The National Brass Band Championships of Great Britain
The National Brass Band Championships are split into two parts. The first is the Area contest where bands across all sections compete to qualify for the national Finals.
The contest is run as a yearly event. The Area contests usually take place in March. The second part of the competition — the Finals — takes place the following September or October. Each section is assigned its own test piece. These test pieces are usually announced at the lower section Finals in September (or sometimes even before). In early June (after the qualifying bands from the Area contests have been decided), the set works for the Finals are announced.
There are eight Areas: West of England, London & Southern Counties, Midlands, Wales, North West, Yorkshire, North of England, and Scotland.
The First through Fourth Section Finals have recently been held at Harrogate International Centre, and the Championship Section Finals are held in the Royal Albert Hall, London.
Read more about this topic: Brass Band Sections In The United Kingdom
Famous quotes containing the words national, brass, band and/or britain:
“I came here for one thing only, to try to help national Ireland—and if there is no such thing in existence then the sooner I pay for my illusions the better.”
—Roger Casement (1864–1916)
“Thee for my recitative,
Thee in the driving storm even as now, the snow, the winter-day
declining,
Thee in thy panoply, thy measur’d dual throbbing and thy beat
convulsive,
Thy black cylindric body, golden brass and silvery steel,”
—Walt Whitman (1819–1892)
“And the heavy night hung dark
The hills and waters o’er,
When a band of exiles moored their bark
On the wild New England shore.”
—Felicia Dorothea Hemans (1783–1835)
“The only reason I might go to the funeral is to make absolutely sure that he’s dead.”
—“An Eminent Editor” Of Press Baron. Quoted in Anthony Sampson, Anatomy of Britain Today, ch. 9 (1965)