The bank holiday weekend was a very busy one for Pemberton Band. On the 28th of May we took part in the Whit Friday Marches in Saddleworth and on the 30th we were in Kettering competing in The All England International Masters.
Whit Friday is a one of the highlights of the banding calendar and when we found out that it was taking place on the same weekend as the Masters we had a decision to make. Last year we performed at all 11 contests in Tameside area, but this year we decided to have a slightly easier night and do around 6 contests in the Saddleworth area. In the end we made it to 8 contests playing The President and we posted some great results including two 3rd prizes and a best cornet prize and we won some decent prize money for our nights work.
With no time to rest we were back in the bandroom on the Saturday evening putting the finishing touches to Percy Fletchers Epic Symphony which was the set test piece for the Masters the day after.
We were on the road early on Sunday morning heading for kettering and whilst we were travelling down we found out that we had drawn number 16 in the contest so we had plenty of time for another rehearsal and some final polish before we had to take to the stage.
It was all smiles after we had played and MD Mark Bentham was pleased with the performance and in particular the soloists, all of which played with some real class on this vintage test piece.
This was our 2nd appearance at the masters and we were keen to improve on our 14th place last year and after some good feedback from listeners and brass band press we were hoping for better that our 11th placing we received from the judges. It was a very respectable result out of a strong field of 22 international bands and we took some scalps in the process, as you will see in the full results below.
You would think that the band would enjoy a rest after such a busy month, but we are now working hard on our next challenge which is playing John Pickard’s Eden , at the English Nationals on 26th June.To listen to the band in action at Whit Friday and the Masters please visit
