Famous West Yorkshire band triumph again at regional championships

A famous West Yorkshire brass band has triumphed once again to re-establish its reputation as one of the finest in Yorkshire.
Yorkshire Regional Champions 2020, Black Dyke BandYorkshire Regional Champions 2020, Black Dyke Band
Yorkshire Regional Champions 2020, Black Dyke Band

Queensbury's finest Black Dyke Band took the top spot at the Yorkshire Regional Championships, in Huddersfield, at the weekend after performing Philip Sparke’s A Tale As Yet Untold.

They lifted the People Challenge Cup at the contest for the fourth time in five years on Saturday.

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It was their 23rd area success and the eighth under director of music, Professor Nicholas Childs, and will later this year compete in the national finals at the Royal Albert Hall, in London.

They will be joined by Carlton Main Frickley Colliery and Hepworth, which finished second and third.

It comes after Siobhan Bates, 21, the band’s principal horn player and a music student at Huddersfield University, recently won the best soloist award at UniBrass.

The contest for British universities’ brass bands was held at Bangor University.

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The Black Dyke Band, based in Queensbury, was formed in 1855 by John Foster, a manufacturer of worsted cloth at Black Dyke Mills, and this year celebrates its 165th anniversary. It has been the champion brass band of Great Britain 23 times.

Defending champion Brighouse and Rastrick finished a respectful fourth place.

Incoming news from the 2020 European Championships is that the event will be cancelled.

The decision to cancel the brass band competition in Palanga, Lithuania, has been made due to the Coronavirus pandemic.

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Making the announcement, EBBA President Ulf Rosenberg stated: "We're very sorry to have to announce that, in light of the World Health Organisation's definition of COVID-19 as a pandemic and the growing restrictions being imposed by national governments and other agencies, the European Championships cannot go ahead in Lithuania this year as planned.

Our first priority is the health and safety of both the brass band and wider communities and this has been the overriding factor in making this very painful decision."