Champions off to try again

Press, 6 May 1983, Page 7

Champions off to try again

Members of Christchurch’s Skellerup Woolston Band are pressing their uniforms, packing their bags, and spending long hours rehearsing in preparation for their trip to Auckland on Tuesday to compete in the annual New Zealand brass band championships.

The band, which is the present New Zealand A grade champion, will compete against 34 other bands at the week-long championships. The B grade Addington Workshops Bank will be the only other Christchurch band travelling to Auckland to take part.

One Australian band, the Maryborough Excelsior Band from Queensland, will also compete. Another visitor from overseas will be the judge, Mr Peter- Parkes. Mr Parkes conducts the Blackdyke Mills Band of England, and will be brought to Auckland by the New Zealand Bands’ Association.

The Skellerup Woolston team will be 40-strong when it flies out of Christchurch, but of these, only about 30

members will play in each item, according to the band’s manager, Mr B. Collett.

Mr Collett said the band had a good chance of retaining its title of New Zealand’s top band.

“They are working extremely hard with that in view. It’s all go for rehearsals at the moment,” he said.

The A grade title will be decided on the basis of two non-marching test pieces. But other titles will also be offered for the best band in the street march, quick-step display, and hymn tests. Band members will also compete for solo, duet, and ensemble titles.

Mr Collett said he thought the band’s keenest competition would come from the Continental Airlines Band, of Auckland, and the “Evening Post” Onslow Band, of Wellington, which were placed first and second respectively in the Australian Band Championships earlier this year. Skellerup Woolston did not compete in that championship.