The 87th West of England Bandsman’s Festival takes place on the 18th June.

Tradition

As has become tradition at the open air contest, the event will start at 10.00am with bands marching through the small village to the contest field venue. During the march they will be under the eagle eye of deportment adjudicator Gareth Roberts MBE.

With 22 entries in the seven different sections, adjudicator William Relton will be kept busy awarding 34 trophies to bands and individual players.

Royal Trophy

These include the magnificent Royal Trophy, presented to the Festival by the Prince of Wales, Duke of Cornwall, in 1913. In addition the total prize fund this year tops £4,500.

Contenders

There is a fine turn out of local Cornish bands as usual, but with visitors also making the trip from South Wales and Leicestershire.

A particular delight to the organisers is the entry of four training bands, giving many young musicians the chance to experience contesting at first hand and it is hoped, encouraging them to pursue their hobby into senior Bands as the years pass by.

Test pieces

The test pieces chosen this year range from Geoffrey Brand’s arrangement of Dvorak’s ‘Carnival Overture’ for the Championship Section to ‘Peniel’ by Eric Ball, which he wrote for the Festival in 1976, for the First Section.

Others include, ‘The Dark Side of The Moon’ by Paul Lovatt-Cooper, ‘The Prizewinners’ by Philip Sparke and ‘Voices of Youth’ by Edward Gregson.

Also included is one of William Relton’s own pieces, ‘Three Memories for Brass’.

Cornish Composers are represented by the ever popular march, ‘Cornish Cavalier’ by Billy Moyle.

In the evening the bands march back through the village, the winners proudly bearing their trophies before them4BR

March back

In the evening the bands march back through the village, the winners proudly bearing their trophies before them, with the winning band in the Championship Section halting traffic in the village to give a short concert, ending with a performance of ‘Deep Harmony’.

Competitors:

Championship Section:
Camborne Town
Foresters Brass 2000
Helston Town
Mount Charles
St Dennis

First Section:
Camborne Brass
Foresters Brass 2000
Rogerstone

Second Section:
Bodmin
Bugle Silver
Heyl
St Stythians

Third Section:
Redruth Town

Fourth Section:
Launceston Town
Liskeard Silver
Okehampton Excelsior
Tiverton Town

Youth Section:
Mount Charles

Training Section:
Launceston
Lostwithiel
Plymouth Soundhouse Junior
St Austell Junior

March to the field commence at 10:00am.
Contest commences 11:00am

Admission: Adults £7, Under 16 £5, Under 6 Free, Family Ticket £20 (includes 2 adults and up to 3 children). Cars £3.