Well Done Phoenix!
Yesterday saw the band perform at the West of England Regional Brass Band Championships in Torquay. The day began with an early start for a rehearsal in Newton Abbott at 8am. We soon found out that we were drawn to play 15th so we had a bit of waiting around to do but luckily the sun was shining so time passed quickly.
Phoenix performed in the 2nd section playing Goff Richard's demanding composition Cross Patonce. The piece has provided interesting rehearsals since the start of the the year with exposed passages for everyone in the band. The performace went well despite a rocky moment in the first movement. John Woods did the band proud with an excellent solo near the start of the piece and this was echoed with very musical solos from others in the band including John Warry on horn and Matt Read on cornet.
The adjudicators liked what they heard and awarded Phoenix 5th place, a really excellent result for the band in such a competitive section playing a testing piece. Phoenix are now placed near the top of the 2nd section and this puts us in a really strong position going into the next year. The comments from the adjudicators are available for you to read here.
The whole band worked hard during the preparation for the contest but special thanks go to Dave Hatton our conductor who has guided the band through the piece and was able to bring the best out of the band on the day. In addition to all the work Dave has put into preparing Phoenix he has also been rehearsing on cornet with Bournemouth Concert Brass who yesterday achieved 2nd place in the Championship Section, a wonderful result for their first year in the section, congratulations Dave and Bournemouth!
Two other local bands also did themselves proud yesterday, Weston Brass came 6th in the Second Section having only just been promoted and Sherbourne came 3rd in the Championship just below Bournemouth.
Lastly, thanks to all the players in the band including John Warry on solo horn, Caron Lissett on bass trombone, Graham Davies on cornet and Jim packer on Timps who recently joined/returned to the band in the lead up to the contest.
Well Done Everyone!
The Full results of the 2nd section were as follows:
1. Lympstone South West Telecoms (Charles Fleming), 16*
2. Otterbourne Brass (Gareth Pritchard), 10*
3. Pendennis Brass Falmouth (Steve Thomas), 3
4. Sidmouth Town (Adrian Harvey), 1
5. Phoenix Brass (Crewkerne) (David Hatton), 15
6. Weston Brass (Tony Osborne), 8
7. City of Bristol (Ceri Thomas), 2
8. St Pinnock (Chris Spreadbury), 11
9. Soundhouse Brass (Simon Badge), 12
10. Ocean Brass (Jonathan M Camps), 5
11. Cinderford (Clive Lewis), 4
12. Bugle Silver (Jeremy Willcock), 13
13. Swindon Pegasus Brass (Mike Lock), 9
14. Heyl Town (David Loukes), 7
15. Wotton-under-Edge & District (Ian Dickinson), 6
16. Bath Spa (Martin Perry), 14
Released On 12th Mar 2012
