North of Ireland Victory
by Trevor Johnston
The Drogheda Brass Band made some history when they became the first band from the Republic of Ireland to retain a title at the North of Ireland Band Championships on Saturday 26th October 1998. Following last year's win, this makes three in the last ten years - no other band from the Republic has won a section more than once.
Competing in the second grade brass section - comparable in standard to the championship section in the Republic of Ireland Band Championships - the test piece this year was "Three Miniatures for Brass Band" by Philip Sparke. The musical and technical difficulty of this brand new piece was reflected in the number of bands competing in the section; four down from seven last year.
A special mention must go, as always, to our musical director Michael Maher, who somehow managed to get the piece up to competition winning standard in a mere four and a half weeks and also to Daniel Cassidy, who was playing as principal cornet for the first time and did a great job.