Transfer the yorkshire area

[Frontman]

I have picked this out of a social networking website which should be a good topic of discussion



TRANSFER THE YORKSHIRE AREA TO SHEFFIELD CITY HALL:

This weekend demonstrated that Bradford St Georges Hall is not suitable for the Yorkshire Area Championship.
We propose to bring it the the vastly superior venue that is Sheffield City Hall.
It has better facilities all round.
The Mercury Newspaper will offer to sponsor and finance the event if agreement could be reached to transfer it to Sheffield City Hall.
We would also pay for, and host, rehearsal facilities and we would make a warm up room available.
We will also offer to arrange discount vouchers for refreshments in local hotels and restaurants.
We would also promote and host a Gala concert.

VERY INTERESTING THOUGHT.

[Bass Trumpet]

Originally Posted by Frontman

It has better facilities all round..

Apart from parking!

[backrow]

Sponsorship! Finance! never mind the yorkshire area do they want the North West, Blackpol is miserable in March and it will be even worse next year

[Thirteen Ball]

An interesting proposition indeed.

Let us ask some pertinent questions of this proposition.

In what way is is St George's hall an inadequate venue?

OK, the lack of a warm-up room isn't ideal, but I'm sure other areas have this.

The dressing rooms might be basic, but are each large enough to accommodate a band in reasonable comfort.

I've never once seen the place full, whoever was playing, so the seating is clearly adequate.

(Unlike the Albert hall) It isn't way too big for a band sound to fill.

There are plenty of eateries and pubs within easy walking distance, as well as two car-parks, one of which is free on the sunday.

So the obvious next question to ask would be:
In what way is sheffield city hall a better venue

Can someone help out with comparison to St Georges? I don't personally know the Sheffield venue myself.

One immediate problem with moving the yorkshire area is that Bradford is reasonably central to the region - whereas Sheffield is Demonstrably not. (It's pretty close to the border between yorkshire and midlands I believe.)

We've seen the problems that Welsh bands have with their regional contest, where getting there and competing in one day is simply not practicable. Though yorkshire is, of course, much smaller than that, I doubt it's very fair on bands like Harrogate and Wetherby to move the venue nearly 50 miles south as it would make the whole day a logistical nightmare for them. I'd reckon (though I haven't done any firm research) that you'd wind up with far more bands doing far more miles to get there than you currently do.

What I'd suggest mainly motivate this article is the late finish of the championship section on sunday night, to which a number of factors contributed:

The choice of an 18-minute test-piece

The late start of the section (billed as 5:30, but the Geoff Whitham tribute by Elland Youth didn't start til 5:50)

The fact it was a 13-band section this year.

Based on that, it appears the organisation of the event is the subject of the criticism - not the venue itself.

Would moving the venue have made the Championship section finish any earlier? I can't see how. So the problem remains - and moving the venue appears a fruitless excercise.

As columbo would say, just one more thing.

We propose....

Who proposes?

[tkhbss]

Originally Posted by backrow

Sponsorship! Finance! never mind the yorkshire area do they want the North West, Blackpol is miserable in March and it will be even worse next year

Err, think it would have to be the Yorkshire Area as Sheffield is in Yorkshire you know

Seriously, wonder if the Area Committee have been approached about this? I am sure it could not happen next year as the place is booked, but in future years ....

[bassmittens]

I think one key factor could be that there is the facility to run 2 sections alongside each other in one venue, thus hegating any possibility of such a late finish, and possibly a more relaxed approach to the whole day/days which could help bands to play to their best. This could also allow the event to take place on one day (- possible cost saving?!)

I believe this has already been sent to the Yorkshire comittee (according to the social networking site in question). Peggy's post contest speech did mention the importance for sponsers for the event and how lucky they were this year to have extra help towards the event, and to have a willing sponsor come forward offering to contribute towards the event can be no bad thing. Perhaps if nothing else, such a suggestion to the committee may help improve the current contest, either through the desire to find additional revenues of financial support towards the running rather than Kapitol and York. May even help raise the prize money a little - something that is usually a hottly discussed topic following the areas - and if so no harm done.

