The main reason for our London weekend was to attend the National Brass Band Championships at the iconic Royal Albert Hall. Just as countless footballers dream of playing in the cup final at Wembley, so do thousands of brass band enthusiasts aspire to play at ‘The Nationals’. I first attended the event in 1968 and this year was my 22nd time, only to listen, not to play.
Twenty bands from 8 regions covering the whole of Great Britain descend upon the capital. They draw for order of play, all play the same test piece and three adjudicators are in an enclosure so they can’t see which band is playing. It’s a ‘stay and go as you please’ event for the audience and we heard 12 performances. As for the results – In third place was the Black Dyke band from Yorkshire, second place Foden’s Band from Cheshire in the North West Region and the winners were the Flowers Band from Gloucester. It was Flowers first win in the 78 year history of the championship and also the first ever win for a band from the West of England Region.
John's Postcards 