*
banner

2012 Welsh Regional Championship — Postcard from Swansea

Iwan Fox looks back at the event's in and around a memorable weekend in Wales.

Cory
Cory: The next generation?

It was certainly a momentous weekend in Wales.

Never mind a third Grand Slam in eight years for the boys in red. This was all about a ninth (and perhaps final) Welsh Area Championship victory for Bob Childs and Cory.

The rumours had been filtering their way around the Brangwyn Hall, like careless whispers of indiscretion from errant French husbands after a dirty weekend away in Cardiff to watch the match.

Tour rules

Tour rules don’t apply in banding. Even the merest hint of something going on gets back to other halves. And the word on the street was that Bob Childs was planning to play away from the home he had been master of for the past 12 years.

Old flame

Professional to the end, he didn’t let a word of his pedning departure from the world’s number 1 ranked band fall from his lips, but the you sensed there was something different about the celebrations as he held the curvaceous Welsh Area Trophy once more. 

It was as if he was giving an old flame a last loving cuddle.

Don’t bet against him coming back though.

Frenchmen may have a more laissez-faire attitude to long term relationships, but Welshmen do miss their home comforts more than most. A 10th Welsh title may yet be inked in on his CV.

Postcard
Welsh Olympic athlete Venissa Head played with Pontypool Band

Napoleon

Elsewhere, the Grand Slam certainly ensured that the Hall on Saturday was sparsely littered with listeners, although the good news for the Welsh Regional Committee was that the number of competitors was up (the event even boasted a player in the Third Section who had actually taken part in the Olympic Games) and so were the takings.  

The cash register in the bar at the Brangwyn Hall rang like the bells of Notre Dame heralding the return of Napoleon Bonaparte.

Stakhanov

Things are looking up in Welsh banding, despite the desperate need for new blood to help the Stakhanov workers on the Regional Committee.

Even Mrs Broadbent lent a helping hand to a group of volunteers who are doing a quite remarkable job in the circumstances.

The new Welsh Banding Forum will be looking to see how it can encourage not just bands to provide much needed assistance, but how they can get more people to forsake the national game for a couple of hours to listen to some top class musical entertainment.

Once more Wales sends a scrum full of high quality qualifiers to Cheltenham and London.

Pledge Man

People are missing a treat – even the bloke the 4BR Editor saw on Saturday night on the floor of his local pub: There he lay, as naked as a grotesque Botticelli cupid, oblivious to his predicament, sprayed and buffed with furniture polish to the colour Donatella Versace on a sunbed by his celebrating mates after Wales had won the Grand Slam.

The next day his wife rang to say that she had forgiven him; mainly because he now smelled better than he had at anytime in the last ten years of their marriage, and that be collapsing asleep on the floor of the living room when he eventually got home he had inadvertently done the dusting for the first time in his life.

That’s what prize winning relationships are all about...

Iwan Fox



Boarshurst Silver Band - Manger Folkehogskule Brass Band

Tuesday 21 March • Boarshurst Band Club . Greenbridge Lane. Greenfield . Saddleworth OL3 7EW


Regent Hall Concerts - Royal Welsh College of Music Brass Band

Friday 24 March • Regent Hall (The Salvation Army) . 275 Oxford Street. London W1C2DJ


Regent Hall Concerts - Guards Brass

Friday 24 March • Regent Hall (The Salvation Army). 275 Oxford Street. London W1C2DJ


Regent Hall Concerts - The Household Troops Band of the Salvation Army

Friday 24 March • Regent Hall (The Salvation Army). 275 Oxford Street. London W1C2DJ


Regent Hall Concerts - New York Staff Band of the Salvation Army

Saturday 25 March • Regent Hall (The Salvation Army). 275 Oxford Street. London. . W1C2DJ


Greenfield Brass Band

March 21 • We are looking for a Solo Baritone player to join our ranks, we are 3rd section based in Saddleworth and have a varied selection of concerts and contests scheduled for the rest of the year. Also looking for Cornet players, seats negotiable.


Putney and Wimbledon Brass Band

March 21 • Following our success at winning the 4th Section London & Southern Counties regionals we are now looking for a solo/ rep cornet and Bb bass to join us for the Whit Friday Marches and the Nationals and to share our journey into the 3rd Section.


Reading Spring Gardens Brass Band

March 21 • Reading Band is a hard-working, positive and (most importantly) welcoming third section brass band who have a vacancy for a capable and committed ** EEb BASS ** player.. . For more information about the band please visit our website.


Mike Sheppard

B.A. (Hons) Music
Composer, conductor, teacher, author


               

 © 2023 4barsrest.com Ltd