The Reg Vardy domination of the North of England Regional Championship continued in Darlington in the weekend.

33rd time

Conducted by Dr Nicholas Childs, their performance of ‘Paganini Variations’ was enough to sway adjudicator Jim Davies and give the band the title for the 33rd time and the tenth since 2000. Close behind them came EYMS under Alan Morrison, with Felling in third.

The victory was boosted by the performances of the Reg Vardy bass and percussion sections, both of who earned individual rewards.

Delighted off stage

Band spokesperson Laura Jackson told 4BR that the band felt they had delivered a performance worthy of the title: "We came off stage delighted. Nick Childs really brought something out of the score and we were happy that we were able to deliver what he wanted.

The main feeling was that if anyone could better it, then they fully deserved to take the title."

Area arecord

And whilst it gave a very happy MD another North of England title, Dr Nicholas Childs still has a long way to go to meet the personal tally of Area wins now notched up by Colin Dye on 2nd baritone. The victory gave him a personal tally of 28 wins at the contest in 38 years.

As Laura added: "I don’t think anyone will come close to beating that record – and he wants to add some more to the total too!"

Reg Vardy will now start preparations for the Grand Shield under the Black Dyke conductor. "We are confident of doing well there," Laura added. "And we are sure we can build further for the English Nationals."

We came off stage delighted. Nick Childs really brought something out of the score and we were happy that we were able to deliver what he wantedReg Vardy

Nearly but not quite

In the end it was EYMS under Alan Morrison, who from the number six draw became the first band to really demonstrate all the musical necessities required to play Wilby’s iconic work.

And Alan was more than happy that he was able to lead EYMS back to Kensington after the disappointment of missing out last year: "The band has really bounced back in the last 12 months. Last year was a blow, but the work put in with both myself and David Lancaster has been first rate."

Alan added: "We showed good form at Butlins and have built further on that here. We got what we deserved and with some high profile concerts and the Senior Cup to look forward to. I think we are improving on our potential all the time."

Appealed

With the top two bands the qualification pick in most neutrals opinion, it was Felling, under the baton of former Reg Vardy player Stephen Malcolm who run the duo the closest. They produced a performance that although not error free, appealed to many within the hall as an outside bet for qualification.

Addressing the audience, adjudicator Jim Davies highlighted the point that he had no problems placing the top four in order, whilst he admitted he had to give further thought to placing the bands at the bottom end of the results table.

That gave last year’s qualifiers NASUWT Riverside 4th, whist the remaining top six places went to the returning Lockwood and Fishburn.

First Section:

Sunday’s contesting day started with the five First Section bands tackling ‘Le Carnival Romain’ – a contest that left adjudicator Jim Davies disappointed with the overall standard he’d listened to.

Irony

With the finals now to be held at Cheltenham, there was a touch of irony that the winner came from it's former home.

Harrogate conducted by Craig Ratcliffe gave a bravura account of the Berlioz overture, although the MD who was naturally delighted was in apologetic mode, as he had to miss the immediate celebrations as he had to dash to conduct his school band in another competition during the afternoon.

He was though — 'looking forward to a few celebratory beers later in the day'.

Berlioz fan

4BR eventually caught up with Craig, who was able to reflect on the victory. "I’m a great Berlioz fan," he said. "I wanted to bring something of the orchestral colour to our performance, so took to the stage with the full compliment of six percussionists."

Craig was also delighted that Jim Davies had pointed out in his remarks to the audience that the winners were ‘head and shoulders’ above the rest on the day, and that in his written remarks he stated that the band had delivered ‘an orchestral performance’.

Great to hear

"That was great to hear and read," he added. "I have to thank everyone for the amount of hard work they put in for this and the performances of all the players – especially Andrew Hodge on euphonium and Daniel Dickinson on trombone.

They won the individual awards, but it was a team effort – as shown by the basses and the percussion picking up their awards too."

Fine effort

Making the journey to Cheltenham will be Westoe directed by Jason Smith, who bounced back from their relegation from the Championship Section last year to lay down the early contest marker that was only beaten by Harrogate’s fine effort.

Missing out on a return trip to the finals this year was Wansbeck’s Ashington under Rob Bushnell in third.

Second Section:

The Second Section on Saturday afternoon saw eight bands vying for qualification on Eric Ball’s ‘Resurgam’.

