IT IS a big weekend for banding and for no band perhaps more than for Brighouse and Rastrick Band.
B and R will be at the Royal Albert Hall in London tomorrow (October 15) to defend their title as National Champions.
The band will take on 19 others in the championship section of the National Finals.
The Brighouse and Rastrick musicians are travelling to London today followed by a second coach full of supporters.
They will be joined in London by their charismatic professional conductor Professor David King, who despite living on Australia’s Gold Coast, conducts the band at all of its major contests each year.
B&R has had one of its most successful periods ever since David was appointed professional conductor around two and a half years ago.
Paul Beaumont, band president said: “The band is playing better than ever under the brilliant and outstanding leadership of Professor King, but despite all the hard work and weeks of rehearsing everything depends on that one performance at the Royal Albert Hall”.
That performance will see all the bands in the championship section play Paul Lovatt-Cooper’s technically challenging piece, Breath of Souls.
The National Brass Band Finals, held annually at the Royal Albert Hall, is the most prestigious contest in the Brass Band calendar.
Eight regional qualifying contests are held during the first half of each year with the winning band and the runner-up at each contest plus the top placed bands from the previous year’s finals being invited to compete for the ultimate title.
Brighouse and Rastrick won the Yorkshire regional contest in Bradford earlier this year.
The band took the same title last year before going on to win the nationals.
Fingers crossed for a repeat performance this weekend.
Later this month, there’s a chance to hear the band in Huddersfield when it hosts Fodens Band at Huddersfield Town Hall on October 29, the latest in its massed band concerts which have been held in the town since 1946.
