Past Contests
Look back over past contest news
Grand Shield Contest 2002
Last year, The Kibworth Band was placed sixth at the Senior Cup competition held in Blackpool in May and, as a result, was invited to compete in the 2002 Grand Shield contest. So, another weekend in Blackpool (not the bank holiday this time) with all the usual problems of Friday afternoon traffic, finishing work early etc. to arrive in time for a vital rehearsal in the evening. By the end of the practice, everyone had arrived and musical director, John Berryman, was very pleased with the way the band was tackling the test piece, "Checkmate" by Sir Arthur Bliss. After a relatively sober evening and an early night, band members awoke to a bright and breezy seaside morning, breakfast and a final rehearsal while waiting to hear the result of the draw for the order of play for the contest. The result of this part of the day was that the band was drawn number 18, the last band to play. In the end, the wait for all the other 17 bands to play was not so bad, and there was not long to wait until the results. As partly anticipated, with all the other 17 bands being graded in the Championship Section, there was no prize for Kibworth but when the adjudicators' remarks sheets were handed out we found we had been placed 8th. So, a satisfying weekend overall with Kibworth remaining in the Grand Shield for 2003.
Posted by Paul on 20 April 2006
National Finals 2001
On Saturday 22nd September the Kibworth band and supporters travelled by coach to Preston for the 1st Section National Finals contest. When the draw for order of play was made at 1.15pm on the Sunday, Kibworth drew 13th out of 16 and had quite a wait until finally playing at around 7.00pm. The result? - 5th place - no trophy or prize money but, as the adjudicators Geoff Witham and Richard Evans both pointed out, these were the top 16 bands in the First Section nationally and every band should be proud of their achievements in actually being able to compete at the finals.
Posted by Paul on 17 April 2006
Senior Cup Contest - Blackpool 2001
This year, in addition to the Grand Shield contest, from which the top 2 bands qualify for the "Open", the organisers decided to re-introduce a contest for the Senior Cup (last held at Belle Vue, Manchester in 1982 when Kibworth were placed 3rd) and we were invited to Blackpool to take part. The result of a difficult contest on the Saturday, a good performance which was not in the prizes but was in the top 6 and qualifies Kibworth for an invitation to the next level up, the Grand Shield, next year.
Posted by Paul on 16 April 2006
