Whit Friday fun

Posted on 5 June 2010

ULMS Brass Band once again enjoyed a trip to the Whit Friday Marches, held in the villages of Saddleworth. Each village in the area hosts its own contest where bands are tested on their marching ability and their playing ‘on the stand’, which sometimes is an actual band stand, and in other cases is a field.

This was the second visit to the contest by the ULMS Band. The band already improved on last year’s record by performing at seven villages, one more than last year. The band was also very pleased with its best performance which came at Delph (famous for featuring in the film Brassed Off). The village was packed, with people lining the street on both sides cheering the band on. On the stand they then produced their best performance in front of a large appreciative audience, which saw them ranked 46 out of 79 bands which took part.

As some members were unable to compete due to exam clashes, the ULMS Band had bolstered its numbers with the addition of players from Bangor University and former members of Smithills School Band, who did not want to miss out on one of the most enjoyable nights of the brass banding calendar. Despite never playing as a unit before, the band quickly gelled and produced some outstanding performances.

Brass Band Rep, Jenni Hughes, said “I’d like to thank everyone in the band. I’m very proud of them and everything seemed to come together and we sounded awesome.”

Guest player, Matthew Ryan added, “It was a great experience to play with Lancaster University. There was a great atmosphere and I thought the band produced some good performances.”

Alongside the band, some ULMS members took the trip, to support the band, and they also enjoyed seeing some of banding’s elites, including Stavanger, one of the top bands from Norway. This trip has now established itself as an annual event and I’m sure even now preparations will be underway for next years outing.