The Blue Lake Brass Festival held in Mount Gambier on November 20 was a great success with the inauguration of the two new awards attracting much interest.

Band of the Year

The Marion City Band, who won the ‘C’ Grade music, the best band in the Street march and the best drum major on the day also took home the Lions Club of Mount Gambier Band of the Year Award which sees the band holding a perpetual shield and a $2000 grant to further their activities in the future.

The Lions Club of Mount Gambier members were thrilled to learn a couple of days after the award was granted that Marion intend to use the cash grant to contribute towards their third band establishment which will comprise predominantly juniors. “This news is reflective of what the Lions youth program is all about and we never expected this to occur when Marion was chosen for the award,” stated festival organiser Allen Woodham.

Pictured here, Darren McDonald claims the Lions Award for Marion Band with Eric Roughana and Allen Woodham.

Lions District Governor Award

It was a very humbling experience to receive an award such as this for working to raise the profile of the brass band community.Allen Woodham, Blue Lake Festival organiser

On Tuesday 23rd Allen and his wife Sandra were presented with a Lions District Governor award at a dinner meeting for their efforts in staging the festival in recent years.

“It was a very humbling experience to receive an award such as this for working to raise the profile of the brass band community.” Allen said.

KEA Musical Director of the Year Award

The KEA Musical Director of the Year Award was presented to Ron Moore from Maroondah Brass. Ron gets the use of a luxury KEA vehicle for a 7 day holiday at a time of his choosing in the next 12 months. Ron also holds the KEA perpetual shield for 12 months in recognition of his commitment to0 community banding.

Money

All up there was just on $8000 paid to the community bands that attended in attendance fees, prize awards and the Lions Band of the Year Award.

Fitting Finale

Maroondah Brass capped off the weekend by playing at the Mount Gambier Anglican Church on Sunday morning to a packed congregation who praised the band for its presentation and affinity with the excellent acoustics in the building,. The people just sat there after the service ended and listened as the band played some final items and no-one moved. It was a fitting finale to a wonderful weekend of fine band performances.

The Lions Club will fine tune a few aspects for the 2011 event and hopefully more bands will make the trip and enjoy the festivals uniqueness.