Helston Town Band celebrate 5th Place at National Championships of Great Britain
| Type of post: | Band news item |
| Sub-type: | No sub-type |
| Posted By: | Catriona Taylor |
| Status: | Current |
| Date Posted: | Mon, 19 Sep 2022 |
After months of fundraising and hard practising, the band was delighted to have been awarded fifth place (out of 18 competing bands) in the Second Section National Championships of Great Britain in Cheltenham on Sunday 18th March. Whilst it is fair to say that the test-piece ‘Ghosts, Goblins, Witches and Wizards’ by Darrol Barry was not one of the band’s favourite pieces to rehearse, under the baton of our professional conductor John Berryman, the band was praised for giving a “convincing performance”, with the adjudicators giving particular mention to the band’s soloists, our MD’s approach, and the level of detail heard throughout, summed up with – “you really went for it”.
The weekend began with an Open Rehearsal in Helston at the Central Methodist Chapel on Saturday morning where supporters were able to hear the band put through its paces by John Berryman. Due to last-minute sickness, we also learned that one of our members was not going to be able to join us in Cheltenham. Whilst this would be a huge blow for most bands, we were so thankful that our multi-talented Solo Euphonium player Jack Curnow was able to move onto trombone at the 11th hour, and our Resident Conductor Kevin Johns was willing to come out of retirement to cover euphonium. The band cannot express enough gratitude and admiration to both Jack and Kevin for their willingness to put the band first.
After the long coach journey to Cheltenham (with delicious Gear Farm pasties for the journey), the band had a relaxing evening dining in the hotel.
Sunday (Contest Day) began with a very early trombone section practice followed by a final rehearsal at the hotel in the morning. Presentations of thanks were made to John Berryman and Kevin Johns for their musical direction, Ian Nicholls (for his superb organisation of the logistics of the whole weekend) and Simon Taylor (for returning to help the band out on percussion). We then eagerly awaited to hear the draw to find out what order we would be playing. At 1250 the message came through that we had drawn 18 out of 18 bands, after which followed a lot of waiting, and more waiting, and more waiting! With the other bands in the waiting area we observed the national 2 minute silence at 8pm in memory of Her Majesty the Queen and wore black ribbons on our collars as a mark of respect during our performance. The band did not take to the stage until around 9pm, the final band of the whole weekend to perform. The performance was not totally error-free, but nevertheless, it was atmospheric, committed and bold. When the results were announced (at nearly 10pm!), the band was very proud to receive 5th place at the National Championships of Great Britain.
The band would particularly like to thank our supporters and fundraisers for helping us with the costs of the trip. We owe huge thanks to our Resident Conductor Kevin Johns for the many, many hours of rehearsal preparation for the contest, and to our wonderful professional conductor John Berryman who we are truly honoured to work with.
The weekend began with an Open Rehearsal in Helston at the Central Methodist Chapel on Saturday morning where supporters were able to hear the band put through its paces by John Berryman. Due to last-minute sickness, we also learned that one of our members was not going to be able to join us in Cheltenham. Whilst this would be a huge blow for most bands, we were so thankful that our multi-talented Solo Euphonium player Jack Curnow was able to move onto trombone at the 11th hour, and our Resident Conductor Kevin Johns was willing to come out of retirement to cover euphonium. The band cannot express enough gratitude and admiration to both Jack and Kevin for their willingness to put the band first.
After the long coach journey to Cheltenham (with delicious Gear Farm pasties for the journey), the band had a relaxing evening dining in the hotel.
Sunday (Contest Day) began with a very early trombone section practice followed by a final rehearsal at the hotel in the morning. Presentations of thanks were made to John Berryman and Kevin Johns for their musical direction, Ian Nicholls (for his superb organisation of the logistics of the whole weekend) and Simon Taylor (for returning to help the band out on percussion). We then eagerly awaited to hear the draw to find out what order we would be playing. At 1250 the message came through that we had drawn 18 out of 18 bands, after which followed a lot of waiting, and more waiting, and more waiting! With the other bands in the waiting area we observed the national 2 minute silence at 8pm in memory of Her Majesty the Queen and wore black ribbons on our collars as a mark of respect during our performance. The band did not take to the stage until around 9pm, the final band of the whole weekend to perform. The performance was not totally error-free, but nevertheless, it was atmospheric, committed and bold. When the results were announced (at nearly 10pm!), the band was very proud to receive 5th place at the National Championships of Great Britain.
The band would particularly like to thank our supporters and fundraisers for helping us with the costs of the trip. We owe huge thanks to our Resident Conductor Kevin Johns for the many, many hours of rehearsal preparation for the contest, and to our wonderful professional conductor John Berryman who we are truly honoured to work with.
