The Deiniolen Silver Band enjoyed a fine day at the recent North Wales Solo & Duet Championships in Caernarfon — taking the overall prize for the band whose players gained the most points in their disciplines.

It was the third year in a row that the band had claimed the honour.

Nine firsts

Players were awarded nine first prizes in the fifteen different categories, with their young euphonium player Glyn Porter winning both the Slow Melody and Air Varie age categories and cornetist Ela Haf Williams also claiming a double triumph.

Winning duet performances came from Deio Llyr and Tomos Efans in the under 18 category, whilst Arwel Williams and Urien Sion Huws claimed the Open Duet.

The band also enjoyed two winning quartets in the Under 14 and 18 categories, whilst the prestigious Wilkinson Sword Trophy went to Urien Sion Huws for winning the Open Section Slow Melody title.

Meanwhile, the 'Deiniolen Pensioners' tuba team gave an excellent performance and were awarded second prize.

Special awards

Two special awards were presented in memory of two former players of the band — and were won by current band members.

The Iwan Williams Memorial Trophy for the most promising player in Sections 1 and 2 was won by youth band player Catrin Mai, whilst the Eilir Williams Memorial Trophy for the most promising player in Sections 3 and 4 outside of the prizes was won by Iwan Griffith from the senior band.

It was a fantastic day for Deiniolen Band. Everybody did so well. We have a lot of young members who are such good soloists and we're very glad to have them as members of the Senior BandMD, Lois Eifion

Fantastic day

MD Lois Eifion (above) who was the accompanist for band members on the day, was exceptionally proud of the achievements, as she told 4BR: "It was a fantastic day for Deiniolen Band. Everybody did so well.

We have a lot of young members who are such good soloists and we're very glad to have them as members of the Senior Band."

A band spokesperson told 4BR: "We would like to thank Lois for her hard work leading up to the competition and for accompanying over forty different performances. We are now looking forward to the Welsh Regional Championships in Swansea next month."