The intriguing story of the 1929 ‘July Brass Band Contest’ winners medal by Paul Beaumont, president of the Brighouse and Rastrick Band

In the fiercely competitive world of the brass band movement there are a number of rival competitions. Two such competitions are the British Open, established in 1853, and the National Championships, established in 1900 at Crystal Palace.

These were and probably still are the two most prestigious contests in the UK and both are steeped in history.

To qualify for the Open, bands had to be at the top of the rankings. Less successful bands had to qualify for the final by coming first or second at a July Contest.

To qualify for the Nationals, bands had to come either first or second at one of the area qualifying competitions held throughout the country earlier in the year.

In the 1920s when the now-acclaimed Brighouse and Rastrick Band was still in the process of rising to greatness, they had to qualify for their place at the September Contest which was held at Belle Vue, Manchester (now known as the British Open Competition and held at Symphony Hall, Birmingham) by achieving a podium finish at the July Contest.

The band was originally known as the Brighouse and Rastrick Temperance Band, which was the title the band was formed under. Eventually the decision to alter the band's name was taken at a committee meeting held on the July 10, 1929, just three days before the July 1929 Belle Vue Contest.

The motion was “that the name of the band be altered to the Brighouse and Rastrick Band.” It was passed. The old name was used in the programmes of both the July and September 1929 contests, the organisers claiming that it was “too late to alter them”.

B&R Temperance had played at the July Contest without success on a number of occasions but actually qualified for the September Belle Vue contests in both 1916 and 1919 by coming second in the July contests.

The band’s first big break came in 1929 when, conducted by the legendary Fred Berry. They not only came first at the July Contest but went on to win the Belle Vue Contest later that year, beating all of the big bands of the era.

This was truly the start of B&R’s rise to fame, a rise that began some 48 years after they were founded in 1881 and a rise that has seen them at the very top of their game for some 84 years so far.

B&R went on to win the September Belle Vue Contest for three years running in 1932-33-34 conducted by their professional conductor, the great William Halliwell.

As a result of winning the contest for three consecutive years, the band won the Sunday Chronicle Cup outright, and this is part of the band’s archive collection today. Barred from competing in 1935 after completing the triple, they returned in 1936, winning yet again.

Only one other band, Batley Old Band in 1890, had ever managed to win both the July and the September Belle Vue contests in the same year prior to B&R’s achievement in 1929.

Records show that the band was presented with a trophy for winning the July Contest which they held for a year and then had to return but also received several other items which they kept.

Reading from the record books, this included £20 in cash, a “trombone value 18 guineas”, a “cornet value 14 guineas” and a single medal made of silver and highly inscribed. The band were also invited to perform on radio by the BBC and they received a £10 fee for agreeing to do this.

The Brighouse Echo records that... “they arrived back home around midnight which militated against any widespread reception by the townspeople. However they were given a great congratulatory welcome at Crow Nest Park, Dewsbury, on Sunday where they played to very large assemblies, in the afternoon and evening”.

The whereabouts of the 1929 winner’s silver medal was a mystery for a long time. The medal was obviously the property of the band but was missing from its collection of historical artefacts and nobody knew of its whereabouts.

That was until in February of this year when Lyndon Stacey, an avid B&R supporter and patron who lives in Italy, flagged up the fact that there was a silver medal listed on the internet auction site eBay.

The seller was claiming it had been presented to Brighouse and Rastrick Band on July 13, 1929, for winning a July Contest. Much research then began and the validity of the medal was established; this was indeed the missing 1929 medal from the Belle Vue July Contest.

The picture of B&R in 1929 shows the 26 players and the trophies that were won in that year. You can just see two medals – one won for winning the July contest and one for the September contest. Despite e-mails to the seller requesting that the medal be withdrawn from the site, eventually the band resorted to bidding for the medal.

Bidding was quite active, but Julie Beaumont made her final bid with seven seconds to go and bought the medal for the band.

The medal is therefore now back where it belongs after all this time.

The present-day Brighouse and Rastrick Band will be competing in the British Open Competition at Symphony Hall, Birmingham (the modern-day version of the Belle Vue competition) on September 7.

Their status is such they no longer need to qualify at what was the July Contest, now known as the Spring Festival and held at Blackpool’s Winter Gardens.

The 1929 winner’s medal and the Sunday Chronicle Cup were on display on Saturday at the band’s headquarters in Brighouse.

Roll of honour

  • July and September Belle Vue champions: 1929
  • September Belle Vue Champions: 1932, 1933, 1934, 1936
  • British Open champions: 1978
  • All England Masters champions: 1993, 1998, 2001
  • National Champion Band of Great Britain: 1946, 1968, 1969, 1973, 1980, 1997, 1998, 2010, 2011
  • Champion Band of Europe: 1981, 1998
  • World Champion Band: 1968, 1969
  • BBC Band of the Year: 1968
  • Granada TV Band of the Year: 1975
  • Brass in Concert champions: 2006 and 2007
  • Saddleworth Open champions: 2006, 2007 and 2008

In 1998 the band held concurrently the English Masters, British National and European Championships, a unique triple still not equalled.

Brighouse and Rastrick is perhaps most popularly known for its 1977 hit parade success The Floral Dance, for which it won both silver and gold discs.

At the end of 2011, readers of the 4BarsRest brass band website voted Brighouse & Rastrick Band of the Year and professional conductor David King Conductor of the Year.