ARTICLES

Post Match Analysis:
West of England Regional Championships 2002

Fourth Section:
The Students Union, Bristol
Saturday 6th April
Adjudicator: Barry Thompson
Commences: 12.00am

Results:

1. St. Dennis (B. Minear): 20 183
2. Hayle Town (D. Johnston): 16 182
3. Pendennis Brass (Falmouth) (G. Thomas): 8 179
4. New Forest Brass (J. Floyd): 7 178
5. Sidmouth Town (A. Harvey): 13 177
6. Shrewton Silver (M. Dunford): 2 176
7. Camborne “B” (A. Pope): 17 174
8. Wilton and District (D. Chalk): 14 173
9. Bratton Silver (V. Beer): 3 172
10. Watchet Royal British Legion (D. Tilling): 9 171
11. Downton (R. Wright): 6 170
12. Chalford Training (D. Witts): 1 168
13. Wemouth Concert Brass (A. Davies): 21 167
14. Hatherleigh Silver (A. Edwards): 18 166
15. Shanklin Town Brass (M. Lewis): 22 165
16. Pillowell Silver (C. Lewis): 11 164
17. Porthleven Town (F. Evans): 23 163
18. Sandleheath (D. Marlow): 10 162
19. Midsomer Norton and Radstock (A. Lowe): 12 161
20. Drybrook and District Silver (D. Ventura): 4 160
21. Bideford Town (T. Lisett): 5 159
22. Okehampton Excelsior (R. Beardon): 15 158
23. Bude Town (C. Gay): 19 157

It’s always nice when your predictions come true, and when it came to the Fourth Section, St. Dennis made sure that our legendary “Kiss of Death” that has so far just about wrecked every band in the country we have tipped didn’t apply to them.

To many, to win the Fourth Section may not seem to be a great achievement, but when a band has tasted the heights of coming 6th at the Royal Albert Hall in the company of the likes of Fairey’s, Fodens and Grimethorpe Colliery and then found themselves at the very bottom of the contesting tree less than twenty five years later, a win here is every bit as fine as a mention off the stage in London.

St. Dennis won, and hopefully it will see a renaissance for one of the most famous names in West Country banding. Brian Minear has done sterling work with the band and this was a well deserved success, that will see them represent the West of England with pride and a real chance of further success come September and Torquay. Joining them will be Hayle Town under the guidance of Derek Johnston and Pendennis Brass taken by Glyn Thomas.

All three bands found favour with adjudicator, Barry Thompson, with the top two in particular a clear head and short neck ahead, but as we mentioned all three as bands to watch in our pre match analysis, we too were pleased with ourselves (for once we hear you say).

New Forest Brass were fourth, with Sidmouth fifth and Shrewton Town (who we thought would come 4th in our pre match tipping) making up the top six.

Below this it was the usual story of lost chances, bad luck, poor intonation and a basic lack of observing the basics, but overall the standard was pretty good and that is saying something from a field of twenty three bands.

Camborne B did very well to come 7th on their first outing at the contest, whilst Wilton and District should be delighted to come 8th and continue their improvement that has seen them now jump from 27th in 1999 to 8th in 2002. Well Done! Bratton Silver continued on the upward trail coming 9th (an improvement of two places from 2001), whilst Watchet RBL came 10th on their first contesting outing here. 11th place went to Downton who will be pleased with their performance and considering the band were placed 20th in 2000 and 21st in 2001, this may be a band that has finally hit some form.

12th to 16th places were taken by Chalford Training (up an impressive 8 places from 2001), Wemouth Concert Brass (13th on their first outing), Hatherleigh Silver (down 3 places), Shanklin Town (15th on their debut) and Pillowell (a lowly 16th after not competing last year).

The dying embers were taken up by the bands filling the low spots of 17th to 23rd, with Porthleven coming the highest (down 5 from 2001), Sandlehurst 18th on their first outing, Midsomer Norton and Radstock 19th (down 2), Drybrook and District 20th (after not competing last year), Bideford 21st (after a gap of two years), Okehampton Excelsior 22nd (on their debut) and finally Bude Town (last but not disgraced on their debut).

© 4BarsRest

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