Coalburn Silver Band - Borders Champions
RESULTS Borders Entertainment Contest 3rd November
SCOTTISH BORDERS BRASS BAND ASSOCIATION
Borders Entertainment Contest 2012
Saturday 3 November Victoria Halls, Selkirk
First Prize: The Scottish Borders Trophy & £150 : Coalburn
Entertainment Prize: The Queen's Head Inn Shield & £150: Durham Miners
Best Second Section Band: The Souter Ronnie Trophy & £100 : Coalburn
Best Third Section Band: The John A. Wilson Memorial Trophy & £100 : Selkirk
Best Fourth Section Band: The Harry Pearce Memorial Trophy & £100 : Tullis Intermediate
Highest placed Borders Band: St Ronan's Bicentenary Trophy : Selkirk
Best Soloist: The Walter Nichol Memorial Trophy & Medal : Soprano, Kilmarnock
Best Instrumentalist : The Jedforest Instrumental Band 150th Anniversary Trophy & Medal : Flugel, Coalburn
Best Solo Cornet : The Dave Young Trophy & Medal: Kilmarnock
Best Basses : The Bert Neil Memorial Quaich : Tullis Russell Mills
Best Percussion : The Jenny Corbett Memorial Cup: Coalburn
PD- Paul Drury - GE Gordan Evans - Music Adjudicators - Open Adjudication
Position - Total - P D - G E - Band Conductor - Section - Draw
1 - 3 1 2 Coalburn Gareth Bowman 2 5
2 - 4 3 1 Kilmarnock Raymond Tennant 2 6
3 - 6 2 4 Tullis Martyn Ramsay 2 22
4 - 7 4 3 Durham Miners Neil Davies 2 12
5 - 13 8 5 Shotts Paul McKelvie 2 15
6 - 15 7 8 Selkirk Alan Fernie 3 11
7 - 15 5 10 Irvine John Boax 2 18
8 - 17 6 11 Annan David Shanks 2 8
9 - 18 9 9 Jedburgh Philip Rosier 3 20
10 - 21 15 6 Langholm Alan Fernie 3 7
11 - 23 16 7 Tullis Intermediate Steven Craig 4 16
12 - 24 12 12 St Davids John Dickson 2 17
13- 26 11 15 St Ronans David Robb 2 9
14 - 28 14 14 Peebles Stephen Baird 3 2
15- 29 10 19 Rushen John Kinley 4 21
16- 30 13 17 Buckhaven David Neil 3 19
17 - 31 18 13 Jayess Newbiggin' Andrew Griffiths 4 14
18 - 33 17 16 Dumfries Peter Heyes 3 10
19 - 37 19 18 Hawick Alan Fernie 4 4
20 - 40 20 20 Queensferry James Anderson 4 13
21 - 42 21 21 Penicuik Stuart Black 4 3
Saturday November 3rd saw well over 400 brass musicians descend on the historic town of Selkirk in the Scottish Borders, for the 11th annual Borders Entertainment contest, organised by the Scottish Borders Brass Band Association. No less than 21 bands took part, and as well as 6 local bands, there were entries from Fife, the Lothians, Lanarkshire, Ayrshire and Dumfriesshire, as well as a couple of Border raiders from the North East of England, and the very welcome presence of Rushen Silver band, from the Isle of Man.
The splendid Victoria Hall rang with the sounds of brass all day, and a large appreciative audience enjoyed a very wide range of music.
The judges for this year's contest were Gordon Evans, from Couper Angus, well known in band circles for his work with the National Children's Band of Scotland, and the talented young arranger and conductor, Paul Drury. In a unique feature to this contest, Paul did not write remarks on the playing, but had his spoken thoughts recorded on to a CD as each band played, enabling players and conductors to hear the band as he heard it. Both judges were hugely enthusiastic about the day's overall standard.
At the end of the day, the overall winner was the Coalburn band from South Lanarkshire, conducted by Gareth Bowman. They played "Citius, Altius, Fortius" by Alan Fernie, Chuck Mangione's "Children of Sanchez", which gained their flugel soloist the Best Instrumentalist prize, Vaughan Williams' "Prelude to the 49th Parallel" before finishing with "Dundonnell" by Philip Sparke. They were also best second section band, and took the prize for best percussion. Narrow runners up were debutants Kilmarnock Concert Brass, conducted by Raymond Tennant, who also picked up the best soloist prize for their soprano player, and best solo cornet. Defending champions Tullis Russell from Fife had to make do with overall third place, but had the added bonus of picking up best basses, and the even bigger accolade of their reserve group, Tullis Intermediate, being awarded best 4th section band. In 4th place were Durham Miners Association band, whose wonderfully authentic singing of "The Blaydon Races" won them the Entertainment award.
The two remaining prizes went to the host band, Selkirk Silver, who not only were judged to be the best 3rd section band, but also took the much coveted award for the being the highest placed band from the Borders. The band were excellent hosts, and were helped in no small way by the support given to the contest by many local businesses.
The day, which was compered by the incomparable Alasdair Hutton, was deemed to be a great success, with the contest remarkably running to time, and small obstacles, such as 2 band coaches (from the same company!!) breaking down on the way to contest, smoothly dealt with. The date for next year's event is Nov. 2nd, in Jedburgh Town Hall, and if this year is anything to go by, bands should get their entries in quickly!
Alan Fernie
