North of England bands line up for a competitive weekend!

North of England Bands Line up for a competitive weekend of banding in Durham

The list of competing bands that will battle it out for the qualification places on offer for the Royal Albert Hall and Cheltenham at the North of England Regional Championships, in Durham has been announced.

The contest weekend will take place at the Gala Theatre, in the heart of the historic city of Durham, on the weekend of the 14/15 March, with two places up for grabs at the Championships Section Final. Two bands will be invited from Sections 1, 2, 3 & 4 to represent the North of England region at the Sections 1-4 Finals in Cheltenham over the weekend of 26/27 September.

Although three bands down this year, the 38 entered bands will perform in a highly competitive contest. This year we welcome back the Easingwold Town Band, from North Yorkshire, who will compete in Section 4.

Regional Secretary, Tony Griffiths said: "we look forward to another strong competitive line-up in all the sections. The banding public are in for a fantastic weekend. We especially extend a warm welcome back to Easingwold Town Band competing in the Section 4".

For more information regarding the contest, please visit the North of England Regional Championships website (https://www.noebrassband.co.uk/).

COMPETING BANDS

Championship Section:
Easington Colliery (Daniel Brooks)
Fishburn (Lee Skipsey)
City of Hull (Stig Maersk)
Harrogate (Leigh Baker)
NASUWT Riverside (Prof. Nick Childs)
Reg Vardy (Russell Gray)
Shepherd Group (Richard Wilton)
Westoe (Aidan Hodgson)

Section One:
GT Peterlee (Ian Langthorne)
Houghton (TBA)
Kirkbymoorside Town (Sarah Woodward)
North Skelton (Gareth Sykes)
Ripon City (Mark Sidwell)
York R I (David Lancaster)

Section Two:
Ashington Colliery (Nigel Stedman)
Barton Community (Gary Oglesby)
Bearpark & Esh Colliery (Philip Tait)
Cockerton Prize Silver (Andrew Hunter)
Durham Miners' Association (Stuart Gray)
Dunston Silver (Fraser Hodgson)
Felling (Jason Smith)
Ferryhill Town (Tom Maddison)
NASUWT Concert (Andrew Hall)

Section Three:
Cleethorpes (Brian Harper)
Ellington Colliery (Clare Winter)
East Riding of Yorkshire (Frank Hoyland)
Jayess Newbiggin (Helen Douthwaite-Teasdale)
Knaresborough Silver (Nicolas Garret)
Swinton & District Excelsior (Robin Rutter)
Tewit Silver (Martin Hall)
Trimdon Concert (William Harrison)

Section Four:
Backworth Colliery (Calum Hartwell)
Billingham Silver (Vaughan Evans)
Craghead Colliery (Steven Goddard)
Easingwold Town (Alistair Shipman)
Marske (James Chisholm)
Penrith Town (Ian Butterworth)
Spennymoor Town (Fiona Casewell)