Porthleven Town Band members proved they were top brass when they came away with the second top spot at a regional championship.
Despite being drawn to perform right at the end, as 20th out of 21, the band reversed their fortunes when they were placed second|best overall at the 2015 |West of England Regional Brass Band Championships at Torquay.
Their success amongst the fourth section bands performing the test piece, An English Pastorale by Dean Jones, means they qualify to enter the National Finals, held in Cheltenham on September 19.
It is likely that the band will also be promoted to the third section.
To get there the band had to compete against others from around the west of England, including as far away as Tewkesbury in the Cotswolds.
Musical director Tom Bassett said: “This is a fantastic achievement by the band on a return for the second year running to the National Finals.
“If our calculations are correct, for the first time in 20 years we will be promoted to the third section; an historic moment in the band’s 150 year history.
“I’m so grateful to everyone involved in the organisation and incredibly proud of our talented players.”
Banding website 4barsrest.com, which covered the championships, singled out Porthleven’s 17-year-old Chloe Billing, on solo cornet, as star player on the day.
Chloe said: “I’ve been a member of the band for nine years now and have risen through the ranks to be promoted to principal cornet.
“I’m pleased and honoured to have been mentioned by 4barsrest but the outcome was a team effort. It’s very exciting to be potentially promoted to the third section.”
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