Watford Band

While the football club's fate is several weeks from being sealed, one team from Watford has already secured promotion this year.

Watford Band has moved up to the third tier of the UK national brass band league tables, following a successful performance of Rodney Newton's Four Cities Symphony.

The band now finds itself top of the London and South East region Fourth Section Bands table, which includes 36 groups in total.

Conducted by their new musical director, Richard Graves, the band gave a performance described by the adjudicator as "musical and well presented". "4BarsRest" described the performance as a mature performance with a fine lady solo cornet player leading their line well. ‘Rome’ was the Achilles heel though and must have robbed them of valuable marks against some well controlled outer movements.

This is the first time the band has reached this level, and follows their qualification for the UK National Championships two years ago.

The band had 3 new players assisting them with this success; Mike Willis on EEb bass and Julian Windross and Glyn Hughes on Trombone. The band's ex Musical Director, Martyn France, also played completing the line up for the the trombone section which was descibed as "senitive" in their playing of the the testpiece by the adjudicator.