We were placed 54th out of 80 bands, which felt like a decent result as many of the bands taking part were from higher sections.
Late afternoon found us in Denshaw, where we had an opportunity to watch Chris Robertson marching towards us with the British Open trophy shield ahead of Brighouse and Rastrick Band, and also to take in the views and a cheeky ice cream before we played and were placed 51st.
Our final stop was at Dobcross, and before we played we had some time to mingle, have a drink and catch up with friends from other bands as a huge full moon rose over the Tame
Our final Whit Friday performance of Castell Coch was underneath the fairy lights that twinkle from the Whitebeam trees that frame Churchfields village green, to a large and very appreciative audience. A perfect way to end an exciting, tiring, hilarious day of music making with friends – the best brass band memories are made of this!
Comments are closed