Newstead brass returned with three trophies from the Oxford
& District Winter Open brass band championships held at the Marlborough
School, Woodstock on Sunday February 24th, taking the awards for
best march, best test-piece and best instrumentalist.
This was the first time this historic contest, established
in 1923, had been held for several years and each competing band performed a
march and test-piece of their choice.
Newstead, conducted as usual by musical director Duncan Beckley, played
the contest march ‘The President’ followed by ‘Harmony Music’, the challenging
piece set for this year’s Midland Championships.
Adjudicator David Hirst commented that only the winning band
‘got to grips with the concepts of the piece’ and awarded Newstead 93 out of
100 for the March section (one point ahead of runners up Regent Brass) and 193
out of 200 for the Test piece (one point ahead of runners up Kidlington).
Newstead Brass received the Frank Grey Shield, donated by
Oxford’s then MP for the first contest in 1923, for winning the Test Piece
section and the Harry Mortimer trophy for the winning March performance. To complete the trio of awards, principal
euphonium Lynden Cooper received the Hampden shield as the best instrumentalist.
A Newstead band spokesman said, “The trophies are a great
reward for the hard work put in by the band and Duncan, our musical
director. Performing in contests is an
excellent way of maintaining our musical standards. Even though there was no prize money on
offer, the band showed their commitment by funding the 200 mile round trip from
their own pockets.”
Local fans of brass music can see the trophies and hear a
reprise of Newstead brass performance of ‘Harmony Music’ at the Midland AreaTest Piece Festival, this Saturday, March 2nd when Newstead will be
joined by the Hathern, Ireland Colliery (Chesterfield), Long Eaton and Pleasley
bands. Each band will play one of the five
pieces set for the Midland region of the National Brass Band Championships. The festival is at the John Godber Centre, Ogle
Street, Hucknall. The first performance is
at 7.30 pm and admission costs £2.
