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It'll be carnage if that turns out to be true. Rock hard for 4th section. Top piece, mind you.

The Queen. She's a massive supporter of bands. That's why we play her song at every contest. Not very democratic, though.

Hold it at Pontins. Job done.

If any year was going to save this contest, it's this year. The 2014 European is in Perth, which means no flights needed, travel up on the Friday morning after a rehearsal in your own bandroom,...

Assuming you mean a standard 40ft shipping container, I'd be very careful. My company used two of these for outside storage for a number of years, and experience taught us not to keep anything in...

March is optional at Celtic, and last time I played at the Labour Club there was no-one waiting so we went straight onto the stand without marching up. If you have to march there it's only about 100...

Fair point. Certainly true in the top, and maybe 1st sections. Not sure that's true lower down though; having played and wagged in 3rd/4th, my experience was that most players were mainly in it for...

Done this with a desktop system and XP a few years back, never with a laptop (yet), but if you're reasonably confident and able to handle tracking down drivers/updates you need manually, I'd agree...

Do you honestly think that there is going to be a big queue of top class players waiting to be paid £50 to do the area with Bogthorpe Miners Welfare in the 4th section? Really?! Ain't gonna happen....

Beat me to it - as always, more succinctly accurate than me, Dave!

And registration of players would prevent this how, exactly? Plus by that argument, every winner of the National Championships from the 30s to the 60s apart from Brighouse (and most of the winners of...

My god, that's disgraceful. I won't be able to sleep now, knowing that.

Here was me thinking that they put out the best band they could within the rules of the competition and performed well as a...

Looking at the map, there have been lots of suggestions, but it's mainly people nominating their own bands. I know we like to be parochial in banding, but try and look at the bigger picture, folks -...

Rather than set up an independent band, have you considered suggesting this to one of the bands in your area? From memory Whitworth in the NW have a "veterans" band, and anyone who's followed...

Eternal Father Strong to Save (Melita) was used in the main titles of Crimson Tide

Titanic used Nearer My God To Thee (Bethany, not the Horbury version)

If I think of any more I'll post 'em...

Can I also say well done to Brass Bands England for yesterday, by the way? I've given them a bit of a slagging for other things over the last year on here, and deservedly so in my opinion, but the...

Bit of a generalisation coming up here, but...

From what I can see, youth band conductors mostly go out of their way to ensure that their players are enjoying their banding. In many cases, it...

But this happens now anyway. There's at least one major band (possibly two) that only exists in its "optimum" form in order to contest. Registration doesn't prevent this, but it does prevent players...

Not that I disagree with you in the slightest (the last band I played for left BFBB and joined Making Music mainly at my instigation), but how would you go about convincing bands to join a national...

That definitely differs from my experience. I have to that apart from Mike Lyons, I don't personally know anyone in banding who could care less about who runs the registry - and most of my banding...

Uh-huh. What about Robert Alexander? Where were BFBB then? Or when Boosey and Hawkes Band Festivals went pear-shaped? The registry saga is the latest in a long history of BFBB missed opportunities,...

Who? Wasn't aware Northop Hall had a band...

I love that it's a shock because "various people on twitter said so" :D

I though both were out of the top drawer, as they always are. I just liked Kirsty's better.

I can't fault the band for doing it, as I'm sure it represents a great revenue- and profile-raising opportunity. I can't imagine any band turning it down.

However, in the wider scheme of things,...

I can. It's a statement that neatly sums up everything wrong with contesting. The point of all that practice and the late nights was to participate, and enjoy playing the the best of her ability with...