2008 Scottish Regional Championship - Postcard from Glenrothes

There were plenty of things that went right in Glenrothes on the weekend - including a Scottish rugby win and a long overdue victory for a certain band...

It was a great weekend for the Scottish Brass Band Association in its new venue in Glenrothes. The move was welcomed by just about everyone – players, conductors and supports alike and it seems that the Scottish banding scene now has a number of compact and well appointed concert halls in which they can hold their well run events in the future. 

With the rugby team beating the English at Murrayfield too, things have perhaps never looked quite as rosy!  

15th win

In the Championship Section Whitburn’s 15th Scottish title was its first for nine years  - and we hear the party is still going on!

Meanwhile a good show from reigning champion Kirkintilloch conducted by Norwegian Selmer Simonsen pushed them all the way whilst local favourite, Kingdom Brass produced its best ever result at the championship to knock the fancied Scottish Co-op into a disappointing 4th place.

Lower Sections

In the Lower Sections, there were wins for Bo’ness and Carriden, Campbeltown, Dalkeith and Monktonhall and Renfrew Burgh, and the 4BR pre-match predictions turned out to be not bad at all.

It was encouraging to note that talking to the various adjudicators, they felt that they were signs that there were a number of solid bands in the making in the lower sections in particular and a number could well go onto Harrogate and post strong challenges for honours. 

An away win in England is always well worth a celebration for the Scots, so perhaps there is something really to look forward to in September in particular.
 
The challenge for Scotland is to see if the qualifying bands can improve on their dismal record in the Finals in recent years. There are no guarantees, but the it seems things are heading in the right direction at the moment.

K. Crookston

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