Hatherleigh brass band youngsters are South West champions

Hatherleigh Silver Band’s training band were declared the champions in their section at the South West Brass Band Association contest in Torquay on Saturday.

The training band consists mainly of young players alongside two adult members - and they are going from strength to strength.

The SWBBA contest takes place every November in Torquay at the Riviera Centre, attracting brass bands from across the region for some friendly rivalry and loud, spectacular music.

This is the first time the training band have won, up against training bands from across the South West.

Band spokesperson Kelly Baker said: “They were amazing and came away as champions. It’s such a huge achievement for these youngsters.

“Some of them only started playing in the summer holidays and I think one of the things that clinched it was Bandamonium festival. This year we launched Bandamonium Bandits, which was training bands from all over the country came to play in both Hatherleigh and at the bandstand in Okehampton. That was on TV on BBC Spotlight and that generated a lot of local interest. We have so many new members who have signed up for the training band.”

She said the young people “really challenged themselves” to excel at the contest on Saturday, culminating in them being presented with the Cecil Lake Trophy.

“Our band did very well, some of the bands were twice as big. Some of them haven’t been playing for very long. We had Rosa play flugel, a famous piece from the film Brassed Off. She sat and played it in front of all those people with no music.

“They challenged themselves, this isn’t a small thing to stand up in front of an auditorium that size with all those people. I don’t know how those kids do it.”