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2003 4BR Awards: Lower Section Band of the Year

Read our nominations below for the above category. To vote, follow the links at the bottom of this page.


Plenty of bands who we could have nominated this year – all the Lower Section Champions for instance or the Pontins winners are worthy of a mention. It was a very hard choice though, but in the end we came up with the five we thought deserved it the most.

Wilf BeddellBHK (UK) Ltd Horden

The National First Section Champions took the title in Dundee in fine style (and even finer celebrations) under their conductor Wilf Beddell. Earlier in the year they won the North East Regional title, whilst they rounded off the year by winning the Mineworkers Contest in Skegness, with the only blip Pontins where they came 6th under Major Peter Parkes no less. All in all then a fantastic year for a band that less than 12 months ago was down to just 12 players.


Brottum Musikkforneing

The winners of the First Section European Championship showed themselves to be a fine band in 2003. They were clear winners of the Second Division at the Norwegian National Championships playing “Dances and Arias” no less, in a manner many a Top Section band would have been proud, whilst they were also clear winners of the European title when they performed an ambitious programme that included a cracking performance of “Kingdom Triumphant.” We didn’t hear too many better bands at this level all year.


Chris WormaldSmithills Schools Senior Band

It is very hard not to have the greatest admiration for this band and their MD Chris Wormald. Year after year he has produced a crop of talented young players who seem to enjoy playing brass instruments. There are of course lots of others doing the same thing, but this band just seems to have the knack of being in the right place at the right time, and then playing wonderfully well. 2003 has seen them shine at the Proms as well as take to the road at the Whit Friday contests and win the National Youth Festival Schools Section Award. They are an example of how brass bands can be used to the best effect in general education in the public sector – and for us that is nigh on priceless.


JAG Mount Charles Youth Band

There is something of a renaissance starting to occur in Cornish banding and it has really nothing to do with the bands in the Championship Section - it is all coming from the Youth bands. We don’t know if it is the fluoride in the water or what, but both Mount Charles and St. Dennis Youth have had a fantastic 2003.

We picked JAG Mount Charles because of their fine victory in the National Youth Brass Band Championships, where under Jon Small they won the Community Section in tremendous fashion. In addition they took many other awards during the year, but you get the feeling that come 2010 the new powerhouse in British banding could well be south of the River Exe (if they can hold onto their talent).


Alan LawtonDiggle

Great name, fine band. Their performance at Dundee when they won the Third Section National title was one of those moments when you said to yourself, “You can’t beat experience”. Diggle won in no small part to the direction from the middle of Alan Lawton, who has more years of playing and conducting under his belt than most, whilst the band performance benefited from some great playing from some “golden oldies”, especially in the shape of their Principal Cornet David Pogson (ex of Black Dyke fame of course). As Bill Shankly used to say, “Form is temporary, class is permanent.”


Previous winners:
2002:
St. Dennis
2001: Peter Hawke Garages Lindley Band

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