One of the most famous names in British Open history made a welcome return to title winning form at Blackpool, as Wingates claimed the Senior Cup under the baton of Paul Andrews.

Champagne celebration

The overjoyed players and their MD even managed to buy a bottle of champagne at a local off license to toast their success in Formula 1 style outside the entrance to the Winter Gardens.

“I don’t quite know where we got it from,” Paul later told 4BR. “But we didn’t get to drink much of it after spraying it around, that’s for certain!”

Blanket of loveliness

After experiencing a series of ups and downs in recent years, the former six time Open champion claimed its second Senior Cup triumph since 2007 with a performance of ‘English Heritage’ that had adjudicator John Doyle telling the audience before the results had, ‘wrapped me in a blanket of musical loveliness.’

With fellow adjudicator Ian Brownbill also revealing that the duo felt that five bands had battled for the top four qualification places, Wingates will be joined in the Grand Shield next year by Kingdom Brass, whose principal cornet player Callum Tonner took the ‘Best Instrumentalist’ Award, alongside the Cornish duo of Mount Charles and Camborne.

The unlucky band to miss out was Ashton under Lyne, with the final top six place going to NASUWT Riverside.

Relegated

At the other end of the results table, East London Brass, Newtongrange, Felling and Wakefield Metropolitan did not find as much favour with the judges sat in the boomy acoustic of the Arena auditorium, as they fell through the relegation trap door to the Senior Trophy.

Significant victory

Wingates victory was also described as ‘one of the most significant’ in its recent history by the winning MD.

“The band has worked so hard to put the long term foundations in place both musically and with the organisation,” Paul Andrews said.

“We have been making solid progress and with fourteen players under the age of 23, everything about Wingates is changing for the good.

The test piece was ideal — such mature musical writing where every note had a purpose. We identified the ‘hot spots’ as we call them, and built our performance on discipline, precision and ensemble balance.”

He added: “I do ask a lot of my players — but the key elements of concentration, control and confidence paid off thanks to their commitment and hard work.

This was a victory they fully deserve for all they have put in. I think it will prove to be one of the most significant victories in the band’s recent history.”

Bubbly President

One of the happiest Wingates supporters to be found enjoying the spray of celebratory bubbly was Band President David Kaye, who has chronicled the history of the famous Westhoughton band.

“We have sensed something like for a little while,” he said. “The signs that the good times are coming back to Wingates are there to be seen now, led by Paul, who has really inspired the players.”

So much so in fact that, that David also revealed that an anonymous supporter had already penned a celebratory poem which ends with the stanza:

So now more historic silverware,
Will sit on the shelf at Wingates Square,
We can gaze with great pride at t'Senior Cup,
And our famous old band is back on the up!

Deaf pick up

Although the late change of venue meant that the thumping back beat of a dance competition did manage to filter through from the adjoining Empress Ballroom, the well positioned box (the judges had earlier tested the acoustic from a number of different places), meant that they certainly didn’t miss a single note — something picked up with sharp humour by John Doyle.

“We are not deaf in the box,” he said, much to the delight of the audience as he pointed out the problems cornet players had with mute noises and conductors had with a bit of unsubtle ‘cheating’, as he called it.

“We didn’t miss anything — especially as the quieter dynamics were not always observed.

It’s marked pianissimo for a purpose. And if you are going to use a soprano to play the high solo cornet part, you need to do it a bit better to catch us out.”

What we wanted

Meanwhile, Ian added that two bands clearly gave them what they wanted to hear, with three others battling for the remaining two places.

“It was a generous acoustic, but sometimes timps and bass drum spoilt the ensemble balance,” he said.

“Overall, all the bands found varying degrees of difficulty, especially if they started off too fast, but we were surprised at the quality of the top bands on what remains a very difficult test piece, and our congratulations go to two or three really great principal cornets.”

With Wingates proving themselves to be a ‘clear winner’, it was the Scots of Kingdom Brass that set the early marker off the number 5 draw under Eoin Tonner to end runner-up, aided by the excellent cornet work of the MDs younger brother Callum.

Cornish delight

Meanwhile, a delighted Mount Charles continued to show further evidence of their growing contesting maturity following their encouraging result at the Area contest, as Tom Davoren led them into third place.

There was also an equally encouraging result for Camborne Town to celebrate as the duo made the long journey back down the M6 and M5 to Cornwall, as John Berryman used all his years of experience to guide the band into the final qualification place.

Under the stars

Although there were some grumbles concerning the suitability of the venue, it was noticeable how well the competing bands coped in a lively acoustic, although one conductor admitted that it was a bit odd to play under the stars (the ceiling of the former Planet Room decorated with the twinkling lights of the constellations of the northern hemisphere).

However, the sound from the dancing competition never unduly interfered with the performances, whilst later bands took the opportunity to carefully calibrate the angle of their seating by around 45 degrees to point more directly at the box.

I do ask a lot of my players — but the key elements of concentration, control and confidence paid off thanks to their commitment and hard work Wingates MD, Paul Andrews

Results:

Test Piece: English Heritage (George Lloyd)
Adjudicators: Ian Brownbill & John Doyle

1. Wingates (Paul Andrews)*
2. Kingdom Brass (Eoin Tonner)*
3. Mount Charles (Tom Davoren)*
4. Camborne Town (John Berryman)*
5. Ashton under Lyne (Philip Chalk)
6. NASUWT Riverside Brass (Ray Farr)
7. Derwent Brass (Keith Leonard)
8. Bo’ness & Carriden (Bryan Allan)
9. Ratby Co-operative (Michael Fowles)
10. Aveley & Newham (Melvin White)
11. Skelmanthorpe (Martin Hall)
12. Tylorstown (Gary Davies)
13. Laganvale (Metal Technology) (Ernest Ruddock)
14. Blackburn & Darwen (Huw Thomas)
15. Fishburn (Joseph Cook)
16. Staffordshire (Leigh Baker)
17. East London Brass (Jayne Murrill)*
18. Newtongrange (Lee Skipsey)*
19. Felling (Stephen Malcolm)*
20. Wakefield Metropolitan (Michael Howley)*

Best Instrumentalist: Callum Tonner — Cornet (Kingdom Brass)

**Promoted to Grand Shield
* Relegated to Senior Trophy