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Northern Advocate, 19 February 1912, Page 5

HOME AGAIN.

WHANGAREI BANDSMEN RETURN

Most of the members of the Whangarei Municipal Band, which secured second place in the "B" grade at the j Gisborne Band Contest, arrived back this morning, and nearly all of them ' have expressed great satisfaction at the way they were treated while on their trip. The manager, Mr H. J. Bray, interviewed by a repei'isentative of thiri paper, stated that every possible arrangement had been made hi order that the men should have a good time, and that they had had. Some of them certainly were rather glad to get off the "Monowai" on the down trip, but they quickly recovered their spirits when they were ashore and all were well during the contests. The visiting bandsmen had been comfortably quartered in a large hall, and meals were obtained at a hotel; an arrangement which worked very well. In all there were six bands representing close upon 200 men to be provided for. The various clubs were thrown open to the visitors, who readily availed themselves of th'j hospitality offered to them. Mr Bray was quite satisfied with the way the Whangarei bandsmen had conducted themselves, and he considered th ;t the Band was rather a popular one, probably because some others were a bit frightened of it. Referring to the actual competitions, the manager agreed that there was a lack of experience, apart from music, which had told against Whangarei. This had been particularly noticeable in the marching contest where they had scored the top points, 90 out of a possible 100, for the actual playing, but could get only 135 out of 180 for marching, whereas in the latter, Wanganui had scored 148. There had been no indication that the Whaugarei bandsmen had been any more nervous than members of other bands, in the solo competitions, and with more experience, they would do hotter in that direction. Mr Bray had been i struck by the foct that all the "B" Flat j cornet solos were very poorly played, particularly as there were first-class :uid much experienced players competing. General satisfaction bad been ■expressed at the judging of L,ieut. Herd, who was an authority on contests whom it would be very difficult to criticise.