Contesting

Not all bands enter competitions and there are some which shun the contest stage, preferring to concentrate their efforts in providing music for local events. For most players, though, contesting has always been an important part of brass banding, the reason that they spend so many hours trying to perfect their art. It provides them with the opportunity to test their musical skills against others and, of course, to bring home that silverware.

This section includes brass band contests which have taken place in Cornwall. I doubt that all are here, and there are certainly some results missing, but, over time, it is hoped that it will become a comprehensive record of all Cornish Contests.

 

 

 

1929

1^st Redruth Mining Division Bandsmen’s Festival

(Mining Division)

22^nd June 1929

Adjudicator: George H Mercer of Sheffield

Camborne Junior Band at Redruth Contest in 1929 (Photo: R C Toy. Courtesy Paddy Bradley, Redruth)

Open section test piece: Labour and Love (Percy Fletcher)

Placed		Conductor	Points
1	Stenalees Silver Band	Charles H Baker
2	Camborne Town Band	A W Parker
3	St Dennis Silver Band	Charles H Baker
4	Penzance Band	J Probert
	Hayle Silver Band	John Tanner
	Indian Queens Band	Ford Knight
	St Austell Town Band	E F Woodhead

 

Open section test march: Own choice

Placed		Points
1	Stenalees Silver Band
2	St Austell Town Band
3	Camborne Town Band
	Hayle Silver Band
	Indian Queens Band
	Penzance Band
	St Dennis Silver Band

Soprano: R Hancock, Stenalees

Cornet: T Swift, Stenalees

Horn: W Poad, Stenalees

Trombone: Percy Knight, St Dennis

Euphonium: R Gilbert, Stenalees

 

Third Section test piece: A Souvenir of the Opera

Placed		Conductor	Points
1	Greensplat Band	Charles H Baker
2	Penzance	J Probert
3	Truro	George Cave
4	Indian Queens	Ford Knight
	Carharrack	T Hubbard
	Constantine	S C Williams
	Delabole Silver	W B Williams
	Porthleven	S R Roberts
	St Erth Silver	S Pye
	St Minver	J F Wills

 

Third Section hymn: Aberystwyth

Placed		Points
1	Penzance
2	Greensplat Band
3	Truro
	Carharrack
	Constantine
	Delabole Silver
	Indian Queens
	Porthleven
	St Erth Silver
	St Minver

 

Junior Section test piece: Sylvan Scenes

Placed		Conductor	Points
1	St Erth	S Pye
2	Delabole Silver	W B Williams
3	Carharrack	T Hubbard
4	Porthleven	R Roberts
	Camborne Juniors	Jack Eustace
	Constantine	S C Williams
	St Keverne	J Martin

 

Junior Section test march:

Placed		Points
1	St Erth Silver Band

 

“The first annual Mining Division Bandsmen’s Festival was held at the Redruth Recreation Ground, on Saturday. There were about 4,000 people present. In the open section seven of the leading Cornish bands competed; in the third ten, and the junior seven. … The bands assembled in Higher Forestreet and marched in procession through crowded streets to the Recreation Ground. … Some of Mr. Mercer’s awards occasioned considerable surprise. … Mercer remarked that there had been some good play that day, particularly in the open section, where competition was extremely keen “This section has been very difficult to judge, I have had a big job. …” (27 June 1929 – Cornishman)

 

 

 

 

1930

2^nd Redruth Mining Division Bandsmen’s Festival

(Mining Division)

Recreation Ground, Redruth

21^st June 1930

Adjudicator: Albert Lawton of Leicester

 

Open section test piece: Auber

Placed		Conductor	Points
1	St Dennis	Charles H Baker
2	Camborne Town	A W Parker
3	Falmouth Town	Thomas Chainey
	Penzance	J Probert
	St Austell	E F Woodhead
	Truro City	George Cave

 

First section test march:

Placed		Points
1	Camborne Town
2	St Dennis
	Falmouth Town
	Penzance
	St Austell
	Truro City

 

Third section test piece: Recollections of Schubert (Franz Schubert / Rimmer)

Placed		Conductor	Points
1	Penzance Town	J Probert
2	Greensplat	Charles H Baker
3	Falmouth Town	Thomas Chainey
4	Truro City	George Cave
5	Carharrack Temperance	E J Hubbard

 

Junior section test piece: The Spirit of Youth (J A Greenwood)

Placed		Conductor	Points
1	St Issey	Charles H Baker
2	Camborne Juniors	Jack Eustace
3	Porthleven Town	William Roberts
4	Delabole Silver	W B Williams
5	Gweek	H G Floyd

 

