Join us for our Annual Concert at Pontardulais Comprehensive School. Enjoy a feast of music as all 5 bands from the Bont will be performing – Buzztastics, Little Bonty Brass, Brass@Bont Community Band, the Youth Band, and the Senior Pontardulais Town Band!
The band returned to Blackpool for a 3rd consecutive year to compete in the Senior Trophy at the British Open Spring Festival on Saturday 11th May 2024. Inside the sweltering Spanish Hall at the Winter Gardens, the band performed the set test piece ‘Journey to the Centre of the Earth’ by Peter Graham.
The band were pleased to be awarded 7th place in a field of 17 bands, equaling the result from 2022. The adjudicators were Helen Douthwaite-Teasdale and John Doyle. Thanks go to Matthew Jenkins who stepped in to conduct the band with Paul Jenkins being unavailable.
Full results for the section are below.
| Position | Band | Conductor | Draw |
| 1 | Ebbw Valley Brass | Gareth Ritter | 9 |
| 2 | Newtongrange Silver | Anne Crookston | 3 |
| 3 | Haverhill Silver | Matthew Brown | 12 |
| 4 | Marsden Silver | Andrew Lofthouse | 16 |
| 5 | Tongwynlais Temperance | Owen Farr | 4 |
| 6 | Roberts Bakery | Mike Jones | 14 |
| 7 | Pontardulais | Matthew Jenkins | 11 |
| 8 | Enderby | Gareth Brindle | 13 |
| 9 | Eccles Borough | Mareika Gray | 2 |
| 10 | East London Brass | Jayne Murrill | 6 |
| 11 | Blackburn & Darwen | Daniel Thomas | 17 |
| 12 | Woodfalls | Paul Holland | 1 |
| 13 | Longridge | Mark Peacock | 15 |
| 14 | Parc & Dare | Dewi Griffiths | 10 |
| 15 | Yorkshire Imperial | Garry Hallas | 8 |
| 16 | Unison Kinneil | Raymond Tennant | 7 |
| 17 | Easington Colliery | Michael Fowles | 5 |
Best Instrumentalist: Stephen Sykes – Trombone (Ebbw Valley)
In its second appearance in the Championship Section at the Welsh Regional Championships following promotion to the section ahead of the 2023 contesting season, the band performed the set test piece, ‘Variations on an Enigma’ by Philip Sparke, at the Brangwyn Hall in Swansea on Sunday 17th March 2024.
In a section containing two bands that had already pre-qualified for the Finals of the National Brass Band Championships of Great Britain to be held at the Royal Albert Hall later in the year, the band was awarded 7th place in a field of 8 bands.
Full results for the section are below.
| Position | Band | Conductor | Draw |
| 1 | Cory Band | Philip Harper | 1 |
| 2 | Tredegar Town Band | Ian Porthouse | 7 |
| 3 | Tongwynlais Temperance Band | Owen Farr | 2 |
| 4 | Ebbw Valley Brass | Gareth Ritter | 5 |
| 5 | Tylorstown Band | Robert Westacott | 6 |
| 6 | Llwydcoed Band | Joshua Ruck | 3 |
| 7 | Pontardulais Town Band | Paul Jenkins | 8 |
| 8 | City of Cardiff (M1) Band | Christopher Bond | 4 |
Best Instrumentalist: Glyn Williams – Euphonium (Cory Band)
Best Cornet: Tom Hutchinson – Cory Band
Best Basses: Cory Band
Welcome to the Online Home of Pontardulais Town Band
The band started its 2024 contesting season with an appearance at the Welsh Open Entertainment Contest, held at The Riverfront in Newport on February 17th 2024.
Fourteen Championship and First Section bands competed, with adjudicator Sheona White tasked with selecting a winner. The band was pleased with its performance, which was narrated by the event’s compère, David Hayward, and were placed 8th. The band choose to present the following ‘Peter Pan’ themed programme:
Full results for the contest are shown below.
