The Hawth Theatre in Crawley welcomed 10 bands to scaba’s annual Autumn contest last Sunday, 29th September.
The day started with the B section for Third, Fourth, Youth Section and Ungraded Bands. Adjudicator Tom Hutchinson was treated to a fantastic selection of pieces and thanked all the bands for their high standard and enjoyable performances. City of Norwich band and their MD Mark Ager, newcomers to scaba, took top honours with a polished rendition of Kevin Norbury’s Variations on Maccabeus.
Big thanks are due to the bands drawn later in this section for their flexibility and support of the band that was held up by a road traffic accident, allowing us to keep the contest running smoothly and stress-free for everyone. We were also very pleased to see bands taking full advantage of our new, more relaxed day transfer rules, resulting in some players from Championship, First and Second section bands helping out in this section and more bands being able to field a full complement of players.
City of Norwich Brass Band
The afternoon saw Championship, First and Second section bands take the stage for the A Section. The adjudicator rewarded Friary Brass Band for what he described as a “superb performance” of Pallhuber’s Titan’s Progress with first place, giving the band a welcome boost ahead of their National Finals appearance playing the same piece next week. Sadly this section was light on numbers, but all 4 bands gave excellent performances of enjoyable pieces. We hope the results inspire a few more bands from all 3 sections to take part next year.
Full Result:
B Section
- City of Norwich, Mark Ager (Variations on Maccabeus, Aberystwyth)
- Oxted, Darrell Scholes (Ex Terra Lucem, The Well is Deep)
- Shanklin Town, Malcolm Lewis (Anglian Dances, Eventide)
- Hangleton, Richard Baker (A Malvern Suite, Turris Davidica)
- Godalming, James Haigh (Shine as the Light, St. Matthew)
- Cobham, Steven Williams (A Malvern Suite, Hursley)
- Highest Placed 3rd Section Band – City of Norwich
- Highest Placed 4th Section Band – Shanklin
- Highest Placed Ungraded Band – Oxted
- Best Hymn Tune – City of Norwich
- Best Conductor – Mark Ager, City of Norwich
- Best Instrumentalist – Richard Wilson (sop), City of Norwich
- Best Cornet or Flugel – Kevin Noble (cornet), Shanklin
- Best Tenor Horn – Jacki Doswell, Oxted
- Best Baritone – Darcie Brownlow, Shanklin
- Best Euphonium – Ben Hicks, Oxted
- Best Back Row Cornets – City of Norwich
- Best Trombones – City of Norwich
- Best Basses – City of Norwich
- Best Percussion – Oxted
A Section
- Friary Brass Band, Chris King (Titan’s Progress, Angelus)
- Staines Brass, Tariq Ahmed (Music for the Common Man, Blaenwern)
- LGB Brass, Ian Stewart (Tallis Variations, When He Cometh)
- Yiewsley & West Drayton, Christopher Cole (Variations on Laudate Dominum, Ellers)
- Best Hymn Tune – Friary
- Highest Placed 2nd Section band – LGB
- Highest Placed 1st Section band – Staines
- Highest Placed Championship Section band – Friary
- Best Conductor – Chris King, Friary
- Best Instrumentalist – Richard Straker (cornet), Friary
- Best Cornet or Flugel – Richard Straker, Friary
- Best Tenor Horn – Angela Holloway, LGB
- Best Baritone – Liz Cowlett, LGB
- Best Euphonium – Chris Straker, Friary
- Best Back Row Cornets – Friary
- Best Trombones – Friary
- Best Basses – Friary
- Best Percussion – Staines
In addition to a great day of brass music, we welcomed our new Vice President Sharon McCallum at this contest. Sharon began her brass banding career in Sussex and, despite living outside our region for some years now, has long been an active supporter of the Association and our events. Sharon’s first official act as VP was to present an award to Alan Cooper of LGB Brass in recognition of his 50 years’ service to brass banding.
Thanks to all competing bands, Tom, and the Hawth and scaba Teams for an enjoyable day. We look forward to seeing you all again at our Spring contest which is moving to a new date and venue in 2020: March 8th at the Attenborough Centre for Creative Arts on the University of Sussex campus.