“The second annual bandsmen’s festival, organised by the committee of Redruth Town Band for the musical development of Cornish bands, was held at Redruth Recreation Ground on Saturday. Unfavourable weather greatly interfered with the event and for three hours rain fell whilst the open section was competing. Excellent arrangements were made by a committee of which Dr. Chas. Rivers was president, Mr. T. G. Craze, J.P. (chairman of the Urban Council.) deputy president, Mr. R. Williamson, hon gen. secretary, and Mr. S. C. Chegwidden, band secretary. … About 1,500 people were present. There were three sections and some the bands entered in the third section also competed in the open. … The judge congratulated the committee on the excellent arrangements made for the festival. He could not say that much advance had been made in playing since he adjudicated at St. Ives and Bugle some years since. Bands sometimes made a mistake in not paying attention to tuition. The performances of the winning bands were very good. In the open section the first prize in the test piece went without the shadow of a doubt to St. Dennis. …” (26 June 1930 – Cornishman)

 

 

 

 

1931

3^rd Redruth Mining Division Bandsmen’s Festival

20^th June 1931

Adjudicator: Harold Hind

 

Open section test piece: Mendelssohn’s Works (arr. Drake Rimmer)

Placed		Conductor	Points
1	St Dennis	Charles H Baker
2	Camborne Town	A W Parker
3	Falmouth Town	Thomas Chainey

 

Open section test chorus: Hallelujah Chorus

Placed		Points
1	Camborne Town
2	St Dennis
3	Falmouth Town

 

Third section test piece: Classic Moments

Placed		Conductor	Points
1	Indian Queens	Ford Knight
2	Falmouth Town	Thomas Chainey
3	Hayle	S Coombe
4	St Pinnock	Marsh Kessell

 

Junior section test piece: Minstrel Songs

Placed		Conductor	Points
1	St Pinnock	Marsh Kessell
2	St Issey	Charles H Baker
3	Camborne Juniors	Jack Eustace
4	St Erth	Norman Trudgeon
	Breage	L H Young
	Gweek	L C Reynolds
	Marazion Town	B H David
	Stithians	E J Williams

 

“The annual band festival was held at Redruth on Saturday before nearly two thousand people. …” (25 June 1931 – Cornishman)

 

 

 

 

1932

It would seem from the numbering that this contest was not held in 1932

 

 

1933

See Redruth Marching Contest which replaced the Mining Contest in for this year

1934

See Redruth Marching Contest which replaced the Mining Contest in for this year

 

 

 

1935

St Dennis placed 1st for both the test piece and the chorus.

 

 

 

1936

Redruth Mining Division Bandsmen’s Festival

 (Redruth Town Band)

30^th May 1936

Adjudicator: Denis Wright

 

Open section test piece: Coriolanus (Cyril Jenkins)

Placed		Conductor	Points
1	St Dennis Silver Band	Charles H Baker
2	Camborne Town Band	A W Parker
3	Falmouth Town Band	T G Moore
	Newquay
	Penzance
	St Austell

 

Open section march: Pandora (S W Ord Hume)

Placed		Points
1	St Dennis Silver Band
2	Camborne Town Band
	Falmouth Town Band
	Newquay
	Penzance
	St Austell

Cornet: M Bunt, St Dennis

Horn: F J Alford, St Dennis

Euphonium: H Gilbert, Camborne

Best instrumentalist: Orlando Kent, St Dennis (Soprano)

 

Second section test piece: Autumn Echoes

Placed		Conductor	Points
1	Falmouth Town	T G Moore
2	Indian Queens	Ford Knight
3	St Agnes	T G Langford
	Gweek	Thomas Chainey
	St Austell
	St Keverne	Beth David
	Stithians
	Sticker	H Crocker
	Truro City

Best instrumentalist: V. Trezise – St Agnes

 

Second section test hymn: Denton Park

Placed		Points
1	Falmouth Town
2	Indian Queens
	Gweek
	St Agnes
	St Austell
	St Keverne
	Stithians
	Sticker
	Truro City

 

Third section test piece: Rossini

Placed		Conductor	Points
1	Gweek	Thomas Chainey
2	St Keverne	Beth David
	Mabe
	St Agnes	T G Langford
	Sticker	H Crocker
	Stithians
	Truro City

Best instrumentalist: V. Trezise – St Agnes

 

 

Third section march: Own choice

Placed		Points
1	St Keverne
2	Gweek
=3	St Agnes
=3	Sticker
	Mabe
	Stithians
	Truro City

 

Deportment

Placed		Points
1	Stithians

 

“REDRUTH BAND CONTEST SUCCESSFUL REVIVAL. Fourteen bands entered for the Mining Division Bandsmen’s festival, held at Redruth on Saturday, and organized Redruth Town Band. The principal award was won by St. Dennis Silver, Camborne Town coming second. The festival was established at Redruth some years ago, and has a successful history, but it had been allowed to lapse, and was succeeded by a march contest. This year it was decided to resuscitate the festival, and the event proved a complete success; there was an attendance of about a thousand, and over £90 was taken at the gate. All the prize money had been found beforehand, having been raised by subscriptions and special efforts.

