The British Open 2024 - As it happened!

On Saturday 7th July, Flowers made the short journey up the M5 to Birmingham to compete at the 170th British Open Championships. This is arguably the most prestigious contest of the season, with 18 of the finest bands in the world taking part. Following a strong preparation period and victories in Torquay and Amboise this year, the band were in good spirits as we entered the contest weekend.

This year’s test piece was a new commission for the occasion, ‘The Lost Circle’ by Belgian composer Jan Van der Roost. It depicts the story of the building of Stonehenge, from a stormy atmospheric opening over ancient Wales through to the moving of the stones and their final assembly in Wiltshire.

It is detailed writing with many layers of sound to balance across the ensemble, and it proved a test for both players and conductors alike. We thoroughly enjoyed the preparation, and were delighted to see so many of you at our open rehearsal - thank you so much for your support of the band.

The morning of the contest arrived and we waited for the draw that would decide the order the bands would play. Thus followed the typical analysis and speculation about what is considered to be a ‘good’ or ‘bad’ draw, and which positions have statistically been more likely to place highest come the end of the day. We were drawn to play as band number 4, which is rather earlier than we may have liked. This meant we were straight into action warming up and preparing our extra percussion for the short walk to the contest venue.

We walked onto stage just before 11.30am to present our rendition of ‘The Lost Circle’ to a packed crowd at Symphony Hall. Months of preparation and it all comes down to around 18 minutes of music on stage.

As we hit the final chord the hall erupted with rapturous applause, with many acknowledging our performance with a standing ovation. Thank you to everyone who was in Symphony Hall who gave us such an enthusiastic and noisy response - you truly have given us a memory that we will never forget. Thanks also to those who were watching online and sent us congratulatory messages; we read and appreciated every single one.

Our full performance is available to watch on demand on streaming platform wobplay. Wobplay is a fantastic streaming service that has thousands of top quality brass band recordings available for a low monthly subscription cost, so if you are looking for your daily dose of brass bands, this is the place to go!

Once we had played we had many hours ahead of us to relax and celebrate our performance. We headed to our favourite pub to enjoy a few beers, also taking the opportunity to catch up with friends from other bands. As we were drawn so early in the day, the Figure of 8 Wetherspoons certainly did a roaring trade!

After the 18th and final band had performed there was a short wait for the results. We were fancied by audience members and some commentators to do well, but nothing is set in stone until the adjudicators have spoken.

Our long-standing soprano cornet player, Paul Richards, was awarded the Best Soprano Cornet award. Paul has been a beacon of excellence in banding for many years and we could not be more thrilled to see him recognised on the grandest of stages. The screams that sounded with this announcement could have been heard all the way back in Gloucester!

After the solo prizes came the announcements of the overall band standings. David Hayward announced the prizes from 6th to 1st, and with each placing the tension builds. Once we’d reached 3rd many of the big names had already been called. We were still waiting to hear ours, hardly daring to hope that we might find our name in the top 2 placings for the first time in our history.

“In second place, the band that was drawn to play number… 4. Flowers”!

We are extraordinarily proud to share that we were awarded British Open 2024 Runners-Up, second only to the Swiss and double European Champions Brass Band Treize Etoiles. Not only is this a historic best placing for Flowers, surpassing our previous highest of third in 2014, as the top placed English band we also achieved qualification for the European Championships in Linz, Austria in 2026. This is a first for the Flowers Band, and it will be 41 years since a West of England Band last appeared at the Europeans when we take our turn in 2026. Another historic fact is that it is 30 years since any English band has qualified for the European Championships for the first time, so this means that we really have thrust ourselves into the history books!

Anne Crookston said in her spoken remarks that there were “two sublime pieces of storytelling” on the day, and in her written comments “what a thrill - bravo MD and band - so much colour and character throughout - superb!”

Stephen Cobb described our playing as: “A really wonderful performance - all soloists outstanding and a reading that I thoroughly enjoyed”.

Luc Vertommen summarised with: “Breathtaking technical precision - world class performance with no weak links. Very, very special - so emotional in the slow music. Only total admiration for this cultured colourful performance”.

Everyone at Flowers would extend our congratulations to our friends at Treize Etoiles for their famous win, as well as Black Dyke, Grimethorpe, Foden’s and KDNS Fairey for their top 6 positions.

We could not do what we do on stage without the immense efforts of our Musical Director, Paul Holland, and our amazing support team of Karin Lythell (Librarian), Michael James (Chairman), Clare Smith (Treasurer and Contest Secretary) and Gregor Spence (Band Manager) and the wider committee and helpers. Thank you all.

To get us to Linz for the 2026 European Championships, there is going to be a monumental fundraising effort needed. If anyone would like to support the band in some way then please do get in touch with manager@flowers.band to discuss how your gift can help us.

After a few days of celebration we will be returning to the band room to resume rehearsals for our appearance the National Finals at the Royal Albert Hall in London in October. Tickets are on sale through the Royal Albert Hall Website.

Your next opportunity to hear the band is at Reading Town Hall on Saturday 28th September. The concert programmes includes a preview of the Nationals test piece ‘Harrison’s Dream’ as well as a new work from the pen of Philip Harper for our solo euphonium, Dan Thomas.