Verwood Concert Brass will become a Championship Section band after yet another fantastic performance at the West of England Brass Band Association Regional Finals.
Band Master, Mike Dunnings said “This is like a dream come true, earning promotion to the highest level, and is an historic way to start the band’s 151st year. But unlike a dream this has actually involved a lot of dedication and support from everyone involved with Verwood Concert Brass to make this happen. It is amazing to think that back in 2006 the band was in the 4th Section but has continually improved and developed to earn the right to be in the top flight. The journey has been a great experience and also a lot of fun too”.
Over the weekend of the 14th and 15th March around 80 brass bands, which means over 2,000 musicians, from Cornwell, Devon, Somerset, Dorset, Wiltshire and Hampshire descended on Torquay to battle it out in the West of England Regional Finals. Verwood Concert Brass was up against 14 other bands in the 1st Section and was picked out of the hat to be the 2nd band to play the very challenging set test piece of music, ‘A London Overture’ by Philip Sparke.
The band’s conductor, Kevin Smith was absolutely delighted with their performance saying ‘I could not have asked for anything more from any of the players. Every single one of them performed how I knew they could, with confidence and skill, but most importantly they played as one complete team. It was an absolute privilege and delight to be on stage with them”.
When the results were announced a great cheer went up from the band and its supporters when Verwood was awarded 3rd place.
Mike Dunnings explained why even coming 3rd meant so much. ”Promotion isn’t about being a one hit wonder. It’s about being consistently good over a period of three years. Our 3rd from this year was added to our 4th from last year’s contest and our 3rd from the year before that, giving us a total of only 10 points – the lower the better. That’s a very low score and was 3 points clear of our nearest rival and that’s what earned us our well-deserved promotion from the 1st Section to the Championship Section. We are really looking forward to the challenge that will present”.
The next opportunity to see the now even more highly acclaimed Verwood Concert Brass band will be on Saturday 18th April at The Hub, Verwood and will be featuring guest soloist, Chris Avison, principal trumpet of the Bournemouth Symphony Orchestra.
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Verwood Town Band, under the baton of Emma Button were also very pleased with their performance of 'An English Pastorale' by Dean Jones. This was a very tricky piece with some very exposed solos but everybody rose to the occasion and the Band were extremely happy when they came off stage.
A placing of 13th out of 21 was, perhaps, disappointing but the A Band in the audience felt it was the best the Town Band had ever played and that was credit enough.
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