Part 2: The Whit Friday Brass Band Contest
2008 sees the 125th year of this great institution, the Whit Friday Brass Band Contest. The first Whit Friday contest began in Stalybridge a good 125 years ago. This came about after bands who led the churches decided to host a contest in the Cheshire town.
125 years on, Stalybridge remains an important venue for the Whit Friday contest. This year saw two contests, with one at Bower Fold (home of Stalybridge Celtic), and the town centre one at the Labour Club near Cheetham’s Park. Whereas Mossley and the Saddleworth villages are the best places to watch the Yorkshire bands, Stalybridge’s contest is probably the best one for bands from Cheshire, Lancashire, and the Midlands.
This year’s contest at the Stalybridge Labour Club had a venue record of 53 bands, some 3 short of the town’s record of 56 bands (achieved at the now demolished SIDS arena). Represented at the 2008 contest was a band from Switzerland, bands from East London, Oxfordshire and the Midlands, as well as Lancashire and Cheshire (which make the bulk of the contest’s entrants).
A Whit Friday band contest includes prizes for the best bands within a local area (usually a radius of 10 miles), a ‘Best Open’ prize (any entrant) and prizes for ‘Best Deportment’, youth bands and instrument based prizes (i.e best solo cornet, euphonium). Some contests award sectional prizes, according to which section the band is in. Points are allocated on how well each band plays the piece by an adjudicator.
Like the Football League and the FA Premier League, brass bands are divided into sections. The Championship section is the highest one, with world famous bands such as Black Dyke, Brighouse and Rastrick, and Foden’s Richardson among its members. There is also a further four sections and a youth section.
On arrival, the band ’s runner registers the band’s details (i.e. band [Black Dyke] then march piece [Knight Templar]) and pays its entry fee. The adjudicator checks note for note each piece, awarding marks on how well it is played. He or she is unaware of the band, as each band is referred to by number till the results are announced. Once finished, the band moves onto their next contest.
Since 1989, Tameside MBC has also added a competition for the best band in the borough. These are comprised of the results from each contest. The first winners of this was Black Dyke Mills band.
For anyone wishing to delve further into the history of the Whit Friday Brass Band contest, I fully recommend Alec Greenhalgh’s excellent book ‘Hail Smiling Morn’. Though published and (to the best of my knowledge) not updated since 1991, this is the definitive reference of the competition.
In chronological order, all contest venues past and present have been stated, with details of the winners in the Best Local and Best Open sections. For each year, there is also details of the weather conditions.
The book is available for sale at Oldham Tourist Information Centre (inside Gallery Oldham, Union Street) and in Uppermill Tourist Information Centre at Saddleworth Museum.
S.V., 17 May 2008.
Tags: music, entertainment, brass bands, Whit Friday, Tameside, Oldham, Saddleworth
