Olympic Effort Leads to Gold in the Borders

A final taste of the 2012 Olympic spirit helps Coalburn Silver Band to top the podium at Selkirk.

Coalburn Silver Band claimed the Scottish Borders BBA honours in Selkirk at the weekend, with a victory that had a touch of the Olympic spirit about it under conductor Gareth Bowman. Their winning programme opened with Alan Fernie’s ‘Citius , Altius, Fortius’ as they claimed the gold medal position on the results podium with a set that included a splendid prize winning flugel solo from Trevor Gray on ‘Children of Sanchez’ as well as the ‘Prelude to the 49th Parallel’ and the rousing finisher of‘Dundonnell’ from ‘Hymn of the Highlands’.



In a contest of inventive choices and well presented programmes, rivals Kilmarnock Concert pushed Coalburn all the way to the finishing tape
under Raymond Tennant, finishing their programme with a bold rendition of the 'Fugue’ from Philip Sparke’s‘Graduation Day’ Suite and a Best Soloist contribution from the outstanding Katie Ankers on soprano. In a battle of three quality Second Section outfits, third place went to Tullis Russell Mills directed by Martyn Ramsay. All three bands will now lock horns at what promises to be an exciting end of year battle at the Scottish Challenge Shield Contest in Perth Concert Hall on December 2nd. Coalburn Band Secretary Daniel Beadle told 4BR: "It’s a wonderful victory. The remarks from both adjudicators were great, with Gordon Evans stating that he felt the band was ‘excellent’ and ‘well directed’ and Paul complimenting us in his voice over remarks on our ‘splendid bass end sound’." He added: "This has given us a huge boost of confidence ahead ofthe Scottish Challenge Shield in a few weeks time, where we hope to end our year with another victory."



The band headed for home with the Scottish Borders Trophy in their grasp, as well as the awards for Best Second Section Band, Best Percussion and Best Instrumentalist, all topped with £250 in prize money. There was a great atmosphere and sense of competitive enjoyment at the Victoria Halls as the 21 bands from both sides of Hadrian’s Wall battled it out throughout the day to try and impress open adjudicators Paul Drury and Gordon Evans. With a host of ensemble and individual awards on offer, Durham Miners returned home with the Entertainment Prize, whilst section awards were claimed by Selkirk and the emerging Tullis Intermediate. The very well run event saw the adjudicators aggregate their placing to give the finals results, with Paul Drury providing recorded remarks and Gordon Evans, written assessments.

Trevor Gray (right) and Chris Keane with the silverware.