I think it is harmless to debate such a suggestion on a public forum (although one would argue being a Sheffield based band i am bound to be biased on this), although perhaps there are other venues in Yorkshire that logistically would suit more bands.

[tubafran]

Originally Posted by Thirteen Ball

I doubt it's very fair on bands like Harrogate and Wetherby to move the venue nearly 50 miles south as it would make the whole day a logistical nightmare for them. I'd reckon (though I haven't done any firm research) that you'd wind up with far more bands doing far more miles to get there than you currently do.

Aren't Harrogate one of those Yorkshire Bands that has to go to Darlington to compete in the areas?

And regardless of where ever the contest is held some ones got further to travel than those bands nearer the venue.

There is a fair cluster of bands in the South Yorkshire vicinity as well as the clusters around Bradford and Huddersfield - no further from Bradford to Sheffield than the South Yorkshire Bands currently travel to get to St Georges.

Interesting offer for additional sponsorship and Im sure that Peggy and her team will have a serious look into it.

The centre of Sheffield is considerably more thriving around the City Hall than the area surrounding St Georges - sat outside Subway Saturday afternoon and it was a veritable dessert both in numbers of people around (apart from banders) and shops, pubs etc.

[tubafran]

Originally Posted by Thirteen Ball

As columbo would say, just one more thing.

We propose....

Who proposes?

From the link on the Facebook page

Andrew Platts, Bass Trombonist with Stannington Band and Editor of the Mercury Newspaper, is one of many people unhappy with facilities at St. George’s Hall in Bradford – current home to the Yorkshire Brass Band Championship contest.

It is true that St. George’s Hall is a reasonably ok acoustic to play in. But its cramped conditions for players backstage and a distinct lack of other facilities – such as no bar or food catering provision – make it an unattractive proposition for bandpersons having to spend any length of time there. Add that public transport provision to the city is not very good, only making matters worse.
But Sheffield City Hall boasts fantastic facilities both within the building and across the nearby city-centre. It also has a history of of hosting major brass contests in the past, such as the mineworkers’ CISWO finals.

[HBB]

Originally Posted by tubafran

Aren't Harrogate one of those Yorkshire Bands that has to go to Darlington to compete in the areas?

And regardless of where ever the contest is held some ones got further to travel than those bands nearer the venue.

There is a fair cluster of bands in the South Yorkshire vicinity as well as the clusters around Bradford and Huddersfield - no further from Bradford to Sheffield than the South Yorkshire Bands currently travel to get to St Georges.

Interesting offer for additional sponsorship and Im sure that Peggy and her team will have a serious look into it.

The centre of Sheffield is considerably more thriving around the City Hall than the area surrounding St Georges - sat outside Subway Saturday afternoon and it was a veritable dessert both in numbers of people around (apart from banders) and shops, pubs etc.

Subway was shut by about 4pm on the Sunday anyway!!

[Anno Draconis]

Originally Posted by Frontman

I have picked this out of a social networking website which should be a good topic of discussion



TRANSFER THE YORKSHIRE AREA TO SHEFFIELD CITY HALL:

This weekend demonstrated that Bradford St Georges Hall is not suitable for the Yorkshire Area Championship.
We propose to bring it the the vastly superior venue that is Sheffield City Hall.
It has better facilities all round.
The Mercury Newspaper will offer to sponsor and finance the event if agreement could be reached to transfer it to Sheffield City Hall.
We would also pay for, and host, rehearsal facilities and we would make a warm up room available.
We will also offer to arrange discount vouchers for refreshments in local hotels and restaurants.
We would also promote and host a Gala concert.

VERY INTERESTING THOUGHT.

I would have thought it's worth considering for the rehearsal facilities, warm up room and sponsorship potential. It's not particularly a better venue, though - about on a par with St George's I would have thought, and as Andi says^^ the city is certainly less convenient for many Yorkshire bands. I can't imagine a Gala Concert working, for a variety of reasons.

