Hebden Bridge Brass Band celebrate becoming national champions

The band, which has been running for 143 years, became champions of the second section at the weekend after beating 16 other brass bands from all over the country at the competition in Cheltenham.

All participants played the same piece of music, Lions of Legends, in-front of the panel of three judges, and the band are delighted with the result - their first national title since their British Open victory in 1911.

The band’s musical director Chris Binns said: “We’re delighted with the band’s fine performance, the majority of players in the band have never won a title as big as this one, and some were making their debut in such a major competition.

“We’re definitely on a high after this win, and we’re looking into putting a concert on soon to show off the wonderful silver trophy.

“Our principal cornet, Charlie Heaven, won the best soloist prize, and we also won £1.000 in prize money.

“It’s a very hard competition to win and a great honour to hold the title for 12 months.

“We celebrated well into the early hours, having started the day with a practice at 12.30pm waiting for the order of play. We drew number 10, playing at 5.30pm, and the results were given out at 9pm, so it was a long day!”

The band’s success comes a week after they had won their first competition after 18 months out of action.

The band took first prize on Sunday at the Blackburn and Darwin March contest, which came after a difficult time for the band during the Covid pademic, which saw them lose eight band members and the musical director, while the band’s president and long-term member died of the virus.