Youth Band pick up silver award at championships
THE Blaenavon Town Brass Band continues to make good progress in 2024 and is already planning a return to the Welsh area in 2025 as a registered band.
The band has entered the Wychavon Entertainment Contest in November and is now planning more local community events for the summer, following on from the progress made in 2022-23 with Dr Christian Jenkins.
The band is now enjoying weekly rehearsals with new conductor Alun F Williams, who said: “The band are improving every week and we have enjoyed working on basic technique, tuning, band ensemble, musicality and improving their concert repertoire.”
This was evident in its first concert in March at the Seniors Hall, Blaenavon where it received a great reception from a packed hall.
The band has a good structure which was also evident in the concert as the first half was performed by the Training Band conducted by Evan Smith, who also had a great reception from the audience.
The structure works as some of these trainees now rehearse with the senior band, gaining great experience.
The Training Band rehearses on a Tuesday from 6.30pm-7.30pm and Evan also has a Beginners Class on a Thursday from 6.30pm-7.30pm in the bandroom.
There is a very positive and friendly atmosphere in the band, with everyone working hard to improve the standard and maintain its community relationships.
There is a core of 20 players and, like most bands, there are always vacancies.
If there are any soprano, flugel, solo cornet or trombone players out there who would like to join a very progressive and ambitious band, you would be very welcome on Tuesday evenings from 7.30pm-9.30pm. They look forward to meeting you.
The Newtown March and Open Air Contest will return on June 9 and is open to all bands, from youth and training bands to senior bands, unregistered or any section.
The contest provides a fun day out for all, with 14 trophies and over £900 in prize money.
The contest is supported by Newtown Town Council and Open Newtown.
The closing date is May 1. Entry forms from http://www.newtownmarchcontest.org.uk.
Meanwhile, the South East Wales Brass Band Association (SEWBBA) is holding its Spring Festival event at the Tonyrefail Community School (CF39 8HG) on Saturday, May 18.
Test pieces are Own Choice across all sections and it is open to bands from both England and Wales.
Registration rules will be relaxed to allow bands to compete with borrowed players.
Entry deadline is April 19. Further information from Tim Jones tim@ kapitolpromotions.co.uk.
It is interesting to see how the South Wales Youth Brass Band has developed over the years.
The band gained a Silver Award at the recent National Youth Championships
of Great Britain at Cheltenham, where 43 young players took to the stage, aged nine to 18, from Pembrokeshire to Gwent and Powys. Twentynine of these players were under 16 or in full GCSE education. Bands represented were BTM, Goodwick, Parc and Dare, Penclawdd, City of Cardiff M1, M2, M3, Tylorstown, Tredegar Town, Ynyshir, Newtown, BrassatBont, Milford Haven Town.
The band was conducted by Carol Flanary Davies at the Championships.