Newly crowned London & Southern Counties Regional Champion, Friary Guildford has added a Japanese foundation to its tuba team as they look forward to trying to secure their place at the British Open at the Grand Shield contest in Blackpool next month.

Major investment

The band has undertaken a major investment in four brand new Yamaha Neo tubas thanks to the assistance of suppliers, Rosehill Instruments in Beaconsfield.

EEb bass player and Band Librarian Phil German told 4BR: "Our old instruments gave us fantastic service and saw us win the 'Best Basses' prize at the Butlins Mineworkers contest in 2015, but frankly they were no longer the quality needed to compete at the major Championship events.

Thanks to the finance package offered by Paul Austin at Rosehill, we have now been able to equip the section with top quality instruments, something that has been on our wish list for a while."

This is a further major investment for the band, which we have been able to undertake because our careful financial management complements our musical ambitionBand Chairman Nigel Stevens

Musical ambition

Band Chairman Nigel Stevens added: "This is a further major investment for the band, which we have been able to undertake because our careful financial management complements our musical ambition.

Our tuba players have worked wonders with their old instruments, but they now have the right tools to do the job as Friary continues to move forward."