A week after the Scottish Open Championship was held in Perth, the Bonar Hall in Dundee hosted the domestic battle for supremacy in the Scottish Challenge Shield.

Wide variety

With a wide variety of own choice selections from the bands ranging in national grading from Fourth to First Section, there was much for the open adjudication trio of Sandy Smith, Philip Harper and Richard Evans to ponder before reaching their individual decisions.

Interestingly, like their counterparts at the Scottish Open, they did not all agree on their choice of a winner, although unlike Perth, there was not such a variable difference in opinion throughout the results list.

Blitz

A well structured performance of ‘Blitz’ gave Kirkintilloch Kelvin Brass a domestic ‘double’, following their Scottish Championship victory earlier in the year, with Charles Keenan leading his band to triumph in more ways than one.

The MD not only took the lead on the conductor’s podium but also drove the band mini bus to and from the contest – dropping off his celebrating players on their triumphant return home with the Scottish Challenge Shield and the £500 in their possession.

Arbroath Instrumental conducted by Michael Robertson was second, with Clackmannan & District Brass directed by Paul McKelvie in third. Section awards were claimed by Shotts’ St Patrick, Perthshire Brass and Queensferry Community Brass.

Comfortable margin

All three First Section bands claimed a ‘winners’ nod of favour with at least one of the judges, with Arbroath’s solidly delivered rendition of ‘Coventry Variations’ and Clackmannan’s energetic ‘A London Overture’ claiming top spots from Sandy Smith and Richard Evans respectively.

However, Kirkintilloch’s overall consistency in claiming two second places in addition to topping Phil Harper’s prize list gave them the title by a comfortable margin.

Bus driver

Kirkintilloch’s trombone player Ray Galt was understandably delighted by the playing as well as the transport arrangements of the winners. "I’ve known ‘Chic’ over 35 years and whilst I always knew he was a great conductor he surprised me with his bus driving skills!"

He added: "As the contest was in Dundee, many of our players from the east of Glasgow made their own way to the contest. However, Chic set off from Gourock at 6.00am, picked up along the way and arrived in Dundee at 9.00am for a rehearsal.

He then made the return journey after the contest. Goodness knows what time he got home! It just goes to show what true banding commitment is all about."

I’ve known ‘Chic’ over 35 years and whilst I always knew he was a great conductor he surprised me with his bus driving skills!Ray Galt

Impressed judges

The judges were equally impressed too, although they reserved their judgment to the MDs musical skills in leading Kirky to victory.

Sandy Smith told 4BR: "The top two or three bands were excellent with worthy winners, and they gave good performances on well chosen own choice works. I was impressed by the musical quality on show, although the overall standard did fall away somewhat behind the prize winners with some over ambitious choices.

Some of the tempo choices were wildly optimistic, and it was clear that a number of bands had concentrated on the openings of their pieces in a bid to create an impression, but fell away somewhat in the final sections."

Echo

Those sentiments were echoed by Philip Harper. "I particularly enjoyed the winner, whilst the two or three bands behind them also produced performances of real merit. Some other choices were a little too ambitious at times though. A number of bands over extended themselves."

Sounds

The duo also confirmed that they had enjoyed the open adjudication experience, although both felt that there was a need to carefully position the judges so that the overall sound picture from the bands was not too distorted.

"It was interesting that at times Philip heard a different balance to me," Sandy added.

"We both felt we could have been moved into a more central position without it affecting our independence. We didn’t confer before the results were announced as we handed our positions into the organisers as soon as the last band had finished, so it was interesting to find out what the outcome was – and how close we were in our overall opinions."

Promotion

The win means that Kirkintilloch Kelvin will head into the Championship Section in 2012 buoyed with confidence – although as Ray admitted, it will not be confidence that is misplaced, despite the win.

"We know we will have a difficult task ahead of us in the top section next year. It would have been nice to have been able to build for another season as we don’t want to just move up and down between sections year in year out.

This result shows our potential though, and with a great MD and plenty of young players coming through the ranks we are confident of holding our own."

Distinct levels

As the contest day was talked over in the nearby bars of Dundee, the results also seemed to confirm the distinct levels of contesting strata north of the border.

The top five bands in the overall prize list were all from the First Section, whilst Shott’s sixth place gave them the ‘Best Second Section Band’ Award for their performance of ‘The Accursed Huntsman’ ahead of rivals Irvine & Dreghorn and Granite City Brass.

Perthshire Brass took the ‘Best Third Section Band’ Award under the baton of George Annan for their performance of ‘Hollywood’ ahead of rivals Dumfries Town.

The ‘Best Fourth Section Band’ Award was claimed by Queensferry Community Brass directed by James Anderson with their rendition of ‘Triptych’ ahead of Callander Brass, Tayport Instrumental and MacTaggart Scott Loanhead.

Result:
Scottish Challenge Shield
Adjudicators: Sandy Smith, Richard Evans, Richard Evans.

Sandy Smith/Richard Evans/Philip Harper = Total

1. Kirkintilloch Kelvin Brass (Charles Keenan): 2/2/1 = 5
2. Arbroath Instrumental (Michael Robertson): 1/5/2 = 8
3. Clackmannan & District Brass (Paul McKelvie): 5/1/3 = 9
4. Johnstone Silver (Paul Kiernan): 3/3/4 = 10
5. Broxburn & Livingston (Charlie Farren): 6/4/5 = 15
6. Shotts St.Patrick's Brass (Michael Marzella): 4/6/9 = 19
7. Irvine & Dreghorn (John Boax ): 7/7/8 = 22
8. Granite City Brass (Alan Haggart): 8/8/7 = 23
9. Perthshire Brass (George D Annan): 9/12/ 6 = 27
10. Dumfries Town (Peter Heyes): 12/9/10 = 31
11. Queensferry Community Brass (James Anderson): 10/11/12 = 33
12. Callander Brass (Ian Milligan): 13/10/11 = 34
13. Tayport Instrumental (Frank Culross): 11/13/14 = 37
14. MacTaggart Scott Loanhead (Mark Bell): 14/14/13 = 41

Best First Section Band: Kirkintilloch Kelvin Brass
Best Second Section Band: Shotts St .Patrick's Brass
Best Third Section Band: Perthshire Brass
Best Fourth Section Band: Queensferry Community Brass