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West of England Festival

On Saturday June 17^th twenty one bands will compete for the 33 prizes available at one of the country’s oldest music competitions.

Although the outdoor venue gives a general air of informality, players and audience treat the contest as a very serious competition.
 

Competition is run to the Five National Grades. A Youth Section is also included, but to cover local considerations this is run under our own Festival rules. The most significant departure is that we allow two senior players to take the stage.

Each class has a set test piece, the placings for which decides the Section winners. Additionally a second piece is set for the top sections, usually a Chorus, Hymn Tune or March. This is an historical hang over, and until more recent times the points awarded were aggregated to decide the class winners. We now feel the Test Piece is the major piece, but because of the nature of our audience the secondary piece has been retained to give variety.

The march to and from the contest grounds was introduced at the inaugural Festival in 1912, and has been retained as a popular feature ever since, although optional for the bands. The morning march starts at 10am, before the contest itself and is but a short distance from the village centre. The Deportment Class is now adjudicated on the march, although when initially introduced the Deportment Judge sat at a small platform alongside the main stage and the band was rather oppressively assessed from the moment of registration.

At the close of the contest the bands return to the village centre, where the Royal Trophy winners sign off the day by playing in the square. This is now well organised, but in early years there were some chaotic scenes as the village could not contain the mass of people, compounded by bands gaining on each other on the long march from Peniel (the then venue), often resulting in up to three bands playing simultaneously in the centre of the village.

The most significant change has been to transfer the contest from the grounds at Peniel to the present venue at Molinnis Park. Cloaked in the historic past and set in atmospheric surroundings, Peniel had become the spiritual home of the Festival, but the total inadequacy of car parking arrangements for an increasingly mobile population and the lack of basic services was making it increasingly untenable. It was a brave decision to move, but one that probably ensured the long-term survival of the Festival.

The Festival is not a fund raising venture for any organisation, its sole purpose being the continuation of the contest for the greater enjoyment of brass band music, as is defined by our Registered Charity status. Whilst attendance's have fallen away from those heady prewar years, it would still take a larger hall than Cornwall possesses to house the contest indoors.

This year a total of 21 bands have entered the contest:

Championship Section

Bodmin Town

Camborne Town

Mount Charles

First Section

Lydmet Lydney

Helston Town

St Dennis

St Keverne

Wantage Silver A

Second Section

Bugle silver

Hayle Town

Soundhouse Brass

St Stythians

St Pinnock

Third Section

Pendennis Brass

St Breward Silver

South Molton Town

Fourth Section

Hatherleigh Silver

Redruth Town

Constantine Silver

Youth Section

Mount Charles Youth

St Dennis Youth

The Prize Money this year will total almost £4500 with the winners of The Championship Section being able to collect a Cheque for £1000, the highest cash prize in the West of England at a set test piece contest. Others Sections have not been neglected with a First Prize in the First Section of £500, Second Section £250 and Third, Fourth and Youth Section Winners £150.

The Championship Section has been set, The Year of The Dragon by Philip Sparke and the hymn arrangement Love Divine by Philip Wilby. First Section Bands have Music for The Common Man by Kenneth Downie and the march Viva Birkinshaw by William Rimmer. In the Second Section it is Diamond Heritage by Darrol Barry and a hymn tune by Kenneth Downie, Lord of all Hopefulness. Just one piece for the Third Section which is Northern Landscapes by Peter Graham and for the Fourth Section, Partita by Edward Gregson. The Youth Section also tackle a piece by Philip Sparke, Kaleidoscope.

The March to the contest will commence at 10am on Saturday 17^th June with the contest itself starting at 10:45am.

More information can be found at www.buglebandcontest.co.uk