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| National Eisteddfod 2004 - Newport |
| The day got off to an inauspicious start with the coach arriving at Sardis an hour and twenty minutes late. Our first attempts to contact the coach company had been unsuccessful as there was no-one in the office at 8 o'clock on a Saturday morning. The office phone was redirected to a mobile that was switched off! We eventually found out that the coach that had been allocated for the trip was unfit for service. At least Charles was already at the Eisteddfod due to his role as secretary to the Welsh Brass Band Association. The draw for the competition was taking place as we were getting onto the coach. We were drawn to play 7th so there was no need to ask if we could swap places with anyone; we arrived during the third band's performance. There were some reminders of last year's competition in Newtown - Emyr's customary gurning and Carwyn's usual show of enthusiasm (but at least we didn't need the sick bag this time). |
| The competition rules allowed us to enter both competitions held today. Last year, we chose to put our best programme into the third section as there were fewer bands taking part. This year, there were again more entries in the fourth section, but we felt that it was important to put on a good performance against our peers in that competition. After giving our performances, we filed into the pavillion to hear the results. There was a delay of almost half an hour while one of the opening ceremonies took place (Ken slept through this to the amusement of the rest of the Band)! Finally the results were announced... |
We Won !!!!! !!!!! |
| A superb result for the Band and our first victory at the National Eisteddfod since 1947! Our choice of programme was praised by the adjudicator whilst the fact that we had a young, female conductor was a major talking point in the discussion about our performance as it was broadcast live by S4C. An interview with Sian Cothi followed. 'Kenneth' was chosen as the interviewee. On the way home, Angharad proudly displayed the cup and adjudication and Wyn struck his familiar, "Look, I've won another trophy" pose! |
| Confirmation of our success! The competition was of a high standard - we beat the current Welsh Champions Radyr into second place with other bands that had been expected to beat us not even making the top 3! The adjudicator, Mr Steve Pritchard-Jones, summed up our performance. "Confident playing with well controlled sounds evident. A good selection of music and well played". Congratulations and thanks to everyone who contributed towards this brilliant result. |