Things couldn’t have turned out any better for the Eccles Borough Band on the weekend as they celebrated a commanding win in the Fourth Section.

Three point winning margin

Directed by Les Webb they took the Butlins Trophy plus £1,500 prize money on offer after delivering an excellent performance of Simon Dobson’s ‘Lydian Pictures’ that gave them a substantive three point winning margin from second placed Rolls –Royce (Derby) with Ireland Colliery (Chesterfield) two points further back in third place.

The band has worked so hard in the past few weeks and everyone has played their part. I’m delighted of course and now we have the Preston contest to look forward to in a couple of weeks timeMD Les Webb

Massive boost

Conductor Les Webb was a delighted man when he spoke to 4BR after the announcement of the results on the Saturday night. "It’s a great result for the band and gives us a massive boost of confidence for the Area contest in Blackpool. The band has worked so hard in the past few weeks and everyone has played their part. I’m delighted of course and now we have the Preston contest to look forward to in a couple of weeks time."

No experience

Les revealed that he had no prior experience of Simon Dobson’s enjoyable set work, although he was now certainly a fan. "I didn’t know the piece at all, and it was very tricky to start off with. It’s such an enjoyable and interesting pieced though that it’s turned me onto a real fan of his work."

2008

As for 2008? "We can really build from here I hope and we will certainly be putting a lot of effort into qualifying from Blackpool. This has given us a huge boost to start the year off though."

A full retrospective of the Fourth Section will appear on 4BR in the next 24 hours.