Today many bands, including the Abbey Brass from Abingdon, have converged on Saddleworth in the North of England.
Saddleworth is an area near Oldham comprising several villages. There has been a day of processions with bands marching through the villages in the area.
The last picture I have of the Abbey Brass was taken back in April on Clubs and Societies Day. But at Saddleworth they are mixing with the likes of the Brighouse and Rastrick Colliery Band, and bands from round the world.
After the parades the bands, including the Abbey Brass, seen here playing March: The Thames Valley, take part in contests in various Saddleworth villages to win some big money prizes.
The only news comes from their tweets …
We’re about to do our first march at Whit Friday
Dobcross now, after a long queue through Uppermill (two of the villages)
A lot of fun – more than 100 buses & bands, and massive crowds. Lovely evening too!
Its all over.
Would love to hear where they came in the competition.
Maybe someone would blog when they get back to Abingdon.
Hi there,
Here are our final placings in the 5 contests we took part in. To put it in context, there were 125 bands playing in total, including the likes of Black Dyke and Grimethorpe. There were 23 different venues hosting contests, and the list below shows our position out of the total number of bands entering the contest at each venue we played at:
Delph 79/81
Dobcross 36/65
Friezland 39/40
Greenfield 50/60
Lydgate 61/62
It was the first time we’ve played there as a band, so we’re really pleased with the Dobcross result. It was a fantastic experience to take part, and speaking personally I certainly hope to go again next year 🙂