Reg Vardy regains North of England title

Steven Symonds reports from the Dolphin Centre in Darlington

Having witnessed arguably the finest bands in the land get to grips with their respective section test pieces at St. Georges Hall, I was keen to see if the good bands folk of the North East could cast fresh musical light on what is proving to be highly popular test-piece selection for 2010. With adjudicator John Berryman reinstalled in the box after the conclusion of a somewhat rejuvenated Section 4 contest that morning, and with a good sized audience keenly anticipating a tough challenge ahead, last year’s second-placed Reg Vardy Band under the slick direction of Professor Nicholas Childs got the Championship Section off to a confident start. After not so much as a minute’s playing, the Sports Hall’s sodium lighting appeared to fail completely, leaving a lowly emergency lighting strip left to barely illuminate the band after a second or two of complete darkness.

Thankfully, maximum lighting power was quickly restored, no doubt to the relief of both band and conductor alike. A town centre power cut was promptly announced as the culprit of what, fortunately, was not a potential catastrophe for Reg Vardy. While a handful of principal cornet players chose the safe option of omitting the fabled loud, high E-flat in favour of the soprano cornet covering on a somewhat more comfortable note, there were some exceptions to this rule. A completely clean cornet line was rarely heard on the day, but notably strong and stylish contributions came from principals Richard Martin (guesting with the NASUWT Riverside) and the evergreen John Gill at Fishburn. Although the Reg Vardy cornet section seemed unusually subdued throughout, Tina Mortimer, impressed the adjudicator enough with her lyrical sound to award her The Tim Holmes Memorial Trophy for best Principal Cornet. Further awards were handed to the bands principal euphonium Paul Robinson, soprano cornet Tom Glendinning and the band’s percussion team. The Doug Cairns Trophy for Best Basses was awarded to Fishburn Band. Reigning champion EYMS failed to impress John Berryman, resulting in a disappointing seventh place.