[backrow]

Originally Posted by tkhbss

Err, think it would have to be the Yorkshire Area as Sheffield is in Yorkshire you know

Seriously, wonder if the Area Committee have been approached about this? I am sure it could not happen next year as the place is booked, but in future years ....

I know Sheffield is in Yorkshire - that was the whole point of what was clearly a wasted attempt at a funny!!!

[MrB]

From what I remember of City hall from my days there at uni.
It is not that superior to St George's really.
Yes it's just (well, about 5 year ago) gone through a refurbishment, but even then you wouldn't be able to have a rehersal room in the venue as the sound profing wouldn't be strong enough to isolate a couple of brass bands playing under the audience (like St Georges), also you still wouldn't be able to host concurrent sections in the same venue as the second hall is quite small , a concaved room with 500 cap? certainly more for conferences/talks than a formal concert / contest.
Anyway, one of the really good things about the way yorkshire's run is that both listeners and bandsmen don't have to choose between sections, and can listen to their peers easiy. which they couldn't if they were run concurrently.

Regarding central location, (as can be seen on the regionals contest webpage band finder) Between Wakefield and Barnsley would be the most central, with Sheffield being at the most southern point like Bradford is close to the most Northely. Although it proberbly could be plotted to find the best place with least disruption to the most people.

Call me bias'd or whatever but St Georges has been used for ages and is run tightly.
I have to agree with 13ball, 13 band in top section and a long test piece, and a tribute. just be thankful that it only over ran by 34 minutes over the course of the day and three sections.

Those of you who been around the contesting for a while must remember the years when the presentations didn't even START until after midnight, but as they say... it all add to the experience and that brass banders are slightly, if not totally, mad.

[Thirteen Ball]

Originally Posted by tubafran

From the link on the Facebook page

Andrew Platts, Bass Trombonist with Stannington Band and Editor of the Mercury Newspaper, is one of many people unhappy with facilities at St. George’s Hall in Bradford – current home to the Yorkshire Brass Band Championship contest.

It is true that St. George’s Hall is a reasonably ok acoustic to play in. But its cramped conditions for players backstage and a distinct lack of other facilities – such as no bar or food catering provision – make it an unattractive proposition for bandpersons having to spend any length of time there. Add that public transport provision to the city is not very good, only making matters worse.
But Sheffield City Hall boasts fantastic facilities both within the building and across the nearby city-centre. It also has a history of of hosting major brass contests in the past, such as the mineworkers’ CISWO finals.

I've no particular fondness for or bias against St George's hall as a venue. If a better venue is available, and sponsorship makes it a viable consideration, then fair enough. Let's have the possibility properly investigated and go with the solution that does the most good for the most bands. The yorkshire comittee are in the best situation to do that.

If the chap's a member of Stannington, I can appreciate a 1am return from an area is not necessarily conducive to a good opinion of the venue. When I played in the top section a couple of years back it was gone midnight by the time I got home and I only lived in Leeds at the time! I can also appreciate the idea of having the contest in your own backyard for a few years is a much more attractive prospect and an hour's coach journey.

I'd still say that it makes sense to keep the contest reasonably central to the area it represents though. Yes there are clusters of bands in south yorkshire in the old pit country around barnsley, doncaster etc. But the majority of them would be also heading south if the contest was held in Sheffield - so however good the venue is one has to question if it really is the best location.

[John_D]

Originally Posted by tkhbss

Err, think it would have to be the Yorkshire Area as Sheffield is in Yorkshire you know..

So is York, but the York bands are in the Northern area and not Yorkshire ........................ no idea why?

[AndyG]

Originally Posted by John_D

So is York, but the York bands are in the Northern area and not Yorkshire ........................ no idea why?

As the main focus of this thread seems to be that the Yorkshire area finished very late on Sunday due to the large number of bands (I won't say too many!) competing. Having most of North Yorkshire playing in the Northern area evens the numbers up a bit, otherwise some sections would probably have 20 bands in the Yorkshire area and 7 in the Northern.