SCABA 50th Autumn Contest
Folkestone 09/10/99
3rd Section RESULTS:
1) BATTLE TOWN - 176pts
2) Mayfield - 174 3) Shanklin Town - 173
Best Conductor - P. Mitchell,
Battle Town
Best Bass Section - Battle Town
Success and Battle Town Band usually make strange bedfellows, but our success at the recent Folkestone contest means that we have "done the double" following our Spring Contest victory at Brighton. Our trophy cabinet would be bulging with silver at the moment if we had one, but whether we get to tour the streets of Battle in an open-topped bus remains to be seen. Yet despite bringing back three cups from Folkestone, only a few days before the contest there had been some worry as to whether we should even bother entering!
Last year the band was under-strength going into the contest and could only manage 7th out of 13 entries. This year there were again 13 bands in our section, and we were again under-strength. We tend to lose more players than many bands when students go back to University - this year Phil, Ruth, Simon and Chris Mills. Unfortunately this Summer we also lost the services of our Flugel and Principal Horn, and while Russell and Rachel respectively are doing excellent jobs in these positions, there is currently no-one taking their places lower down the order. On top of all this, we had more bad news a couple of weeks before the contest when Chris Willard - famed for being able to double the volume of the band at a stroke - was rushed to hospital with a seriously inflamed Pancreas. This left us with two players on front row and no Rep, so Stuart had a sudden promotion to play Rep and Front-Row at the same time (!).
Nonetheless, the previous weekend we got together for an afternoon/evening rehearsal in an attempt at a bit of last-minute revision, and the playing was encouraging. The rehearsal the evening before the contest was enlivened by a surprise appearance from Melvin White (and in the pub afterwards!), which boosted morale a bit. So, the general thought going into the contest was that as long as we played as well as we could, most of us would be happy regardless of the result (provided we didn't come last!).
The day of the contest dawned, and despite being in the 8.30am draw, everyone managed to nurse their clapped-out old bangers to Folkestone on time. There were no emergencies on the way either (with no 2CV breakdowns to worry about!), although concerns were expressed about certain overtaking manoeuvres. We were drawn 3rd and both hymn and test piece went reasonably well. The general consensus amongst the band was that we had played better at the rehearsal the previous evening, and none of us gave our chances a second thought. Despite this, Melvin White (who was sat watching with David Reid) said the overall sound was good, and various other observers were also more optimistic about our chances than we were (not hard really!).
Once the nerves had calmed a little and we had listened to a few of our rivals, bought some music and pottered about a bit, there was only one thought on many of our minds. Well, two actually...CURRY and BEER. In the Curry House we experimented with new ways of wearing band ties and got stains on our white shirts.
Suitably refreshed we returned for the results and, not expecting to win anything, plonked ourselves down in the balcony. The Hymn section results were announced and (as expected!) we weren't mentioned. Third and Second places in the test-piece were revealed, still without any involvement for us, and so we prepared to go home. When the winning band was amnnounced there was a moment of shocked silence (from the whole crowd as well as us I would imagine!) before the cheers went up. However, that was nothing compared to the shock generated by the announcement that we had won the Best Bass Section trophy as well... This is a great reward for all the hard work that Colin, Ron and Paul have put in, but all the same I think they were as surprised as the rest of us! Peter also collected the Conductor's trophy, making a total haul of three awards. Thanks to the mobile phone revolution, virtually the whole band knew of our success within a few hours, and each person's reaction was familiar; disbelief, shock, then a stange kind of dazed hysteria.
The only minor disappointment to come from it all was not winning the SCABA Band of the Year award. We had thought, given our wins in both contests, that we would be in with a good chance of picking up this accolade. Success on this scale is unprecedented for a band like us (who are usually relieved if we all manage to finish at the same time as the Horns) and it would have been a superb achievement to have earned this prestigious title, but it was not to be. Despite us being the most successful band over the course of the two contests, the title was awarded to a band that did not win anything at either contest. Unfortunately due to a strange combination of conditions this was the way it worked out according to the rules of the competition, so there was little point in arguing the toss. However, the matter is being looked into and hopefully the rules will be revised for next year (although I doubt we will be in the equation next time!). It was a bit of a shame not to have added the Band of the Year title to crown it all, but this has been a memorable year for us in contesting terms and a great morale boost. If we get promoted, I just hope the other bands will take pity on us...