Band History - Page 2 of 2 - 1970s to Today
Our Recent History – The last Five Years
2004
Appointment of our current Musical Director, Nick Sheppard (a full profile can be found under the members section of this site). The band need to finish in the top 6 at the Regional Championships in order to stay in the first section, and finish....6th!
2005
After finishing 3rd at the Regional Championships, the band are promoted to the Championship Section – quite a turnaround from the previous year! Achievement of the best result on the contest stage for some time by finishing 2nd out of 26 bands at Pontins, playing Lorenzo . The band play at the Reebok Stadium for Amir Khan’s fight with Mario Kindelan
2006
The band have the honour of playing for Her Majesty the Queen during a visit to Blackburn.
2008
•The band’s website wins the ‘website of the month’ award from Brass Band Website TheMouthpiece.com.
•2nd Place at the North West Regional Championships means a place at the National Finals for the first time in 14 years.
•1st place at the inaugural Hebden Bridge March & Hymn Tune Contest.
• 5th place at the National Finals in Harrogate.
2009– The year so far...
• B & D Quartet win the Scottish Open
• Butlins First Section Champions
• Another 2nd place at the North West Regional Championships
The Glory years
In the early seventies the band changed its name to Darwen band, and under this name had its greatest success. In 1979 the band won the 4th Section National Finals in London and quickly progressed through the 3rd and 2nd sections to achieve Championship status in 1984. All this was under the musical direction of Gordon Clough who conducted the band from 1977 - 1985. Our finest result under Gordon was a magnificent 4th place in the Championship Section of the North West Area National Qualifying Contest.
Alec Evans, the resident conductor at Besses o'th Barn band at that time, then joined us and led us to our finest victory to date: 1987 Grand Shield Winners, beating Swinton under renowned conductor David King by 3 clear points!
In 1986 the band secured support from Blackburn council and was consequently renamed the Blackburn & Darwen Band. In 1991 under conductor John Anderson, the band won three contests on the trot and qualified for the National Finals in London (2nd section), finishing in 6th place.
In 1994 under the direction of Paul Dalton the band once again qualified for the National Finals, achieving 6th place.
Blackburn and Darwen play for Her Majesty the Queen in 2006.
Blackburn & Darwen Band
