The Hawth, Crawley saw Friary Guildford Band make it three wins in a row, when the band took top honours at the scaba Autumn Contest. Taking the opportunity to perform the forthcoming National Championships test piece, The Legend of King Arthur, by Peter Meechan, the band clearly caught the ear of adjudicator Mike Kilroy. Friary go to London’s Royal Albert Hall on Saturday 11th October to compete against the great and the good of the UK band world for the National Championship Finals, for the second year running. The band’s Contest Secretary, Alex Stevens acknowledged that the performance hadn’t been perfect: ‘It’s a particularly challenging piece of music, and it still needs some work to iron out a few creases. We’ll be working hard over the next couple of weeks to bring us to peak performance in time for the Finals. However, we were delighted with the result which gives us a good measure of confidence that we’re on the right track.’ The band has recently moved up a couple of places to 61st in the World Rankings (courtesy of www.4barsrest.com).