Out of interst, which bands will be attending the Trio & Mini-band contests this year??

GMCFS will be present at both.

Wirral will be there too, playing in three grades each time.

Henderson's will be playing at the mini bands but not at the trios as a few of our pipers are working abroad on this date.

while on the subject I have been asked by the band for clarification on why you can not enter the quartets as well as the mini bands?

Regards
David

Dave, we brought in the Quartet competition a few years ago as a special category for bands who were not able to turn out a drum corps. At the time we had several bands who did not have enough side drummers to compete. This was a way of keeping them involved. It's not so much a separate competition, rather a special category within the Minibands reserved for bands who cannot field enough drummers.

It would be good to allow everyone to compete in both Minibands and Quartets but then we wouldn't have enough time to run them both on the same day as well as the Solo Side Drumming.

Chris, is the mini bands open to bands outside our branch like last year if so do you know of anyone attending. It was good to see Wolverhampton there last year

Yes, the Trios, Quartets and Minibands are all open just as they were last year.

I've not heard of any outside entries yet though West Midland FS did tell me a few weeks that they would be coming.

Just to let everyone know I have received an entry from the west midlands fire service through the post yesterday

Just as a matter of interest, is the trio's and mini band competitions advised to other branches or is it word of mouth?

Usually by word of mouth, I think.
I always post the details on the Branch website but I don't know if any official invitations have ever been posted out to other branches.

Might be worth considering Chris. It would increase entries and surely improve competition for GMCFS and other bands wanting to compete nationally. This in turn should improve the standard of bands within our branch.

L&B seem to have theirs on the main RSPBA calendar - not a bad idea really.

I'm glad to hear you're going to be there..
When do we get your entry?
The draw was yesterday.
:wacko:

Chris,

Apologies for this!!!

Was brought to my attention by Andy, will sort with Marty tonight.

Cheers,

Cal :o

OK! Ta! :lol: B)

Is their an official time the indoor competitions start?
Trios, Solo piping, Minibands and Solo drumming

Trios and Solo Piping are scheduled to start at 11.00am.

We usually need to start the Solo Drumming a bit earlier, ie 10.30am with the Minibands/Quartets starting at about 11.30am. We'll confirm those start times when we make the draw on 12th April.

Hi Chris, Can you please tell me/us what time will you be opening up on Saturday?

Cheers. :dont know:

We haven't heard from Manchester FS yet but I'm presuming it will be about 9.30am at usual.

We have just heard today that the Fire Service Training Centre is not available for Saturday's contest due to on-going building works.

Fortunately Owen Nash has managed to secure an alternative venue for us at the University Barracks, just off the Mancunian Way. I have attached a map of how to get there and I'll be posting it on the branch website as well.

The gates will be open between 9.30-10.00am for an 11.00am start.

Should have seen the training centre, whole thing is in bits!
Practice was fun had to play in the coridoor

University Barracks is a good venue! As long as the bar is open!

Sorry, no bar. The function room upstairs is being used on Saturday night, so it will be out of bounds during our visit. We will have 5/6 tuning rooms, albeit some of them are only seperated by a moveable screen, but as they say "any port in a storm". Tea and Coffee will be available.

Hi, because the barracks are being used by Army personel on Saturday, car parking spaces will be limited, so, at no cost to the Branch, Major Tom Cornmell has hired extra parking spaces just across the road from the barracks. When the main car park is full late comers will be directed to the other car park. This car park will also be manned.

Didn't get back from Ireland till last night and didn't have access to computer since last week, so presumed that the venue was the same as before I went. :angry:

Got there and no-one knew anything about comp. I would have thought however that a bit of forward planning should have been done? Surely the fire centre knew they were having building work planned at the same time as the trios or is it just me being cheesed off! :angry:

I had the forms for the mini bands to give in, I will post them to Gordon along with a cheque.
Just in case can you please put Hendersons down for two bands in Grade 4 and one band for grade 3 and open. In the solo drumming can you please put Vinny Walsh down for the open MSR and Hornpipe & Jig comps.

