On Sunday 5th February, Jayess Newbiggin Brass Band kicked off 2017 with an appearance at East Durham College for the Festival of Brass, a contest we have often enjoyed a lot of success at and today was no exception. We chose to perform Kenneth Downie's Music From Kantara, a piece we took to the National Finals in September, and given the amount of work we put into the piece we felt it was only right that we gave it another outing.

5 bands in total competed in our section, with a decent range of own choice test pieces being chosen for the event. Two bands played the area test piece St. Andrews Variations which provided us with an interesting insight into how they interpreted Alan Fernie's music, both performances were clearly well rehearsed and indicated that every band will need to raise their game to have that 'edge' in the area contest this March. We also heard Indian Summer by Eric Ball and A Malvern Suite by Phillip Sparke. Having heard the vast majority of the section, the standard was clearly very high with every band putting in solid performances.

When it came to the results the band were delighted to walk away winners of the section, along with prizes for the bass section and solo cornet. Well done to Dennis, Heather and Tony on your well deserved prizes. The adjudicator David Hirst commended the band on our intonation, musicality and overall band sound, but of course offered constructive advice on how to improve for the future.

As always, the contest was efficient, well organised and tremendously enjoyable. What was also very pleasing was the excellent turnout in the audience, with nearly a full house watching every band. Well done to Durham County Brass Band Association on another job well done.

The full list of results are below, congratulations to all prizewinners.

1. Jayess Newbiggin Brass Band (Andrew Griffiths)

2. Lanchester (Gareth Sykes)

3. Spennymoor Town Band (Neil Davies)

4. Craghead Colliery Band

5. Trimdon Concert Band (Tina Mortimer)

Best Euphonium: Lanchester

Best Trombone Section: Craghead

Best Cornet: Jayess Newbiggin

Bass Bass Section: Jayess Newbiggin

A winning start to 2017

Kayleigh Stringer

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