Otterbourne Brass played in the 2nd Section of the National Finals on Saturday 22nd of September, which were held at The Centaur, Cheltenham Racecourse. The test piece was Brahm’s ‘Academic Festival Overture’ arranged for brass band by Denis Wright. Our conductor on the day was Gareth Pritchard.

The Band worked hard rehearsing the piece with Gareth travelling from his home in South Wales 2 or 3 times a week to take rehearsals. We enjoyed working with Gareth again and would like to thank him for all his hard work in preparing the Band for the contest.

The Band was drawn to play 14th out of 17 bands and we played to a fairly full and appreciative audience. The Band played well and Gareth was very pleased with our performance.

When the results were announced we were somewhat disappointed to have been placed 14th but we received many favourable comments regarding our performance from other bandsmen and eminent figures from the Brass Band world.

The Band were sad to say goodbye to 3 players during the weekend – Neil Brownless (Trombone) is moving back to Northampton after completing his degree at Portsmouth University, Patrick Coppins (Eb Bass) is concentrating on his studies and last but by no means least Linda Beck (Eb Bass) is retiring from playing. We wish them all well for the future and hope to see them again sometime soon.

We would also like to welcome Sarah Urch (cornet), Graham Jones (Euphonium) and Viv Jones (Trombone although he played percussion!) to the Band and hope they enjoyed their debut contest as members of the Band.

The Band is now hard at work rehearsing for their Proms concert on Sunday 21st October at Thornden Hall, Chandlers Ford.

Click here to hear our live performance of Academic Festival Overture.