| Position | Band | Conductor | Draw | Points |
| 1 | Ebbw Valley Brass | Gareth Ritter | 8 | 196 |
| 2 | Wantage Silver Band | Chris King | 9 | 195 |
| 3 | Parc & Dare Band | Dewi Griffiths | 14 | 194 |
| 4 | Llwydcoed Band | Joshua Ruck | 11 | 193 |
| 5 | City of Cardiff (M1) Band | Daniel Hall | 3 | 192 |
| 6 | Tongwynlais Temperance Band | Owen Farr | 13 | 190 |
| 7 | Tylorstown Band | Rob Westacott | 4 | 189 |
| 8 | Pontardulais Town Band | Paul Jenkins | 7 | 188 |
| 9 | Milton Keynes Brass | Matthew Brown | 10 | 186 |
| 10 | Filton Concert Brass | Gary Davies | 6 | 185 |
| 11 | Forest of Dean Brass | Martyn Patterson | 2 | 184 |
| 12 | B. T. M. Band | Jeff Hutcherson | 1 | 183 |
| 13 | Lympstone Band | Nigel Seaman | 5 | 182 |
| 14 | Chapeltown Silver Prize Band | Colum O’Shea | 12 | 181 |
Highest Placed First Section Band not in Prizes: Milton Keynes Brass
Most Entertaining Stage Presentation: Llwydcoed Band
Best Soloist: Imogen Fewster – baritone (Wantage Silver Band)
Best Cornet Player: Becky Cale (Llwydcoed Band)
Best Soprano Player: Brian Thomas (Wantage Silver Band)
Best Horn Section: Parc & Dare Band
Best Euphonium: Alison Millin (Forest of Dean Brass)
Best Trombone Section: Ebbw Valley Brass
Best Tuba Section: Ebbw Valley Brass
Best Percussion Section: City of Cardiff (M1) Band
Youngest Instrumentalist: Garyn Jones (Parc & Dare Band)
Invitation to compete at the 2024 Spring Festival: Parc & Dare Band
Saturday November 18th 2023 saw the band head over the Severn Bridge to take part in a concert outside Wales for what is believed to be the first time!
Held at the Salvation Army Hall in Easton, Bristol, the ‘Best of Brass’ concert featured Filton Concert Brass and Pontardulais Town Band, along with guest Euphonium soloist Daniel Thomas, of the Cory Band.
Filton Concert Brass, with guest conductor Anri Adachi, opened the concert and chose to perform their recent Wychavon Festival of Brass set, before accompanying Daniel on ‘Rhapsody for Euphonium and Brass Band’.
The second part of the concert saw Pontardulais Town Band, conducted by Paul Jenkins, take to the stage to perform their own selection of pieces and to accompany Daniel on ‘In Gardens of Peace’ and ‘Fantasie Originale’.
The final part of the concert saw both bands combine to perform four pieces together, with Anri and Paul sharing conducting duties, appropriately closing with a rendition of ‘Fire in the Blood’ – a piece which was originally commissioned to celebrate the 120th anniversary of the International Staff Band of the Salvation Army.
All proceeds from the concert went towards the Salvation Army’s work in the Easton region of Bristol.
The full programme of music from the concert is below.
Filton Concert Brass (Anri Adachi)
| Clans Collide | Philip Harper |
| Cry Me a River Cornet Soloist: Neil Allen | Arthur Hamilton arr. TBC |
| Adagio | Samuel Barber arr. Keith Griffin |
| I Got Rhythm | George Gershwin arr. Alan Fernie |
| Thunder and Lightning | Johann Strauss arr. Frank Wright |
| Rhapsody for Euphonium and Brass Band Euphonium Soloist: Daniel Thomas | Johan Evenepoel |
Pontardulais Town Band (Paul Jenkins)
| Amazonia (from Windows of the World) | Peter Graham |
| Sosban Fach | Gareth Wood |
| In Gardens of Peace Euphonium Soloist: Daniel Thomas | Philip Harper |
| Fantasie Originale Euphonium Soloist: Daniel Thomas | Ermanno Picchi/Simone Mantia arr. Margaret Antrobus |
| Finale from Symphony No IV | Pyotr Ilyich Tchaikovsky arr. William Gordon |
Massed Bands
| March – Praise | Wilfred Heaton |
| Banana Island | Etienne Crausaz |
| Nimrod (from Enigma Variations) | Edward Elgar arr. Eric Ball |
| Fire in the Blood | Paul Lovatt-Cooper |
| ENCORE – Climb Every Mountain | Richard Rodgers and Oscar Hammerstein arr. Philip Harper |
The band once again competed in the Senior Trophy at the British Open Spring Festival on Saturday 13th May 2023. The contest was held in the Spanish Hall at the Winter Gardens in Blackpool, with the set test piece ‘The Accursed Huntsman’ by Cesar Franck and arranged by Edrich Siebert, selected to challenge the competing bands.
The band were placed 13th in a field of 21 bands, with Mark Wilkinson and Brett Baker as adjudicators.
A highlight of the day was one of our Academy Band members, Iolo Evans, making his first contest appearance with the senior band, playing bass drum, alongside his dad on Flugel Horn.
