The band loaded themselves into a large, red Premier coach at two in the afternoon and headed across the Derbyshire Dales towards the beer-soaked, band-loving villages of Lancashire. The drive over was made more interesting by the Satnav device favoured by the driver - it seemed intent on taking us around tight, tree-lined corners and roads so narrow that they make cyclists breathe in a bit on the way through.

We arrived a little later than planned at Stalybridge Celtic, our first venue. Our tardiness didn’t seem to matter, though, as we still arrived earlier than the adjudicator, a certain Mr Duncan Beckley. The traffic is appalling around here during the Whit Friday Marches so perhaps he managed to get stuck behind some other TomTom-following coach on a narrow road somewhere.

Once the adjudicator was tucked away in his box the bands got under way. The initial march is performed down the football pitch at this venue (at least, they’ve started doing that this year) which is trickier than you think. A nice, even tarmacked road is much easier to march down while playing than a grass football pitch. The bands then performed their chosen contest march in front of a curtained window (and expectent, beer-toting crowd) where the adjudicator was poised with pen and paper.

Once the first three bands had performed it was our turn. We marched down to Army of the Nile and had chosen the old warhorse Mephistopheles for our contest march. Unfortunately, we’d made the decision (just before we played) to not play the repeats during the DC rather than play it as we’d rehearsed it. By the time that we actually got to the DC half the band had forgotten these instructions and we ended up having a bit of a disastrous start to the day.

We then had a deserved telling off.

Unperturbed by our poor showing at Stalybridge Celtic we headed to our next venue. It’s at this point that the author wishes that he’d paid attention as to which venue was played at in which order. Nevertheless, more venues were played at and the decision was made that perhaps repeats on DCs were a good idea after all.

Somehow we managed to fit in eight venues. The first six didn’t really have large queues and we never had more than five coaches in front of ours until we arrived at Broadoak . It was dark by the time we ended up here and the march was down a side-street towards the stage, which was directly in front of a noisy pub. The march was made all the more pleasant by the start of some persistent drizzle and insufficient lighting. It becomes a little difficult to read your music when it’s covered in water in the dark.

Our last venue was at Denton, who thankfully cancel the marching part when it gets dark. We waited in the coach until it was nearly our turn (still raining) before finishing off our last rendition of Mephi and enjoying a deserved pint or three in the cricket club bar.

The results are out and we did OK, apart from in Stalybridge. Our best result was 11th (at Broadoak, despite the dark and the drizzle!)  and we also got a decent 13th at Denton, suggesting that after our poor start we improved all through the day. We achieved a better score than last year anyway but still have much room for improvement.

Our Whit Friday appearance would not have been possible without some much-needed helpers, so the band would like to extend our warm thanks to the following people:

Nev Buxton from Blidworth.
Andy Allison’s Dad, who’s name I can never remember (sorry Andy’s dad!)
John Yarker who’s officially at Pleasley (but he’s ours really)
Leah from Deiniolen Silver Band
Neil from Jersey Premier Brass
Tony from Long Eaton and Thorntons

Thanks to you all for making it possible. Here’s looking forward to next year!

We currently have positions open for cornets, front row and back, Bb bass and second trombone. We especially need a quality euphonium play for our soloist position.

In addition to the vacancies for brass instrument players we’re always in need of more percussionists, both tuned and kit.

We are a friendly band doing well in the Midland Area First Section and we would welcome players for any position to come down for a blow. We’re are an adaptable lot and can always juggle seats if we need to.

If you would like to get in touch then please see the contact page for details.

The band thanks both of you for the commitment and musicality you brought to the band and wish you both well for the future.

This is an all weekend event but we will be playing between 3 – 3.45 & 4.30 – 5.15 approximately, in number 3 hangar. There promises to be an exciting collection of bands playing during the weekend so please come and hear us play.

There will be other musical entertainment on the day too. There will be a bar and some informal, impromptu singing. Bring your own chairs, food and drinks (the band have been asked to pay £3 per person for corkage which will be refunded with a beer voucher) and enjoy the party atmosphere.

This is a beautiful location and entrance is free. Please come along with your picnic chairs and lunch boxes to support the wonderful event.

Some extra information about Nottingham Arboretum can be found at the Nottingham City Council website.

If you’re in the area then please either gives a cheer or buy us a drink. This marching lark is thirsty work!

We could do with a couple of cornet players for the day, so if you’re free and happy to help us out then please check out the list of contacts and give us a call.

It would be fair to say that every band had its problems with James Cook on the day and the winners, the excellent Glossop Old, were clearly superior to all the other contenders in the section. However, we somehow managed to produce a polished, sympathetic performance of the test piece and were rewarded with a superb fourth place. Considering that this was our first year in the higher section this was an outstanding result and something that we’re all very proud about.

The only disappointment was the fact that, yet again, we had missed out on a trip to the National Finals by a single place. This has happened four years in a row now and you have to wander what we have to do to get that extra place higher up!

This was only a minor disappointment, though, as we were not expecting to be doing quite so well. Our fellow debutantes, Phoenix West Midlands Brass, also did superbly on the day and finished in an impressive second place. Carlton Brass congratulates the prize winners (not forgetting the talented Hathern Band in third) and wishes them well in Harrogate.

4barsrest, the excellent Brass Band news website, had this to say about our performance:

In fourth place and just missing out on a trip to the final it was another First Section debutante in the form of Carlton that succeeded in achieving a highly impressive transition to the higher level. From this point in the results it is fair to say that the quality of playing was considerably more variable with Carlton’s strengths lying in astute direction from Walter Richie, an admirable attempt to capture the atmosphere of the score and an excellent contribution from the band’s solo cornet player.

The band sound did tend to the brash at times and there was some occasionally shaky ensemble on display but this was a brave attempt that more than proves Carlton’s capability of competing at this level.

An encouraging review and with some good bands finishing below us at the contest we will be taking some extra confidence with us to next year’s Area. Bedworth Civic Centre has proven to be an excellent venue for the Midlands Area and we shall be looking forward to our return in 2009.

The choice of test piece was a golden oldie - Edward Gregson’s The Plantagenets - a piece we’d been practising since last year for the Leicester and Leamington contests. It’s a great piece, full of clever musicality and the odd trap-door for the unsuspecting soloists.

Our performance was one of great potential - there were some lovely moments here and there - but spoiled by too many mistakes from all around the stands. In the end it was a case of “what might have been” as we came a creditable 9th, but we knew that we’d left a much better performance at our rehearsal the night before.

The band was suitably disappointed with our performance but this didn’t spoil the traditional dash for the bar after we’d played. Butlins might have been renovating their most popular bar but there were plenty of other watering holes for us to drown out sorrow.

So, we shall be back next year with the hope of improving on this year and cementing our place in the First Section. Butlins is our favourite contest of the year and we wouldn’t miss it for anything!

Walter Ritchie and Carlton Brass are over the moon after winning the 2nd Section at the Leicester Open. Playing band number 4 they broke their long running spate of 3rd places, (Butlin’s and the Area three times). Also it was great news for Steve Parker on Soprano Cornet who retained the soloist prize yet again, well done Steve see you in the club on Monday

It was with a twinge of sorrow that cornet player John Moor was unable to play with us at this contest because he had to return to Australia and Brisbane Excelsior Band. We wish John a safe return home and hope that he will be back soon.

Taking the seat of John on the front row we welcome Alan Ritchie, Walter’s son, who has joined us from Thoresby.