Shaftesbury Town Silver Band - Contest 2019!

Shaftesbury Town Silver Band par-took in the West of England Brass Band Association Competion March 9th, 2019.

In our new smart blazer uniform, we left Shaftesbury at 6.30am! Stopping at Mere and Wincanton to pick up our players, we were on our way. 

No time to stop we were headed to Torquay.

Zoe Rodgers attended the draw on our behalf at 8.30am and on arrival we were soon informed we were playing 1st!

It was all hands on deck to get the coach unloaded quickly so Jon (the driver and 2nd Cornet player), could get the coach parked and back to us in time.

Those already in Torquay met us at the Riveria Centre, wrist bands were handed out and the band made their way to the registration area.

The registration cards, were handed out and jackets changed to our Concert Jackets.

Due to the fact we were the first band of the day on our stage, this meant it was down to us to play the National Anthem, so Beki handed out the Hymn books also.

One by One, we all registered and waited patiently for Martin to join us whilst he waited for Jon to return from parking the coach.

Sadly due to techincal issues, Jon was unable to join us so it was down to Emma (13 years old) to hold her part on her own!

Then we were called and led up the stairs to the stage. We all got on stage and sat down waiting for the off. the National Anthem was announed and Ray started the drum roll, the audience stood and this was it! This was the first thing the audience and adjucators were going to hear from us, it had to be good.

With Sue's practiced and well placed cymbal crashes we started the day in a brilliant fashion.

Then the audience sat down and the competition started. The announcer asked the adjucators to confirm they were ready and the whistle went, here we go.

Martin lifted the baton and we played Stantonbury Festival. In just over 10 minutes it was all over. All the nerves disappaited and we exited the stage.

Unfortunatley there were a few slips from individuals but we had played well.

Once the next band were on stage we were led backstage where we changed into our comfy polo shirts and sweatshirts before exiting the area to re-load the coach.

Now we had the wait. There were 17 bands in our section so we had to wait until about 2pm for the results.

During this time, approximately 4 band members had found some chairs and a little coffee table, over the next couple of hours around 20 of us had secured seats and tables coming and going for food and looking at the trade stands... some even procuring new instruments!

Then the whisper came round that the last band was playing so we started to get ready to enter the arena. A strong contingent departed into the arena to await the results, we gathered at the back nervously waiting.

(Previously it has not been our best result).

The Announcer  brought out the committee and the adjucators who commented that the bands needed to go back to basics, with tempo, tuning and intonation.

Then the results came in, in 6th Position was the band that played number x, it wasn't us.. we didn't expect it to be. Next, in 5th Position was the band that played number x, it wasn't us. Then there were the knowing looks between each other, the "oh well never mind we tried, we competed".  Next, in 4th Position was the band that played number 1. We fell silent to check we'd all heard that correctly and then with tears in our eyes we errupted in jubliation! That was winning for us. We didn't hear who came 3rd, 2nd or 1st.

Our secretary went upstairs to collect the comments whilst the others returned to our expanding chair invasion.

When the comments were collected, it transpired that we were in 3rd position right until the last band played, who just pipped us to the post. It didn't matter though.

The coach departed at 5pm in very high spirits.

To read more from the day, please follow the link to 4bars rest:

https://www.4barsrest.com/news/detail.asp?id=37523&fbclid=IwAR0e897Sz-piTTD1gMJVHsbtP4Qm73qVBGDtlslAEWfZepHXMOjMZZeO5ug