However, the iconic work once again proved to be the overall winner, with adjudicator David Lancaster giving an informed and detailed appraisal of the pitfalls that even the winners fell into on the day.

Clear winner

In the end it was Catterick Brass led by the debutante conductor, Brenden Wheeler, whose musical account was the clear winner in the adjudicator’s opinion.

The young Australian was practically speechless, before heaping praise on his band and in particular, principal euphonium player, Hong Liang, a student at the RNCM in Manchester, in what was his first ever brass band contest.

Early success

Brenden later told 4BR that he couldn’t have hoped for a better start to his conducting career – although he had thought he wouldn’t have taken up the baton quite as early as he has done.

"David King told me to make sure I had done all the playing I wanted to do before conducting, but given the circumstances I’m glad I’ve started off – especially with a win!"

With Catterick’s usual MD Stuart Halliday posted to the Falklands, Brenden was persuaded to take up the conducting duties – and he is thoroughly enjoying it.

"The circumstances of me taking over were a bit unusual, but we are an unusual band with so many of the personnel in the forces.

I grabbed the chance and have enjoyed every minute of its since, especially as I can carry on playing in my day job with the Heavy Cavalry Cambrai Band. No we have to make sure there are no logistical problems to overcome before the Finals."

Cock-a-hoop

There was a neat touch of political support shown by the Mayor of Darlington, after he told the audience on Sunday evening how delighted he was that his home town band of Cockerton Silver had qualified for the National Finals.

The defending champions musical interpretation under the baton of George Nicklin wasn’t without its uncomfortable moments, but it also benefited from some fine euphonium playing to claim its finals berth for a second year in a row.

Just missing out on another trip to the finals was South Milford, who once again showed their growing maturity under Martin Hall’s direction by claiming third place.

Third Section:

The opening salvos of the weekend came in the Third Section, with Philip Wilby’s ‘A Little Light Music’ proving to be a real musical challenge, but also a highly enjoyable one for the six bands involved.

It was the in form York Railway Institute under Gordon Eddison who took the spoils to return to the finals for a second year in a row.

National title

Secretary Dawn Groves told 4BR that the band now hopes to try and better their 5th place performance and try and bring the National title back to the North of England.

"We have been working so hard over the past year or so, and the results show that it has paid off. Gordon is a wonderful conductor who is bringing the best out of the players.

We have a real age range – from 16 – 70 plus, but it’s a great team who enjoy banding – and certainly enjoyed this piece."

Progress

That result confirms the progress made for the Northern Open winners and gave York their first Area title in over 20 years.

"We hope to go on and build from here," Dawn added. "...starting with the Tameside contest next weekend, where we are looking to do the same as we did here and go one better than last year and win the title."

The top bands certainly got to grips with the styles required of Wilby’s enjoyable test piece, and it was Malcolm Dibb’s Ripon City that gave a fine account from the number one draw to join York in Cheltenham.

It proved just enough to edge out another fine effort from East Riding of Yorkshire in third.

Fourth Section:

The enjoyable aperitif to the Championship Section on Sunday saw eight bands compete in a Fourth Section contest which proved to be the most keenly fought of the whole weekend.

Young talent

Taking the title and gaining qualification for the second year in a row was NASUWT Riverside Concert conducted by Bryan Tait, who will be joined at Cheltenham by Kingsway Printers Cleethorpes directed by Steve Askew.

Over the moon

Naturally Bryan was totally over the moon when he spoke to 4BR afterwards heaping praise on his ‘wonderful group of players’.

"I’m absolutely chuffed," Bryan said. "To win here is every bit as good a feeling as any I have enjoyed as a player. The band is wonderful – full of youngsters who are eager to learn, want to come to practice and want to improve. I get great support from everyone involved.

The only disappointment was that we could only take to the stage with 25 players and percussion as we had at least another 5 players waiting in the wings."

Winning feeling

The band’s win comes just three years after they first competed at the event, and it gave Bryan the first taste of just how the new generation of players enjoy that winning feeling.

"It’s great to see just what it meant to them all. I was lucky that I only had to buy a few celebratory pints for the parents in the band, as all the kids were going wild on sweets and pop!"

With the youngest player just 7 years of age, Brian is hoping that this is now the start of a long term development of young playing talent.

