Celebrating St Andrew’s Day with Scottish young brass musicians

After a day of elite band competition in the Scottish Open championships, today it was the turn of the country’s younger ensembles to grace the Perth Concert Hall stage as they demonstrated their newly-acquired and burgeoning skills in brass instrument playing.

It’s St Andrew’s Day...  and what better way to celebrate than with the Scottish Youth Brass Band Championships in which 25 bands performed short programmes of music in four sections – Novice, Intermediate, Development and Non-competitive – for written comment and assessment by adjudicators Anne Crookston and Glyn & Helen Williams.

After the listening to the Novice Section, Glyn remarked that it had been a “breath of fresh air to see the young players take to the stage to perform for us”. There had been sensible choices of music to play with good ensemble balance and tuning.  What made the Gold winner selection was the sense of style the band had brought to the music.

Helen said: “Well done to everyone who has played today,” adding that it is sometimes forgotten where people’s brass journey started. “It is nice to sit back and listen to what is happening next – it’s the future,” she said. “You all should be proud of what you have contributed today.”

Following the Intermediate Section, Anne told the audience what an “absolute pleasure” it had been to watch and listen to all the youngsters on stage, so confident and so well prepared. She made special mention of the percussion kit players who had worked so hard and done a “fantastic job” in keeping their bands together. She added: “Congratulations to all the bands; it has been such a great joy.”

The Development Section Gold Award and first place went to Whitburn Youth Band, conducted by Caroline Farren.

In the Intermediate Section, Galashiels Youth Band (Stuart Black) went one better than last year’s Gold Award – they won the section this year!

In the Novice Section, it was Kirkton Youth Band (Karen Heenan) who took the top Gold Award and first place.

It was left to Helen Williams to sum up the day. “Gary and I have had the best seats in the house today,” she said. “The bands have been magnificent – fantastic people and fantastic musicians.

“Thanks to the conductors, teachers and parents for their encouragement and support and getting the young instrumentalists to practise every day!”

Addressing the players themselves, she added: “You should be proud to have played here in this magnificent concert hall. You are so fortunate to have had the opportunity – and long may that continue.”

Her final message to the youngsters was to urge them to further their musical journey by signing up to the National Youth Brass Band of Scotland to benefit from great tutors, soloists and musical directors.

These are the full results of the 2025 Scottish Youth Brass Band Championships:

Development Section

Gold Awards

Whitburn Youth Band (Caroline Farren) - winner [pictured above]

Campbeltown Brass Development (Katrina Barr)

Irvine Youth Band (John Boax)

Silver Awards

Newtongrange Junior Band (AlanFernie)

Perthshire Youth Brass (Willie McMullen) – winner

Bronze Award

Scottish Borders Youth Brass (Alan Fernie)

Intermediate Section

Gold Awards

Galashiels Youth Band (Stuart Black) - winner [pictured below]

Coalburn Bronze (Jim Park)

Loanhead Brass Youth Band (Alan Fernie)

Tweed Valley Youth Brass (Keith Belleville)

Silver Award

Stranraer Brass Training (Angela Miller) 

Bronze Awards

Campbeltown Brass Intermediate (David Cosgrove)

King’s Park Junior Brass (Emily Stokes)

Kirkintilloch Youth Band (Katherine Adams)

Novice Section

Gold Awards

Kirkton Youth Band (Karen Heenan) – winner [cover photo]

Cupar Brass Bandits and Wizards (Alison Milne)

Hawick Saxhornettes (Stuart Black)

Kinneil Youth Band (Scott Gardner)

Maroon Brass (Stuart Black)

Silver Awards

Clackmannan District Beginners (Luci Lamb)

Loanhead Brass Roots and Newtongrange Junior Band (Alan Fernie)

Perth & Kinross Brass (Elaine Stewart)

Bronze Awards

Broxburn & Livingston Future Brass (Jim Bone)

Irvine & Dreghorn Brasslets (John Boax)

Non-competitive Section

St David’s & Penicuik Joint Youth Band (John A Dickson)