The British Federation of Brass Bands has informed 4BR that it remains upbeat about the forthcoming English National Championships, despite the late withdrawls of four more competing bands.

Encouraged

Despite the field being reduced to just 11 competitors, the BFBB has been encouraged by the news that the event will benefit from the support of its sponsor Besson Musical Instruments.

More money

In an encouraging development, as well as sponsoring the contest, Besson is offering an additional £1,000 to the winning band to assist with travel expenses to Montreux. This is in addition to the prize money and the £1,000 offered by the BFBB towards the winning band’s expenses.

The competition, which will be held at Preston Guild Hall on Saturday, 26th June, is the qualifying contest for the 2011 European Championships in Montreux, Switzerland.

Of course we are disappointed and slightly annoyed that some of our top bands have withdrawn at such late noticeBFBB

Grateful

A spokesman for the BFBB told 4BR: "We are extremely grateful to Besson for their continued support of this event. They sponsor numerous National Championships as well as being the principal sponsor of the European Championships."

Disappointed

He also went on to say: "Of course we are disappointed and slightly annoyed that some of our top bands have withdrawn at such late notice. This is unprecedented in a major contest in this country but many of the bands highlight cost as their main difficulty in these testing economic times."

They concluded: "Our plans will now need to be adjusted for the day and this will inconvenience the remaining competing bands as well as the paying public."

New times

The event will now commence at 10.00am with a 45 minute concert by the visiting American band, the National State Band, from Little Rock, Arkansas who are on tour in the UK.

The contest will start at 11.00am with a break for lunch at 12.45pm. The second half of the contest will commence at 1.15pm.

A short concert by the defending 2009 champion, Black Dyke, will precede the results at 4.00pm, although timings are approximate.