Saltash Town returned to the recent West of England Regional Championships with a resurgent injection of youth to enhance a fine performance that saw them claim a top-six finish in the Fourth Section.

Nippers

As 4BR commented, the Cornish band's performance was aided by fantastic contributions from the "nippers on percussion and their diminutive colleagues in the brass ranks"on their rendition of the set-work, 'Argos'.

Those included a quartet of (left to right) Henry Thomas, 8 (percussion), Lowena Powell-Jones, 11 (cornet), Neythen Powell-Jones, 9 (baritone) and Alfie Thomas, 10 (percussion), all of whom have all come up from the organisation's training band.

Alfie has been using his piano skills on tuned percussion whilst Neythen will be making his first appearance with the National Childrens Band of Great Britain later this year.

Fantastic

Band Manager Ali Evans said: "We are always trying to encourage younger players, and we feel that we must always give them all the opportunity to perform. This includes being able to be part of the senior band.

All of them worked so hard and contributed to our performance. They were fantastic."

Ali added: "Our training band is open to all ages and abilities, and we firmly believe that this is key to being able to encourage and develop players for the future."