Last weekend (16th and 17th September) saw the National Finals for Sections 1-4 taking place at Cheltenham Racecourse, with 8 bands representing Wales across the 4 sections. These included;
Section 4
City Of Cardiff Melingriffith 2 & Royal Oakeley Silver
Section 3
Crosskeys Silver & Newtown Silver
Section 2
Abergavenny Borough & Newport Borough
Section 1
Beaumaris & Ebbw Valley
By the end of the weekend, no less than 3 Welsh bands were among the prize-winners with Ebbw Valley, under their Conductor Gareth Ritter becoming National Champions (Section 1) and Beaumaris under Bari Gwiliam also on the podium in 3rd place. In Section 3, Cross Keys Silver led by Sion Jones were placed runners-up.
Special congratulations to all the prize-winners, but also to all the other bands (and their conductors), who put in all the hours of hard work, not just musically, but also in terms of raising finances and sorting logistics, in getting to the Finals and representing Wales on the National contesting stage.