When we won the 1st Section Championship Contest in 2006 - and assured our place in the Championship Section for 2007-  it was assumed that our participation in the “Brass In The Park” competition, organised by the Newtongrange Band, would come to an end, as this competition was not open to Championship Section Bands.

 

However, the Organisers of the event decided to change their format and not only invited Championship section bands to compete, but structured the weekend in such a way that no one Band could win all the prize money on offer.

 

When we last competed in this Contest, each Band had to play a March, a Hymn Tune and a piece featuring a Soloist. We were awarded 1st Prize and our Treasurer (Tom) was more than happy to bank a cheque for £1000.

 

This time although, there were other optional events at the contest you could play in -  a short March in the village and the opportunity to play a twenty minute programme at the Scottish Miners Museum. We decided to give those two things a miss (if you have ever seen us marching you would understand why!) and just concentrate on the Contest which takes part in the main tent where we had to perform only a March and a Hymn tune with the Prize Money of £500 on offer.

 

Archie Hutchison – our Professional Conductor - had selected the March “Mephistopheles” and the Hymn tune “The Day Thou Gavest” (St. Clement) which has served us well in the past. He has been searching for a different Hymn Tune to play at these types of Contests but so far hasn’t found one he feels is better than the one we play.

 

On the day there were 16 bands listed to play but only ourselves and Whitburn represented the Championship section. As the Contest was pre-drawn, we knew in advance that we were playing No12, immediately after Whitburn.

 

Come the results, Adjudicator Raymond Tennant placed us 2nd behind Whitburn by 2 points (and one ahead of Broxburn in 3rd place.  David McKellar our Principal Euphonium won the prize for Best Instrumentalist.

 

However in the Junior Section, our Junior Band – conducted by Ian Taylor – played third in a section of three performing “Walkabout”, “The Lark In The Clear Air” (Tenor Horn Solo) “L’ll Darlin’” and the “Impressario Overture”

 

Just before the results were announced, the Provost, in his speech said “ I know nothing about Brass Bands but if the third Band doesn’t win today then something is far wrong.”

 

Given the fact that adjudicator Russell Gray blushed quite visibly at this statement, not one member of the listening audience thought that the Provost had not got the result spot on. However, when Russell summed up his decision, a few eyebrows were raised in the Dalmellington camp, although not when David McLean was declared “best Soloist” for a quite outstanding rendition of “The Lark In The Clear Air”, but when they were only awarded a “Silver” award – 2nd place -  and MacTaggart Scott Loanhead Youth were awarded 1st Prize.

 

No doubt the Juniors will bounce back from this result, but all of the Seniors and many of our Patrons and supporters who travelled through to cheer them on and hear the performance will not forget the day that they were robbed blind and that Band Contests – no matter what Section  you play in  - remain largely a lottery in which a brilliant performance is no guarantee that you will either win or even at times feature in the prize list.

 

Despite this set back, many in the audience who had never heard our Junior Band before left the arena raving about what a great Band they were. Each and every one of them have put in a huge amount of work to get to the standard they are, helped and encouraged by Hugh Johnstone and the Junior Band conductor Ian Taylor.