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 Site © 1999-2008 Rothwell Temperance Band and All Rights Reserved. |
3rd March 2002 - Yorkshire Area (Championship)Adjudicator: James Scott The band’s first contest of the year, as ever, is the Yorkshire Area. This year saw the band come 7th, a slight improvement on last year in a larger field of bands. This year’s contest featured 15 bands, the largest championship section for years. We found the piece to be very stop-start, with some difficult parts for soloists, although some of the band parts were quite straightforward. The timp part had nothing at all on the third page apart from a page of rests and two bars of (very strange) solo. Compared to last year we had very few player problems this year, with only our second Euphonium being unavailable. After looking at various options, including flying someone in from Switzerland, we borrowed Gareth, who only did a couple of practices, and then played well for us on stage. On the day of the contest, we met at the rugby club at 1pm, played for a bit then settled down to wait for the draw. It turned out we had drawn 14th, which was second from last, and we wouldn’t be on stage until about 8pm. The band members then went their separate ways, some going home, others staying at the club, and we returned at 6pm, already changed ready to go on stage. After a bit more playing we set off to go to Bradford, a quick trip down the motorway. It was very strange going to a contest in the dark, it was more like going to play a concert. We got to the hall, and then endured the customary wait to be let into our changing room. We had a very relaxed set up of our percussion equipment, as we needed very little compared to last year, and we didn’t have to worry about getting changed. We then registered, and went on stage to play. The band played well, with a very good start. There were one or two blips from soloists, but nothing huge, and we were pleased with the performance when we came off the stage. We just had time to pack all the gear back in the bus before returning to the hall to wait for the results. After the usual thanks and speeches, including one from the composer of the piece who was found to be in the hall and summoned to the stage to say a few words, we came to the results. We had expected to come at best 5th, given that the top four bands could be expected to be the big four of Grimethorpe, Black Dyke, Brighouse and YBS. We were disappointed not to come higher, but seventh place was very commendable at the level we are at. The full results were: 1. Black Dyke 7. Rothwell Temperance This was quite an interesting reversal of the results for the last two years. In both 2000 and 2001, we had been 8th whilst the other Rothwell band had come 7th. This year it was our turn to come 7th, with the Imps coming 8th. Next up for the band, after a couple of concerts is the Grand Shield Contest and Masters, during May. Hopefully this year we can do well at the Grand Shield, and improve on our 11th place at the Masters. Only time will tell… Tim Sawyer |