"Even though we lose players each year to university and work, I hope they carry on playing wherever they go. That’s a nice legacy to start, whilst we keep developing the next generation."

Number 1 draw

For the third time on the weekend, the band drawn number one found favour when it came to qualification with the man in the box. David Lancaster declared that Kingsway Printers Cleethorpes should head to Cheltenham, just pipping Stanhope Silver into third.

Although disappointed not to have qualified with 4th placed Backworth Colliery, Callum Harrison also showed that it is not just young playing talent that is being developed in the area – as the 17 year old delivered a remarkably mature individual performance with his band.

Hope celebration

The North of England Regional Competition became a celebration for Regional Secretary Alan Hope who was marking 20 years in his role. It was crowned by the news that two of his daughters and four of his grand children were part of the NASUWT Riverside Concert Brass success.

Results:

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Championship Section:
Sunday 19th March

Test Piece: Paganini Variations (Philip Wilby)
Adjudicator: Jim Davies

1. Reg Vardy (Dr Nicholas Childs)*
2. East Yorkshire Motor Services (Alan Morrison)*
3. Felling (Stephen Malcolm)
4. NASUWT Riverside (Ian Robinson)
5. Lockwood (John Roberts)
6. Fishburn (John Ward)
7. Easington Colliery (David Hirst)
8. Barton Town (Richard Evans)
9. Kirkbymoorside (John Woodward)
10. GT Group Peterlee (Norman Law)

Principal Cornet: Neil Day — EYMS
Soprano: Robin Winspear — Lockwood
Euphonium: EYMS
Bass Section: Reg Vardy
Percussion Section: Reg Vardy

*Two qualify for National finals

First Section:
Sunday 20th March

Test Piece: Le Carnival Romain (Hector Berlioz arr. Frank Wright)
Adjudicator: Jim Davies

1. Harrogate (Craig Ratcliffe)*
2. Westoe (Jason Smith)*
3. Wansbeck's Ashington Colliery (Rob Bushnell)
4. Shepherd Building Group (Richard Wilton)
5. Murton Colliery (Denis Noble)

Bass Section: Harrogate
Euphonium Award: Andrew Hodge — Harrogate
Trombone Award: Daniel Dickinson — Harrogate
Percussion Section: Harrogate

*Two bands qualify for finals

Second Section:
Saturday 19th March

Test Piece: Resurgam (Eric Ball)
Adjudicator: David Lancaster

1. Catterick Brass (Brenden Wheeler)*
2. Cockerton Prize Silver (George Nicklin)*
3. South Milford Brass (Martin Hall)
4. Houghton Brass (I. Langthorne)
5. Durham Miners' Association (Neil Davies)
6. Northumbria Water Ellington (Jonathan Fenwick)
7. Ferryhill Town (S. Norris)
8. Billingham Silver (Vaughan Evans)

Bass Section Award: Catterick
Euphonium Award: Cockerton
Soprano Award: Durham Miners Association

*Two bands qualify for finals

Third Section:
Saturday 19th March

Test Piece: A Little Light Music (Philip Wilby)
Adjudicator: Jim Davies

1. York Railway Institute (Gordon Eddison)*
2. Ripon City (Malcolm Dubb)*
3. East Riding of Yorkshire (D. Warley)
4. Bearpark & Esh Colliery (A. Hall)
5. Dunston Silver (John Bell)
6. Marske Brass (A Prest)

Percussion Trophy: York Railway Institute

*Two bands qualify for finals

Fourth Section:
Sunday 20th March

Test Piece: Prelude, Song and Dance (John Golland)
Draw: c10.00hrs
Commence: at the conclusion of Section One
Adjudicator: David Lancaster

1. NASUWT Riverside Concert (Bryan Tait)*
2. Kingsway Printers Cleethorpes (S.Askew) *
3. Stanhope Silver (Steve Robson)
4. Backworth Colliery (Callum Harrison)
5. Durham Constabulary (David Hazell)
6. Swinton and District Excelsior (N. Sutherland)
7. Knaresborough Silver (S. Morland)
8. Trimdon Concert Brass (P. Ash)

Principal Cornet: Kingsway Printers Cleethorpes
Euphonium: Stanhope Silver

*Two bands qualify for National Finals