Well known conductor Duncan Beckley was the toast of the University of Sheffield Brass Band at the UniBrass Championship at Warwick Arts Centre on the weekend.

Missed calls

Duncan was in the midst of a mid-afternoon sectional rehearsal with Horbury Victoria Band putting in the hard work for their forthcoming appearance at the Yorkshire Regional Championship, when he noticed he had missed two phone calls from the student's Band President James Whitehead.

Sheffield was due to be directed by MD Jack Smith, but as the recorded message revealed, Jack had been struck down with illness — and with just a few hours to go before they were due to take to the stage James was desperately trying to get in touch with Duncan to see if he could jump in his car and race to the rescue.

Race

Thankfully Duncan picked up, made new arrangements and sped down the motorway to the University of Warwick — although he later revealed that he had just enough time to acquaint himself with the programme as he had only worked on one of their five pieces before.

"We are so grateful to Duncan for answering our SOS,"James told 4BR. "We had to act quickly following the unexpected news, but as soon as he could Duncan was in his car and on his way. It's been great working with him since October last year, but this was something else. It shows what a great bloke and great conductor he is."

I have to thank everyone at Horbury for being so understanding, but the students are a great bunch, so the only problem I had was to make sure I got to the venue on time and had a quick glance through the musicDuncan Beckley

First

And despite experiencing most things in his years of conducting bands, Duncan told 4BR that this was something of a first as well. "It was lucky I glanced at the phone, as it was put on silent during the section rehearsals."

He added: "I have to thank everyone at Horbury for being so understanding, but the students are a great bunch, so the only problem I had was to make sure I got to the venue on time and had a quick glance through the music. It was a good job my sight-reading skills were not too rusty!"

Despite the band not winning, the end result of tenth was still a result to celebrate. "We owe Duncan quite a few drinks,"James Whitehead added.