MORE than a thousand musicians were on song at the weekend when bands from across County Durham gathered for one of the main events on their calendar.

Twenty-eight brass and silver bands competed in the Durham County Brass Band Association's grading contest at Spennymoor Leisure Centre on Sunday.

Vice-chairman George Bramfitt said: "The atmosphere was brilliant and everyone said it was a good contest whether they won or not."

One of the biggest achievers of the day was Fishburn Brass Band, which landed one of the main honours, first prize in section A, with a top score of 192 and three individual awards.

The full results were:

Section A: 1, The Federation Breweries Trophy - Fishburn Band; 2, The National Coal Board Trophy - Broughton's Brass; 3, The RL Dawson Trophy - GT Group Peterlee Band; The Len Huitson Memorial Trophy for best soprano cornet - Fishburn Band; The John Carr Cup for best trombone - Fishburn Band; The Mark Lippeatt Memorial Trophy for best percussion section - GT Group Peterlee; The Robert Whitfield Memorial Trophy to the secretary of the winning band - Fishburn Band; Hugh Dundas Stephenson Trophy for best cornet player - Fishburn Band.

Section B: 1, The Durham County Council Chairman's Trophy - BHK (UK) Ltd Horden Band; 2, The Thornley Cup - Gateshead Brass Band; 3, The Roland Boyes MP Trophy - Spennymoor Town Band; The William Burdon Memorial Shield to best middle of the band soloist - BHK UK Hordon; The Colin Humphrey Memorial Trophy for best percussionist - Gateshead Brass.

Section C: 1, The Northern Echo Cup - Hetton Silver Band; 2, The Tyne Tees TV Trophy - Wansbeck's Ashington Band; 3, The Ramsden Family Trophy - Murton Colliery Band; The Alan Hutchinson Memorial Shield for best bass player - Hetton Silver Band; The Gordon Kitto MBE Memorial Trophy for best cornet player - Stape Silver Band.

Section D: 1, The TY Bryce Memorial trophy - Lockwood Brass Band; 2, The George Gilbert Cooper Memorial trophy - Billingham Silver Band; 3, The Keith Nolan Trophy - Durham Constabulary Band; The CW Miller Memorial Cup for best principal cornet player - Stanhope Band; The Grainger Trophy for best euphonium player - Billingham Silver Band. The Musician's Union awards for best young player, judged by Jimmy Thompson: Section A and B - Helen Douthwaite, Section C and D - Victoria Buddin.

Published: 03/02/2004