One of the great events in the worldwide banding calendar takes place around the villages of Tameside and Saddleworth & Oldham district today, as the famous Whit Friday march contests return after the enforced Covid-19 break.
With the promise of fine weather it should make for a joyful return, as bands from the elite stars to scratch ensembles enjoy the friendly competitive spirit.
Slaidburn from Vietnam
Hopefully there will be a great turn out — and even those who can't make it this year have been determined to be a part, with an ex-player now teaching in Vietnam putting together a performance of William Rimmer's 'Slaidburn'.
Rachael Howarth grew up in Mossley and used to love listening to her uncles play with St John's Mossley Band on their annual Whit Friday performances.
As Head of Music at Audenshaw Boys School she managed to get a small band out for a few years and even when she was teaching in European she came back to enjoy the contests.
Rachael is now working for the international education group Nord Anglia Education, but was determined that her students who are based in 33 different schools across the world could still be apart — albeit on-line.
They include a trombone player from Florida, a cornet player from Vietnam, a bass player from Spain and a horn player from China just for starters!
Be a part
"Since moving to Vietnam I knew I wouldn't be able to fly home this year,"she told 4BR. "But after telling the pupils about the event and how brilliant it was, everyone just wanted to be a part — even if it is on-line.
We managed to get 70 videos from pupils in our 33 schools across the world and with the help of my colleague Jonathan Scott who used to play with Bratton Silver and Clacton-on-Sea Bands, we decided to put something together."
I hope people enjoy what we have done and can give us some feedback to help encourage our pupils to carry on playing brass band musicRachael Howarth
Encouragement
Rachael added: "I e-mailed Tameside Council and Foden's Band who gave us great advice and encouragement and also Wright & Round to make sure we were all above board with copyright and we were good to go.
I hope people enjoy what we have done and can give us some feedback to help encourage our pupils to carry on playing brass band music.
They love it — and although it's a bit of a dream, we would love to be able to all get together and come over and play at the event in the future.
We send our best wishes to everyone involved this year and hope they have a wonderful time — and we hope our little musical contribution helps to put a smile on everyone's faces too!"
To enjoy
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