Wrexham Brass (Glyndwr) has informed 4BR that they intend to appeal against the decisions made against them and their conductor Wayne Ruston to ban the band and MD from future Welsh Regional contest
Strongly worded
In a strongly worded press release in response to the Welsh Regional Council they state:
"Wrexham Brass is extremely disappointed that the Welsh Regional Council has seen fit to exclude the band and its Musical Director from the Welsh Regional Contest for periods of one year and two years respectively.
The band and Mr Ruston will vigorously pursue appeals against these sanctions.
In order not to prejudice the outcome of that appeal the band is not in a position to make a full statement at this time regarding the events in Swansea or its correspondence with the Regional Secretary both before and after the 2011 contest regarding the appointment of the First Section adjudicator.
We assure the banding community, both in Wales and further afield, that we are determined to ensure that the full facts are made available at the conclusion of our appeal.
The Welsh Regional Council and Mr Morris have simply conducted proceedings in a 'kangaroo court' mannerWrexham Brass (Glyndwr)
We can confirm that despite our letter dated 28th March to the Regional Secretary, Philip Morris, he and the Regional Council have completely ignored the basic principles of natural justice that ought to have applied to this investigation.
Neither the band nor Mr Ruston has been provided with detailed particulars of our 'wrongdoing', the evidence against us and, most importantly, offered no opportunity to defend the charges.
The Welsh Regional Council and Mr Morris have simply conducted proceedings in a 'kangaroo court' manner.
Almost all other competent bodies exercising a disciplinary function such as County Football Associations are able to provide proper and fair procedures and we see no reason why the Welsh Regional Council cannot do the same.
Whilst we are an amateur movement, it does not call for it to be run in an amateurish way.
Furthermore, Wrexham Brass was staggered to find that Mr Morris thought it appropriate to publish the news of our ban in the press before having the common courtesy to notify the band.
The band did not receive official notification of our punishment until 21st April, the day after the news was published by 4barsrest.
In fact we have reason to believe that Mr Morris’ assertion that our ban was decided at the Welsh Regional Council meeting on 19th April is entirely false.
We had been notified at our rehearsal on Monday 18th April by our friends at Rogerstone Band that we were about to be banned.
We find it somewhat ironic to have been found guilty of conduct detrimental to the reputation of the Contest when the Regional Council and the Regional Secretary have dealt with the whole series of events in an unfair and incompetent manner.
Wrexham Brass and Wayne Ruston now look forward to defending these charges through the appeal process."