Where will the rest of the indoor competitions be held?
Have you got a 2nd venue that you could fall back on? So people like me who turn up can try the alternative venue before going back home :dont know:

north west society have a recital next week is that going to be at the fire centre or is that to be a change of venue due to the building work? :dont know:

regards
David



:dont know:

Must be you getting cheesed off !

The training school is going under refurbishment, however a delay has been incurred by the carpet suppliers who are fitting the carpet in the main hall, like most people the fire service dont have a crystal ball, this time last week the schedule was on time and with the exception that some of the practice rooms may not have been available and the entrance to the facility would have been in an alternative location. Today's trios were on.

We have to bear in mind that the facility is provided F.O.C to the branch.

As they say such is life.

Well that was a most enjoyable afternoon.
The new venue, the University Barracks, proved to be an excellent place to hold it. Everyone I spoke to said the same.
And we can only repeat how very grateful we were to Major Tom Cornmell for making us so welcome there - and thank Owen Nash for setting it up for us.

The results:
Grade 4:
1st Chorley A. 2nd West Midlands Fire Service A. 3rd Greater Manchester A
Grade3:
1st Scots Guards A. 2nd Scots Guards B. 3rd Wirral A.
(Full list up on the Branch website)

Bob Mathieson then laid on a workshop at no extra charge. For an hour he demonstrated how best to go about tuning up a band, using Chorley Pipe Band as his willing volunteers. He then went on to discuss several points regarding some of the tunes that had been played and answering questions from the floor. No other judge has ever laid on anything like that before. Well done Bob.

David, I'm sorry to hear you had a wasted journey. We went to a lot of trouble trying to make sure that everyone who needed to know was aware of the change in venue. I didn't think of contacting you directly as I thought you weren't taking part because your band had something else on. Obviously I had it wrong.

I wish that I could have gone although I was offered a lift from a piper from Chorley. It was good of Bob Mathieson to give a work shop at the end of the contest, I don't think this has ever happend before.

Did GMFS not play?

Phil

Fortunately it was only myself who was going as a spectator. The reason the band was not playing was that a few pipers were all away working. A text message would have helped as if any of our members had decided to go and watch and did not have access to a pc I could of relayed the message of the change of venue.

BTW 'City of Newcastle' (aka Dave Brown). In response to your request I have now added you to the NW England Branch group. If I'd known who you were I would have done so when you first registered.
Why the City of Newcastle tag? Just curious.

Yes, I was very impressed with Bob's willingness to go that extra mile on our behalf. He didn't need to do it and it made a big difference to the day for all of us. The session was very interesting and informative. I was particularly interested in his Bossa Nova approach to playing round reels. I'd heard him talk about it before at the workshop he gave us at Warrington last year. I can certainly see how a drum corps can bring out this rhythm in a reel and make it really swing, but I can't see yet how three pipers on their own can produce it, ( at least not with the reel we were playing).

No, GMCFS didn't enter. Every band has its problems from time to time. We were virtually in the same boat. I expected to put in three teams. On the day I was only able to field one team. That's the way it goes sometimes.

So why is their an issue being raised about the suitability of the fire training centre being used for competitions?

Its all about the sound, the hall used to have curtains around the walls and carpet covering the floor, however since the refurb (still not finished!) the hall has become and echo box. We do not yet know what they are doing with regards to putting carpets down, curtains up etc. but it looks unlikely thus bringing the suitability of the venue (see miriams post) into question.

Once it is finished (hopefully by Tue), we will let all know our opinion. The good news is that the Barracks was a great venue and we always have the training centre as a back up. :beer:

I've just come to this topic from the one in the Branch forum..

What Callum is saying here fits in well with what I've just said there. The situation at the training centre is just so uncertain at the moment. No-one knows yet just how suitable it's going to be for future events until the builders have finished what they're doing. We're all having to work from day to day at the moment.

BTW Callum, I'm very grateful to you for your efforts on Saturday in getting all those trophies back to us. (28 in all! I'll be getting a receipt back to you shortly for them). It's given me a rare opportunity to do some needed repair/maintenance on some of them before they're needed for the next event.