Carlton Main Frickley has announced the signing of rising stars Louise Belton and Seb Williman in time to make their forthcoming contest debuts at the French Open in Amboise on the weekend.

Soprano star

The highly regarded young soprano player Louise joins after enjoying four years with Skelmanthorpe Band where she made the move to soprano in 2016.

Under the guidance of Jim Davies and Kevin Crockford, she helped the band return to the Championship Section and made her final appearance as they gained promotion to the Grand Shield in Blackpool in May.

She told 4BR: "I would like to thank everyone at Skelmanthorpe and wish them all the success for the future. The opportunity to join Carlton Main was too good to turn down. I'm honoured to be joining such a fantastic band."

Assistant principal cornet

Seb Williman joins on assistant principal cornet after enjoying four successful years with EYMS Band and a year studying at Manger Folkehogskule in Norway on a specialised brass band course.

Whilst there he played flugel with Solna Brass and is currently the principal flugel of the National Youth Band of Great Britain.

He added: "I'm also delighted to be joining Carlton Main. After helping out at the World Music Contest last year and having the opportunity to learn from a player such as Kirsty Abbotts makes this a very special opportunity. I'd like to thank Tony Newiss, Stig Maersk and all at EYMS band for their support."

The band is delighted to welcome two fantastic young playing talents. Players like Louise and Seb are the future of Carlton MainKirsty Abbotts

Fantastic playing talent

Talking about the new arrivals, Kirsty Abbotts told 4BR: "The band is delighted to welcome two fantastic young playing talents.

They are players we've known a great deal about over the last couple of years and so we're delighted to be able to welcome them to the cornet ranks at such an exciting time. Players like Louise and Seb are the future of Carlton Main."