The list of competing bands and conductors who will battle for the three Spring Festival Championship titles and the two qualification places for the 2011 British Open at Symphony Hall in Birmingham have been announced.
The contest takes place at the refurbished Winter Gardens in Blackpool on Saturday 14th May.
Titan fight
There is sure to be a great deal of interest surrounding the musical fight the get to the British Open, with Hermann Pallhuber’s appropriately entitled ‘Titan’s Progress’ a severe test to overcome for the 20 hopefuls that take to the starting line.
Regional champions Woodfalls, Whitburn, Reg Vardy and Redbridge will be amongst the fancied runners although fellow London qualifiers Flowers, Pemberton Old Wigan DW and Thoresby will travel full to the brim with confidence as well as Cheltenham qualifiers and Yorkshire First Section Champion Hammonds Saltaire.
Big guns
A number of bands have also brought in the conducting ‘big guns’, with British Open winning conductors Ian Porthouse, Garry Cutt, Dr Nicholas Childs and Russell Gray all tasked with getting their temporary employers to Symphony Hall.
Senior Cup
There is sure to be a keenly fought contest in the Senior Cup as the 20 contenders get to grips with Peter Graham’s ‘Prisms’ as they seek to claim one of the four promotion places on offer to get one step closer to the British Open.
London qualifiers EYMS, Beaumaris and Zone One lead the list of contenders, with Pontins champion Marsden and Cheltenham bound Yorkshire Imps amongst a strong list of rivals.
Senior Trophy
Such is the prestige of the Spring Festival and the real possibility that competing bands are just a three years away from an appearance in Birmingham that the organisers have told 4BR that they could have packed the Senior Trophy with another 20 bands.
The lucky batch to get the nod this year includes a number of nationally graded First Section outfits, including Cheltenham bound Pontardulais, Aldbourne and Bournemouth and Butlins First Section champion City of Sheffield.
A number of bands have also brought in the conducting ‘big guns’, with British Open winning conductors Ian Porthouse, Garry Cutt, Dr Nicholas Childs and Russell Gray all tasked with getting their temporary employers to Symphony Hall4BR
4BR Coverage
4BR will be at the Winter Gardens as usual to bring you all the action, views, opinions and interviews as well as our usual retrospectives, pictures and twitter comments.
Grand Shield:
Test Piece: Titan’s Progress by Hermann Pallhuber
First Prize: £800 and The Grand Challenge Shield
Second Prize: £600 and The Midland Music Trophy
Third Prize: £400 and The Saxby Trophy
Fourth Prize: £300
BTM (Tom Davoren)
Co-operative Milnrow (David Evans)
Dalmellington (Raymond Tennant)
Exchange Communications Whitburn (Ian Porthouse)
Flowers (Paul Holland)
Freckleton (Paul Dalton)
Hammonds Saltaire (Morgan Griffiths)
Jaguar Land Rover (Dave Lea)
Kingdom Brass (Andrew Duncan)
Kirkintilloch (Garry Cutt)
Mount Charles (Russell Gray)
Newstead Welfare (Duncan Beckley)
Pemberton Old Wigan DW (Mark Bentham)
Redbridge (Jeremy Wise)
Reg Vardy (Dr Nicholas Childs)
Skelmanthorpe (John Roberts)
Staffordshire (Huw Thomas)
Thoresby Colliery (Ian Mc Elligott)
Wingates (Philip Harper)
Woodfalls (Gareth Pritchard)
Senior Cup:
Test Piece: Prisms – Peter Graham
First Prize: £600 and The Belle Vue 100 Guinea Challenge Cup
Second Prize: £400 and The Jack Fearnley Trophy
Third Prize: £300
Fourth Prize: £200
Ashton under Lyne (Martyn Evans)
Aveley & Newham (Nigel Taken)
Blackburn & Darwen (Nick Sheppard)
Bo’ness & Carriden (Steve Sykes)
Burry Port (Michael Thorne)
Co-operative Band (Crewe) (Jef Sparkes)
Derwent Brass (Keith Leonard)
East Yorkshire Motor Services (Alan Morrison)
Fishburn (John Ward)
Friary Guildford (Chris King)
Laganvale (Metal Technology) (Ernest Ruddock)
Marsden Silver Prize (Glyn Williams)
NASUWT Riverside (Ian Robinson)
Powerfuel Hatfield Colliery (Graham O’Connor)
Ratby Co-operative (Michael Fowles)
Seindorf Beaumaris (Gwyn M. Evans)
Sovereign Brass (TBA)
Unison Kinneil (Paul Drury)
Yorkshire Imperial Urquart Travel (David Nesbitt)
Zone One (Richard Ward)
Senior Trophy:
Test Piece: Benvenuto Cellini Hector Berlioz — arr. Dr Christian Jenkins
First Prize: £600 and The Senior Trophy
Second Prize: £400 and The N.W.C.B.B.A. Trophy
Third Prize: £300
Fourth Prize: £200
Aldbourne (David Johnson)
Barton Town (Richard Evans)
Bon Accord (Alan Duguid)
Bournemouth Concert (David Barringer)
City of Sheffield (Derek Renshaw)
Easington Colliery (David Hirst)
Enderby (Jonathon Mott)
Felling (Stephen Malcolm)
Hebden Bridge (Kevin Wadsworth)
Johnstone (Raymond Tennant)
Kibworth (TBA)
Lindley (Neil Jowett)
Newtongrange (Nigel Boddice MBE)
Northop Silver (Thomas Wyss)
Pontardulais Town (Paul Jenkins)
St Dennis (Darrn Hawken)
Stannington (Miles Davison)
Wakefield Metropolitan (Norman Law)
Wantage Silver A (Phil Bailey)
Wrexham Glyndwr Band (Wayne Ruston)
