West of England Regional Championships 2023

On Sunday 12th of March, Flowers travelled to Torquay to compete at the 2023 West of England Regional Championships. Following cancellations and venue changes due to Covid=19, we were pleased to be back in this seaside town where the band has enjoyed considerable success.

This year’s chosen test piece was ‘Red Priest’ by Philip Wilby, a technical and musical challenge which was commissioned for the European Championships and has since been used for the British Open and Grand Shield. The band enjoyed preparing this piece, under the careful supervision of our Musical Director Paul Holland, and we were particularly pleased to see so many friends and supporters join our open rehearsal to hear a preview of our performance.

We were delighted to welcome Tom Nielsen as guest principal cornet. He was the latest in a line-up of top class cornet players occupying the end seat while Luke Barker continues his year of study in Switzerland. Tom has been a good friend of the band for several years, having met several members during his time as principal cornet player of the National Youth Brass Band of Great Britain. He has appeared with us previously in concerts, and was thrilled to be asked to perform with us at the contest. We were very grateful that Tom was able to play for the band, managing to fit us in around his busy schedule as one of the leading freelance orchestral trumpet players in the UK, and all at the age of 21!

We were given a fairly early draw, 4/11, and played in the mid afternoon. We then enjoyed several drinks in the bar whilst we waited for the contest to conclude. After much deliberation by adjudicators Chris Jeans and Morten Hansen, in what was described as a battle between ‘two very close bands’, the band were awarded second place. The adjudicators described our performance as ‘musically astute’ and ‘a performance that radiated quality’, but with some small errors that were the differentiator between the top two placings.

With our qualification for the National Finals already secured due our top four placing last year, there were two further spots available for West of England bands. We very much look forward to seeing our friends from first-placed Camborne Band and third-placed Aldbourne Band at the Royal Albert Hall in October - congratulations to you all!

The band would like to thank the WEBBA organising team who work tirelessly to make this contest run smoothly and professionally every year.

The next opportunity to hear the band will be at Stroud Sub Rooms on Sunday 23rd April. Follow the link to get your tickets! Flowers Band | What's On | The Sub Rooms