Whitburn Band has told 4BR of their delight at winning the Championship Section title at the recent Kapitol Cory Online Brass Band Championships.

Produced by their multi-talented percussionist Ryan Bradley, Whitburn's 1930s-inspired programme took top spot ahead of Amersham Band and Friary Brass, with the players recording their own parts at home before Ryan spent hours lacing things together for the final, highly polished entry.

Programme

The winning programme featured the up-tempo opener, 'Sing, Sing, Sing' (With A Swing) before euphonium soloists Scott Kerr and Chris Shanks were featured in the Laurel and Hardy inspired 'Another Fine Mess!' They rounded off their winning programme with Matthew Hall's exciting 'Nightingale Dances'.

As well as winning the overall award, Whitburn also claimed the prizes for 'Best Euphoniums/Baritones', 'Best Trombones' and 'Best Percussion' — led by Ryan himself on drums.

Virtual successes

The victory was also the culmination of a year of 'virtual' performances for the Scottish Open champion — some of which have featured on Scottish television and the social media of Classic FM.

The impact of their innovative approach has been enormous with thousands of 'views' and a noticeable increase in traffic to their website and enquiries from event promoters.

We're obviously delighted with the victory and congratulate all the bands and to Cory for putting on this wonderful eventWhitburn Band

Delighted

Now though the band is looking forward to the Autumn series of major competitions if Covid-19 regulations allow, with Band Chairman Charlie Farren, telling 4BR. "We're obviously delighted with the victory and congratulate all the bands and to Cory for putting on this wonderful event.

The contest has given bands from around the world the opportunity to showcase our talents.

We all want banding to get back as soon as possible, and we will endeavour to do that as and when appropriate."

Watch

You can watch Whitburn's entire performance from the Cory contest, as well as its other online performances, on its YouTube and Facebook pages.

YouTube link: https://youtu.be/RPQ17U8nX4Q

Facebook link: https://www.facebook.com/whitburnband/posts/10159272817331241