Welsh banding gave a warm welcome last week to one of Norway's most respected musical personalities, as Tom Brevik flew in from Bergen to visit Tredegar, Cardiff and 4BR.

Tom's trip followed an invitation made by Tredegar MD Ian Porthouse after the pair met at the Austrian National Championships last year and started to discuss the possibility of the band recording some of his original and arranged music.

Exciting possibilities

Ian told 4BR: "It was great pleasure to welcome Tom to our rehearsal and to discuss the exciting possibilities of recording his music for our next CD release.

We also made sure he enjoyed plenty of Tredegar highlights — from some great fish and chips to the terrible driving rain — and we were delighted that he was also invited to attend the live television announcement of the Band Cymru competition in Cardiff by the programme's producers."

Lovely trip

Tom added: "It was a lovely trip, and I'm really looking forward to working with Ian and Tredegar.

The weather wasn't that bad and the fish and chips were great — as was the band!

It was also great to see brass bands being featured so prominently on national television with the Band Cymru competition. That shows that Wales has a deep musical respect for what they do."

It was also great to see brass bands being featured so prominently on national television with the Band Cymru competition. That shows that Wales has a deep musical respect for what they doTom Brevik

Presidential pride

Tom was joined in Cardiff by 4BR Editor Iwan Fox, where the pair met up with Band Cymru presenter and Cory Band President Morgan Jones (above) who took the opportunity to explain more about the competition and to express his delight at the critical acclaim Cory was enjoying on its current American tour.