The 103rd Championship of Ireland Bands’ Contest was held today, Saturday 16th October 2021 in the Market Place Theatre, Armagh. This was the first live contest for bands in Northern Ireland since the COVID-19 outbreak in March 2020. It was great to see a good turn out of competing bands across the sections as we strive to return to some sort of normality. Congratulations to each and every entrant today in the preparation work (often in difficult and unusual conditions), their conductors and, of course, to all the winners in their respective sections. Today’s contest was adjudicated by Professor Roger Webster.

As always, the band and conductor, Mr Brian Connolly, worked extremely hard in preparation for this contest and given all the difficult conditions encountered during the run up and coming out of a period where we had not been together as a band for almost 15 months, we achieved a 4th place on the day.

The set piece for the Champion Section Brass was Royal Parks by George Lloyd.

Congratulations to 1st Old Boys Silver Band on their win in the Championship section and to all the other winning bands bands in their respective sections today.

Full results of the day are as follows:

Championship Brass

Test Piece: Royal Parks (George Lloyd)

1st place: 1st Old Boys Silver Band – Conductor: Stephen Cairns – 95 points
2nd place: Laganvale (Metal Technology) Band – Conductor: Keith Anderson – 94 points
3rd place: Downshire Brass – Conductor: Michael Alcorn – 92 points
Third Carrickfergus Band – Conductor: Brian Connolly – 90 points
Murley Silver Band – Conductor: David Hawthorne – 88 points

Best Instrumentalist: Louise Bell, cornet – 1st Old Boys Silver Band
Conductors Prize: Stephen Cairns, 1st Old Boys Silver Band
Best Overall Performance of the Day: 1st old Boys Silver Band

Second Grade Brass

Test Piece: Extraordinary Journeys (Philip Sparke)

1st place: CWA Brass – Conductor: Gary Proctor – 95 points
2nd place: Roughan Silver Band – Conductor: Stephen Crooks – 93 points
Wellington Memorial Silver Band – Conductor: David Hawthorne – 91 points
Lourdes Silver Band – Conductor: Gavin Warren – 90 points

Best Cornet Section: CWA Brass
Best Bass Section: CWA Brass

Third Grade Brass

Test Piece: Neverland (Christopher Bond)

1st place: Dynamic Brass – Conductor: Andrew McQuiggan – 93 points
Poyntzpass Silver Band – Conductor: Stanley Lutton – 91 points
St. Marks Silver – Conductor:: Bob Quick – For Adjudication only