The adjudicator, (Mr- Dennis Wright, Crystal Palace), said there were a lot of varied readings in the test piece, some of them very interesting indeed, but the variety of readings did not matter very much, as the bands sorted themselves out according to their own individual players. St Dennis played very well and were very well controlled. Camborne began very well, in the style a first class band; he thought they were going to do great things, but they fell away a bit, and there were individual slips. The march looked easy to play, but it was not; some of the bands played it very well indeed, but others were a little outclassed There were dozens of good instrumentalists in the section, and they did their job very well indeed. The best instrumentalist in the section, and of the day, irrespective of whether he was soloist or any other, was the soprano player of St. Dennis.

Second section. Referring to the playing of the test piece, Mr Wright emphasized that it was not enough merely to play the notes, and some bands were lacking in variety of expression. Conductors should use their individual judgment. He should never damn a band if he discovered that the conductor was using his individuality, even if disagreed with the conductor’s interpretation. There was some quite good playing in the piece. In the hymn tune, the faults were not many, but they were much the same as the third section. There was some varied playing on the part of one or two bands, and some treated the verses exactly alike.

Third section. Mr. Wright said there was a lot of ragged playing in the march, and not one band gave a really clear performance. Some of the playing was quite nice, but, all the time, there were little individual slips that lost points. In the hymn, he was disappointed that the bands did not try to treat different verses in different ways: there was in the hymn obvious scope for individual treatment, but too often the bands were content to play the second verse exactly the same way as they played the first thereby giving rather a sense of monotony. The actual playing of the selection was good, but there was sometimes a lack of balance and, in that type of playing, balance was very important; they were to some extent, in the hymn, imitating an organ and, if an organ had one good point, it was balance. The trombone in Stithians band and the euphonium in St. Agnes Town were both excellent, but one of them played a little too loudly, and the medal would go to the St. Agnes player. The deportment prize was awarded by Capt. W. W. Smith, R.A. (T) to Stithians. The prizes were handed to the winners by Mrs. Ben Green, and Mr. J. Glasson (president) said that, in the sportsmanlike way in which they accepted defeat, bandsmen set a very fine example to other sections of the community. It was hoped to make the festival an annual event, and he trusted it would have the support of the bands and the public. …” (4 June 1936 – Cornishman)

 

 

 

 

 

1937

Redruth Mining Division Bandsmen’s Festival

 (Redruth Town Band)

19^th June 1937

Adjudicator: Harold Hind

 

First section test piece: Tone Poem

Placed		Conductor	Points
1	St Dennis	Charles H Baker
2	Falmouth Town	T G Moore
3	Camborne Town	A W Parker

 

First section test march (Chorus):

Placed		Points
1	Falmouth Town
2	St Dennis
3	Camborne Town

 

Second section test piece: Recollections of Auber

Placed		Conductor	Points
1	Indian Queens	Ford Knight
2	Gweek	Thomas Chainey
3	St Agnes	T G Langford

 

Second section march:

Placed		Points
1	Indian Queens
2	St Agnes
	Gweek

 

Third section test piece:

Placed		Conductor	Points
1	St Keverne	Beth David
2	Gweek	Thomas Chainey
3	St Breward	R Bawden
4	St Issey	W Hill

 

Deportment:

Placed		Points
1	Camborne

 

“Large crowds were attracted to the annual band festival held at Redruth on Saturday when ten bands took part in the event. The sensation of the day was the defeat of Camborne Town Band., who, at the last Bugle festival, won the championship of the West of England from St. Dennis Silver Band. The decision of the judge (Mr. H. Hind, Mus. Bac., L.R.A-M-, AJR.C.O.) caused a good deal of surprise, though members Camborne Town Band afterwards paid tribute to the way in which the winners, Falmouth Town, had performed. In announcing the awards, Mr. Hind asked why was it that so bandmasters changed the time in the playing hymn tunes; one could not imagine it being done by an organist playing in a church. Referring to the march, Mr. Hind said in the second and third sections, some of the trombonists slurred notes, and he thought it was pity. He said the playing had been quite interesting in a good many ways, and he was particularly charmed with the playing in the first section. In the second section, the playing had been rather mixed and, in the third section, only about two bands failed to come to standard. Falmouth, in the chorus, gave a most inspiring rendering, and provided just the type playing suited to sacred music. He remarked Camborne would have done much better in the chorus were it not for little slips which kept creeping in. In distributing the awards, Lieut. Col. E. H. W. Bolitho (Lord Lieutenant) said that bands were a great asset to every town and village which possessed them, they bred the team spirit, and taught the members to work together for the common cause. Cornishmen were like Welshmen in their love music, and they did not need to taught tune. He congratulated Redruth on their successful arrangement of the contest, and expressed the hope that it would continue to be popular feature of the district for many years. Col. Bolitho was introduced by Mr. W. T. Hart. Excellent arrangements had been made the committee, and the crowd was larger than that which gathered at the contest last year. The event seems to be increasing in favour with the public, and it is already one the important programmes of its kind in the county. Mrs. Ben Green was judge of the deportment in which the prize went to Camborne. Results: …” (24 June 1937 – Cornishman)

