Aldbourne Qualify for Royal Albert Hall Finals 2019!

We have been quite quiet on our Website recently since our Dorchester Abbey Concert. This is for very good reason. We were heads down with our preparations for the West of England Brass Band Area qualifying competition. As always the Competition is tough with some of the finest Bands in the West of England competing in the Championship Section. The competition piece was Seascapes by Ray Steadman Allen. It was deceptively tricky and required 100% concentration throughout all three movements. Dr David Thornton our Musical Director in Torquay had a fantastic reading of the piece with which he had led Brighouse and Rastrick Band to victory in the Yorkshire Areas the previous week. On the day the Band drew no 13 which was going to be the last Band playing that day in the Championship section. This was going to prove to be a very long day , with the Band taking the stage not until around 6pm on the Sunday evening. This could be considered a very tricky draw, and it was important to think about even the smallest details of eating correctly and keeping hydrated !. It was to prove to be a fine competition with many fine Bands setting out their stall earlier in the day. The stage at Torquay is also notorious for being a very dead acoustic to play upon and again this year proved to be so. It is amazing how you can hear parts you have never heard before or entries that seem very loud in comparison to other venues. However the Band held its nerve and although we all honestly felt that we had not given Seascapes our finest performance with some slips and errors of live competition, we left the stage reading some good reports from the social media pundits. So we held our breath !……… and we were well rewarded. The Band is delighted to announce that we came 2nd off a NO 13 draw. Many congratulations to Flowers Band on retaining the West of England Title. However by coming Second
We are very happy to announce, that in 2019, we will perform at both the National Finals at the Royal Albert Hall and the British Open at the Symphony Hall.
A massive thank you to Glyn Williams and David Thornton – what a team! Also a big thank you for the messages we have already received.

Congratulations to all our friends at Flowers Band and also Filton on their performance !