Black Dyke loses bands title

SADDLEWORTH’S historic Whit Friday brass band competition has become surrounded by controversy with the disqualification of winners Black Dyke for breaking competition rules.

At this year’s competition last Friday, Bradford-based Black Dyke Band was declared the overall winner, but it later emerged the band - led by Oldham-based music director Nick Childs - had broken the Delph village contest’s rules by arriving late and missing its playing slot.

In a statement, Black Dyke Band said: “The band was registered to play as Band 71 and on arrival it was apparent they had missed their allocated position and the contest had proceeded without them.

“After discussions, officials advised there was no problem and the band proceeded to play as Band 76 - subsequently being awarded first place.”

The following day, two other bands complained this was a breach of the competition rule compelling bands to be signed in ready to play at the right time. The band was disqualified from the Delph competition and lost the points, that loss also removing its overall points win across the competitions.

Delph organisers received two complaints on Saturday and imposed a strict reading of rule two, disqualifying the world’s best-known brass band. The organisers have promised to review their procedures to ensure similar incidents don’t reoccur. Members apologised to all the bands in the competition and admitted Black Dyke shouldn’t have been allowed to play

The band later issued a statement accepting the decision and said it considered the incident closed.

Stockport’s Fairey Band was confirmed as the official overall winner of the Saddleworth & Oldham District Championship for the first time since 1996.


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