Members of Friary Guildford Band maintained their iron grip on the scaba Quartet and Ensemble titles at Burgess Hill on Saturday for the sixth year in succession, despite a strong challenge from East London Brass. In fact, Friary players have won both titles on every occasion they have entered the contest, apart from one second place in 2005, a remarkable record.
Friary have had a flying start to the year, and following their win at the Regional Championships in March, have risen to 38th in the World Rankings (courtesy of www.4barsrest.com), the Band’s highest place yet.
Band Chairman Nigel Stevens commented: ‘Being ranked in the top 40 bands in the world has been one of Friary’s objectives for the past few years. It seemed somewhat aspirational at the time we set it, but we’ve achieved it, and will now need to think about raising the bar even higher. But the ranking is all about how we perform at contests, so there’s no time to rest on that particular laurel as we need to focus on our forthcoming visit to Blackpool for the British Open Senior Cup contest in May.’