Wire Brass

Yesterday saw Bactiguard Wire Brass performing once again at the Brass at The Guild Contest, and once again they performed superbly to finish in 3rd Place. The band played ‘Masquerade’ by Philip Wilby. Although 3rd place was a good result the highlight of the day was our Euphonium player Kim Holly-Thorpe winning the ‘best soloist’ prize.

A recording of the event is available in MP3 format for download HERE

The full results were as follows

Championship Section
Adjudicator: David Read MBE

1. Blackburn & Darwen (N. Sheppard) – 191
2. Pemberton Old Wigan DW (M. Bentham) – 189
3. Bactiguard Wire Brass (P. Andrews) – 187
4. Freckleton (P. Dalton) – 186
5 Blackpool Brass (C. Larder) – 184
6. Newstead Welfare (D. Beckley) – 183
7. Hade Edge (S.Wood) – 182

It was a long weekend of travelling, but once again Bactiguard Wire Brass showed their class in a strong field of bands to finish 6th at this years Scottish Open Brass Band Championships.

The band didn’t arrive at Stalag Luft Perth until midnight on Friday after a long 6 hour drive – and an early start the next morning wasn’t what we needed, especially as we drew band number 16 (thanks George!) and had to hang around all day until we finally played at 8.30pm. The bands performance of Masquerade was well recieved by audience and judges alike, and a few ‘wee drams’ were consumed afterwards to celebrate!

The full results are below

1. Fountain City, Dr Joseph Parisi, 5, 198
(Dreams)
2. Pemberton Old Wigan DW, Mark Bentham, 14, 195
(Music of the Spheres)
3. Whitburn, Steven Mead, 17, 194
(Titan’s Progress)
4. Co-op Funeralcare, Russell Gray, 8, 193
(Titan’s Progress)
5. Kirkintilloch, Selmer Simonsen, 11, 191
(Titan’s Progress)
6. Wire Brass, Paul Andrews, 16, 190
(Masquerade)
7. Marsden Silver Prize, Glyn Williams, 13, 189
(Rococo Variations)
8. Fishburn, Alan Morrison, 9, 188
(Journey to the Centre of Earth)
9. Unison Kinniel, Alan Ramsay, 4, 187
(Whitsun Wakes)
10. Bon Accord Silver, John Maines, 15, 186
(Journey to the Centre of Earth)
11. Kingdom Brass, Andrew Duncan, 10, 185
(Extreme Make Over)
12. United Co-op Milnrow, John Ward, 3, 184
(Paganini Variations)
13. Dalmellington, Ian Porthouse, 6, 183
(Dances & Alleluias)
14. Newtongrange, Nigel Boddice MBE, 1, 179
(A Lowry Sketchbook)
15. Kirbymoorside Brass, John Woodward, 7, 178
(The Essence of Time)
16. Kirkintilloch Kelvin Brass, Charles Keenan, 177
(Rienzi)
17. Easington Colliery, Roy Curran, 12, 176
(Tristan Encounters)

WOW! What a day. Pontins at Prestatyn once again was the venue for the annual Harry Mortimer Brass Band Championships, and  once again the October weather in North Wales was as windy as usual.

The band were drawn No 1 – a notoriously difficult position to get a good result from, but played brilliantly and impressed the judges enough to be given a remarkable second place, Kim Holly Thorpe ‘stole the show’ with some  awesome playing and won the individual solists prize. Well done Kim!

The result was achieved despite 3 missing regular players (thanks must go to our ‘deps’) a principal cornet player suffering from a severe ear infection, a percussionist with a shoulder injury and a 2nd cornet player who had just had a tooth removed! All things considered a very impressive result !!!

To hear a recording of our performance go to the Videos and Audio section of ths website.

The full results are below (courtesy of 4barsrest.com)

1. Tongwynlais Temperance, Philip Harper, 5
2. Wire Brass, Paul Andrews, 1
3. Skelmanthorpe, John Roberts, 4
4. Felling, Graeme Tindall, 12
5. Marsden Silver Prize, Glyn Williams, 13
6. Kidlington Concert Brass, Catherine Underwood, 16
7. Sovereign Brass, Jason Glynn, 2
8. Ashton under Lyne, Martyn Evans, 9
9. Staffordshire, Huw Thomas, 10
10. Wantage Silver A, Philip Bailey, 11
11. Woodfalls, Melvin White, 7
12. Jackfield (Elcock Reisen), Simon Platford, 14
13. NUSUWT Riverside, Ian Robinson, 6
14. Derwent Brass, Keith Leonard, 3
w, Burry Port, Craig Roberts
w, Stannington Brass, Derek Renshaw

Best Instrumentalist: Kim Holly Thorp, Euphonium, Wire Brass

Once again Bactiguard Wire Brass showed off their entertaining skills by winning our first entertainment contest of the year. Beating some very good oppostion the band performed a ‘very different’ program – including music from ColdPlay, Michael Bubble and our very own James Hatton – which thrilled audience and adjudicator alike. Once again the band have shown that brass bands can entertain an audience by playing more modern, ‘upbeat’ music. The final comment of the adjudicator said it all. “Who say’s brass bands can’t swing? ” !!

Pictures from the event can be seen by clicking the picture below.

What a night…… Appaling conditions made playing incredibly difficult and a late start meant the band only played at 4 venues, but the bands performances of ‘The Wizard’ went down well with the adjudicators. The results are below.

Delph – 6th (out of 80) – £200 prize money
Diggle – 11th
Lydgate – 5th
Scouthead – 5th

Below are 2 videos (poor quality Im afraid) of the band playing at Delph

WOW! Another hectic day resulted in another fine result this years Spring Festival in Blackpool. The band played Wilfred Heaton’s ‘Contest Music’ (regarded as one of the most difficult test pieces ever written) well enough to achieve 7th place out of 19 bands. Finishing ahead of all other North West bands Wire Brass are now looking forward to more great results at the forthcoming Pontins and Scottich Open contests.

Pictures from the event can be seen by clicking the link below (Thanks Owen!)

…..   and more pictures (courtesy of  Ian Clowes) can be seen HERE

The full results table (courtesy of 4 Bars Rest) can be seen by clicking HERE

Playing Gilbert Vinters ‘Salute to Youth’ in the Opera House at Blackpool’s Winter Gardens Bactiguard Wire Brass established themselves as a top championship section band by
achieving a fine 4th place.

Paul Andrews’ direction of the band was ‘just what the adjudicator, David Read was looking for’ . The piece was played  at a controlled tempo with clarity and accuracy rather than at a frantic pace .  Fine solo’s from Kim Holly-Thorpe and Mike Jones were the ‘icing on the cake’ in what was a fine perfomance from the whole band

What a great result !!!!

1. Fodens (Garry Cutt), 5

2. Fairey (Philip Chalk), 4

3. Pemberton Old Wigan JJB (Mark Bentham), 3

4. Bactiguard Wire Brass (Paul Andrews), 11

5. Wingates (Andrew Berryman), 1

6. United Co-op Milnrow (John Ward), 10

7. United Co-op (Crewe) (Jef Sparkes), 8

8. Leyland (Jason Katsikaris), 6

9. Roberts Bakery (Colin Cranson), 2

10. Timperley (Michael Fowles), 7

11. Poulton-Le-Fylde (Gareth Westwood), 9

Pictures from the event can be seen by clicking the image below.