Members of the recently formed Forest of Dean Area Youth Brass Band are celebrating after an rewarding day of solo and ensemble performances at the highly regarded Herefordshire Festival for Music, Dance, Speech & Drama.

Gold

The youngsters, aged 10 — 18, competed in a variety of classes such as Slow Melody, Air and Variations, Jazz and Ensemble and returned home to the Forest of Dean with a staggering 11 Gold, 8 Silver and 4 Bronze medals and the coveted Victoria College Rose Bowl which was awarded to the band's ensemble "Seofon Brass".

Blown away

The adjudicator, James Stretton, remarked how he was "blown away" with the quality of playing by Seofon Brass — particularly the multi-instrumentalists who he had seen performing earlier in the day on different instruments.

James was also most impressed at the quality of the solo playing on show throughout the day — none more so than the band's principal trombonist 10 year old Rhiannon Symonds4BR

Beautiful

James was also most impressed at the quality of the solo playing on show throughout the day — none more so than the band's principal trombonist 10 year old Rhiannon Symonds who he awarded a "nominal" 95 marks out of 100 for her beautiful controlled rendition of Jan Sandstrom's Sang Till Lotta.

Thanks

The members of the Forest of Dean Area Youth Brass Band would like to thank James for his informative and helpful comments regarding stage presence, controlling nerves, improving intonation, making the voices in your head go away whilst performing and such like, and the organisers of the Festival for a well run event.

The full results for the Festival's Brass Classes are as follows:

Slow Melody Under 12:
1. Rhiannon Symonds (Trombone)- 95
2. Sam Horton (Cornet)- 85
3. Ben Evans (Tenor horn)- 84

Slow Melody 12 & 13:
1. Ben Stratford (Baritone)- 87
2. Emily Harding (Cornet)- 85
3. Ben Horton (French Horn) — 84

Slow Melody 14 & 15:
1. Matthew Hurst (Trumpet) — 87
2. Owain Jones (Euphonium) — 85

Slow Melody 16 to 18:
1. Samuel Davis (Soprano)- 87
2. Francis Ruck (Trombone)- 86
3. Lori Warsop (Euphonium)- 84

Slow Melody Open:
1. David Harding (Euphonium)- 91
2. Ben Stratford (Baritone)- 89
3. Rhiannon Symonds (Trombone) — 88

Air and Variations 15 and under:
1. Ben Stratford (Baritone)- 88
2. Emily Harding (Cornet)- 86
3. Matthew Hurst (Trumpet)- 84

Air and Variations 16 — 18:
1. Lori Warsop (Euphonium) — 86
2. Francis Ruck (Trombone) — 85

Jazz Solo Open:
1. Rhiannon Symonds (Trombone)- 90
2. Francis Ruck (Trombone)- 89
3=Sam Davis (Trumpet)- 85
3=Matthew Hurst (Trumpet)- 85

Ensemble:
1. Seofon Brass — 90
2. Whitecross Quintet — 85

Family Class:
1. Dave & Emily Harding (Euph/Cornet)- 88

Wind Band:
1. Drybrook Academy — 83

Brass Band:
1. Hereford Youth — 83