Youth Band Compete for the First Time
by Trevor Johnston
The annual trip to Belfast this year was rather crowded. The reason? Our youth band, The Drogheda Youth Band, were competing in the unaffiliated fifth grade brass section on Saturday morning, the 24th of October. Anyone watching the seven o'clock weather forecast on TV3 the previous night would have seen that this was their very first competition.
Formed only three years ago, the current musical director of the newly renamed Drogheda Youth Band is Martin Cassidy, solo tenor horn player in the senior band. The band, composed of mostly eight to fourteen year olds, played "All Things Bright and Beautiful" and "A Children's March", ending in third position out of five bands.
A fine result when one considers that any band in the country can enter the unaffiliated section and that this was their very first competition - an experience which is nerve wracking enough for the senior band!