The organisers of the Butlin's Open Brass Band Festival have announced an extension to their 'early-bird' discount on entry fees for the 2021 event, which will take place at the Skegness resort from 8th-11th January.
Bands entering by 30th June (previously 30th April) will be eligible for a £25 discount on the £100 fee. Through Butlin's partnership with Brass Bands England, announced in early March, member organisations of BBE will receive a further £25 discount on their entry fee.
Helpful
Festival Director, Steve Walker told 4BR: "The Coronavirus pandemic has brought a lot of uncertainty over bands' future activities. In order to help those considering coming to Skegness next January to make plans while the current restrictions apply, we feel it might be helpful to extend the discount period for a few months.
These are terrible times for us all and we send our best wishes to everyone in the banding community currently facing their own challenges.
Hopefully this extension will encourage bands to continue rebuilding their activities by coming to the Butlin's Open Brass Band Festival in January and we look forward to kick-starting 2021 on a much more positive note."
Hopefully this extension will encourage bands to continue rebuilding their activities by coming to the Butlin's Open Brass Band Festival in January and we look forward to kick-starting 2021 on a much more positive noteButlin's
Set-work, own-choice and entertainment
As previously announced, only bands competing in the Championship Section will be set a compulsory test-piece, alongside their own-choice entertainment programmes.
Bands in Sections 1-3 will perform their own-choice selection, with bands in the Fourth Section performing a 20-minute own-choice programmes with no restriction on content, to be assessed by open judges.
The Championship Section contest set-work is 'Paganini Variations' by Phillip Wilby. As an added bonus, the winner of the 'Most Entertaining Band' prize in the Sunday entertainment contest will now receive an invitation to the Brass in Concert Championship.
The overall top prize will remain at £10,000, the biggest on offer for any brass band event worldwide.
Enter
Bands can enter the 2021 Butlin's Open Brass Band Festival by visiting: https://www.bbe.org.uk/civicrm/event/info?id=75&reset=1
Accommodation packages can be booked at: https://www.butlins.com/