A View From Above
The Whit Friday Brass Band Competition
2nd June 2023
5 hours of audio and drone footage condensed into half an hour.
The audio is all from a single source located on top of one of the many hills surrounding the villages, overlapping bands and echoing were inevitable with so many playing at once.
This was an attempt to capture the whole atmosphere of the event, not focus on one location.
Battery limitations and manpower were my biggest problems, drone batteries are expensive and limited and I am only one man trying to cover 11 separate locations.
The Whit Friday band contest tradition dates back to 1884 and is actually a series of individual band contests held in eleven of the thirteen villages that make up Saddleworth: Delph, Denshwaw, Diggle, Dobcross, Friezland, Greenfield, Grotton, Lees & Springhead, Lydgate, Scouthead and Austerlands and Uppermill.
The contest is held in such high esteem that more than one hundred brass bands travel worldwide to perform, and thousands of people come to the area to watch them do their thing. The competition is open to all – International bands, local bands, youth bands, and military bands all are welcome and able to compete up against some of the most famous bands in the world such as Brighouse & Rastrick, Black Dyke, Grimethorpe Colliery Band and Lydgate Brass Band.
Each band plays two pieces, the first is performed as they march to the contest performance area, the second is the competition piece that they will be judged on. A volunteer marches ahead of each band holding a sign with the name of the band so that the crowd can see who is playing next, however, the name of the band is never verbally announced. The judges, spend all day hidden away in a caravan or tent and score each band only on the quality of their performance, not on their prestige, fame, or fancy uniforms.
Thanks for watching.
The Demolition of St John’s Church Werneth Oldham
Middleton to Oldham Railway
Part 1 https://youtu.be/3HIqzN7IEfE
Part 2 https://youtu.be/gD1mRAAJnvM
Part 3 https://youtu.be/N77zIHdJVRQ
Part 4 https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=tIMLsbABt3A
The histories of
Oldhams Reservoirs https://youtu.be/3me9CQLvS7Q
Moston Station https://youtu.be/O0HFtrA8iMw
Manchester Victoria https://youtu.be/U7KV4Zl9sKM
Patricroft Station https://youtu.be/oAPW2ag_vgw
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5 Comments
Good to see the old traditions still going strong.👍👍
Lovely footage as usual and nice to hear brass bands again after many years away from Lancashire.
I can't believe you have so few followers with the quality stuff you give us. I'd better get on this social media thingummy and share your videos. 👍
English countryside and a Brass Band …. can't beat it.
It was a fantastic day.Perfect weather, very large crowds all enjoying themselves – even if they weren't listening to the bands. From a player's point of view it's a long and tiring day, especially as we did the morning walks into Uppermill and played for the service on St. Georges playing fields in Uppermill. The adrenalin keeps you going though and I, for one, am already planning for next year.
This is excellent. Thanks you!