Scottish bands triumph in Blackpool
There was double delight for Scottish bands at this weekend's British Open Spring Festival in Blackpool as Whitburn Band made a welcome return to the British Open by lifting the Grand Shield and Dalmellington Band lifted the Senior Trophy, gaining promotion to the Senior Cup.
Whitburn, under the baton of Professor Nicholas Childs, secured a return to the British Open for the first time since 2010 with its winning performance of Stephen Roberts' Reflections on Swan Lake. The Scottish champion band has 'hit the crossbar' on several occasions over the past few years in Blackpool with two third places, two fourths and a fifth but it can now look forward to a return to Symphony Hall, Birmingham in September where it will join Co-operative Funeralcare, and 16 others, in tackling Thierry Deleruyelle's Fraternity.
Meanwhile, Dalmellington Band continued its great run of contest results with Richard Evans by capturing the Senior Trophy, a tremendous achievement especially from a number 1 draw. Dalmellington had obviously set the bar high with its late-morning performance of Gilbert Vinter's Salute to Youth, impressing adjudicators Ian Porthouse and Tom Hutchinson enough to remain unsurpassed for the remainder of the contest. The icing on Dalmellington's cake was the award of Best Instrumentalist to former National Youth Brass Band of Scotland (NYBBS) principal cornet Rebecca Wilson.
Of the other Scottish contenders, Kirkintilloch, conducted by Bryan Allen, secured its place in the Grand Shield while Newtongrange (Andrew Duncan) and Kingdom Brass (Paul Drury) came 12th and 13th respectively in the Senior Cup. Unison Kinneil (Raymond Tennant) came sixth in the Senior Tophy for the third year in a row with Bo'ness and Carriden (Thomas Wyss) further down in 18th place.