Full results for the contest are below.
| Position | Band | Conductor | Draw |
| 1 | Thundersley Brass | Melvin White | 16 |
| 2 | Amersham | Paul Fisher | 12 |
| 3 | Stannington Brass | Sam Fisher | 14 |
| 4 | Tylorstown | Robert Westacott | 15 |
| 5 | Tongwynlais Temperance | Owen Farr | 13 |
| 6 | Blackburn & Darwen | Daniel Thomas | 5 |
| 7 | Unison Kinneil | Raymond Tennant | 21 |
| 8 | Eccles Borough | Jon Davis | 6 |
| 9 | Longridge | Mark Peacock | 7 |
| 10 | Yorkshire Imperial | Garry Hallas | 17 |
| 11 | Easington Colliery | Stephen Malcolm | 18 |
| 12 | Ebbw Valley Brass | Gareth Ritter | 19 |
| 13 | Pontardulais | Paul Jenkins | 10 |
| 14 | Enderby | Stephen Phillips | 8 |
| 15 | Parc & Dare | Dewi Griffiths | 9 |
| 16 | Haverhill Silver | Paul Filby | 2 |
| 17 | Filton Concert Brass | Nathan Jenkins | 1 |
| 18 | Vernon Building Society | Adam Delbridge-Smith | 3 |
| 19 | Thoresby Colliery | Simon Oates | 20 |
| 20 | Bo’ness & Carriden | Charlie Farren | 4 |
| 21 | Haftield & Askern Colliery | Stan Lippeat | 11 |
Best Instrumentalist: Keith Schroeter – Horn (Thundersley)
Following its victory in the 1st Section at the Welsh Regional Championships in 2022, the band was promoted to the Championship Section for the 2023 contest, which was held on Sunday 19th March 2023 at the Brangwyn Hall in Swansea.
Making its first appearance in the top section in Wales since 2013, the band faced the challenege of performing the set test piece, ‘Red Priest’ by Philip Wilby.
The band achieved 6th place in a very strong field of 7 bands.
Full results for the section are below.
| Position | Band | Conductor | Draw |
| 1 | Tredegar Town Band | Ian Porthouse | 1 |
| 2 | Cory Band | Philip Harper | 2 |
| 3 | Llwydcoed Band | Joshua Ruck | 3 |
| 4 | City of Cardiff (M1) Band | Chris Bond | 7 |
| 5 | Tongwynlais Temperance Band | Owen Farr | 4 |
| 6 | Pontardulais Town Band | Paul Jenkins | 5 |
| 7 | Tylorstown Band | Gary Davies | 6 |
Best Instrumentalist: Robert Westacott – Soprano (Tredegar Town Band)
Best Cornet: Tom Hutchinson – Cory Band
Best Basses: Cory Band
The band kicked off its 2023 contesting season, hoping to defend its title of ‘Welsh Open Champions’, with an appearance at the Welsh Open Entertainment Contest, held at The Riverfront in Newport on February 18th 2023.
Fourteen Championship and First Section bands competed, with adjudicator Glyn Williams given the task of selecting a winner. Unfortunately, the band was unable to hold onto the CISWO Challenge Trophy, but was pleased with its performance, once again narrated by radio DJ and local Swansea personality, Kev Johns. The band choose to present the following programme:
Full results for the contest ar shown below.
| Position | Band | Conductor | Draw | Points |
| 1 | Ebbw Valley Brass | Gareth Ritter | 12 | 198 |
| 2 | Llwydcoed Band | Joshua Ruck | 7 | 197 |
| 3 | City of Cardiff (M1) Band | Chris Bond | 14 | 196 |
| 4 | Burry Port Town Band | Andrew Jones | 13 | 194 |
| 5 | Parc & Dare Band | Dewi Griffiths | 2 | 193 |
| 6 | Brunel Brass | Daniel Hall | 5 | 192 |
| 7 | Filton Concert Brass | Nathan Jenkins | 3 | 191 |
| 8 | Tongwynlais Temperance Band | Owen Farr | 9 | 190 |
| 9 | Pontardulais Town Band | Paul Jenkins | 4 | 189 |
| 10 | Jackfield Brass Band | Ryan Richards | 10 | 188 |
| 11 | Michelmersh Silver Band | Melvin White | 11 | 187 |
| 12 | Tylorstown Band | Gary Davies | 8 | 186 |
| 13 | B. T. M. Band | Jeff Hutcherson | 6 | 185 |
| 14 | Lewis Merthyr Band | Craig Roberts | 1 | 184 |
Highest Placed First Section Band not in Prizes: B. T. M. Band
Most Entertaining Stage Presentation: Llwydcoed Band
Best Soloist: Philip Howells – Xylophone (Ebbw Valley Brass)
Best Cornet Player: Andrew Smith (Llwydcoed Band)
4BR Best Soprano Player: Tom King (Llwydcoed Band)
Best Horn Section: Brunel Brass
Best Percussion Section: Ebbw Valley Brass
Youngest Instrumentalist: Sioned Evans (Burry Port)
Invitation to compete at the 2023 Spring Festival: Burry Port
We regret to advise that due to unforeseen circumstances beyond our control, the concert arranged for 1st October at Morriston Tabernacle has been cancelled. All tickets sold will be refunded.