 

 

 

 

 

1938

Redruth Mining Division Bandsmen’s Festival

Recreation Ground, Redruth

18^th June 1938

Adjudicator: Harry Mortimer

 

First section test piece: L’Arlesienne (Bizet)

Placed		Conductor	Points
1	Falmouth Town	T G Moore
2	St Dennis	Charles H Baker

 

First section test chorus: Lift up Your Hearts

Placed		Points
1	St Dennis
2	Falmouth Town

 

Second section test piece: Don Pasquale (Donizetti)

Placed		Conductor	Points
1	Indian Queens	Ford Knight
2	St Stythians	Tom Hubbard
3	Truro City	W E Cuttance
4	St Newlyn East	L Abram

 

Second section test march: Own choice

Placed		Points
1	Indian Queens
2	St Newlyn East
3	St Stythians
	Truro City

 

Third section test piece: Round the Camp Fire (Maynard)

Placed		Conductor	Points
1	Hayle	S Coombes
2	Delabole Ex-servicemen’s Silver	L R Prout
3	St Newlyn East	L Abram
	Mabe
	Portloe & District
	St Agnes Town
	St Issey
	St Keverne

Cornet award: N Roskilly, Hayle

 

Third section test hymn: Own choice

Placed		Points
1	Delabole Ex-servicemen’s Silver
2	Hayle
	Mabe
	Portloe & District
	St Agnes Town
	St Issey
	St Newlyn East
	St Keverne

” ‘I am absolutely astonished at the excellent playing, even in the third section, of these Cornish bands’, said Mr. Harry Mortimer (solo cornet in Foden’s Band), who adjudicated at the Mining Division Bandsmen’s Festival, at Redruth Recreation Ground, on Saturday. In spite of other attractions in various parts of the county, there was a large number of band enthusiasts present to listen to fourteen bands compete for the musical honours. All the leading bands of the county were present, with the exception of Newquay and Camborne. Before the festival opened the bands marched from the Redruth Wesley Methodist Church to the Recreation Ground. It was rather unfortunate that later in the day rain marred the proceedings, but fortunately this did not appear to have any ill-effects on the bands competing. The most looked for event of the day was the open section, which only two bands took part – Falmouth Town Band and St. Dennis Silver Band. Some beautiful playing was rendered by both bands. … Mr. Harry Mortimer said he hoped that their reception after he had given his decisions would be as hearty as it was before. He had had a very enjoyable time, and he had been absolutely amazed at the fine playing of the bands in the third section. As for the open section, he could now understand why the crack bands of the north, when they come down to Bugle, got a good hiding. He had never heard any of those bands before, but he had been astounded at their excellent playing. …”  (23 June 1938 – Cornishman)

 

 

 

1939

Redruth Mining Division Bandsmen’s Festival

 (Redruth Town Band)

17^th June 1939

Adjudicator: Alfred Ashpole

 

First section test piece:

Placed		Conductor	Points
1	Falmouth Town	T G Moore
2	St Dennis	Charles H Baker
3	Indian Queens

 

First section test march:

Placed		Points
1	St Dennis
2	Falmouth Town
	Indian Queens

 

Second section test piece: Martha (Friedrich von Flotow)

Placed		Conductor	Points
1	St Stythians	Tom Hubbard
2	Delabole ex-serviceman’s Silver
3	Gweek
4	St Keverne	E France

 

Second section test hymn:

Placed		Points
1	St Keverne
2	St Stythians
	Delabole ex-serviceman’s Silver
	Gweek

 

Third section test piece:

Placed		Conductor	Points
1	Delabole ex-serviceman’s Silver
2	St Newlyn East
3	Mabe
	Bugle
	Gweek
	Okehampton
	Portloe & District
	St Issey
	St Keverne

 

Third section test march

Placed		Points
1	Gweek /  Delabole ex-serviceman’s Silver
2	St Keverne
	Bugle
	Mabe
	Okehampton
	Portloe & District
	St Issey
	St Newlyn East

 

 

 

 

 

Compiled by Tony Mansell (Bardh Kernow)