Perthshire Brass 2024 Year in Review: SBBA Third Section Band of the Year

2024 was a year of hard graft from the organisation - from our first rehearsal weekend away in February to being named Third Section band of the year this month - a fantastic end to a year which has seen our senior band promoted and a gold award bestowed on our youth band.

A 2nd place finish at the 2024 Scottish Regional Championships in March meant Perthshire Brass comfortably secured promotion to the second section for 2025. To keep the band in fighting shape we were kept busy throughout the summer with engagements at Perth Festival of the Arts, Fife Charities Competition, Northern Counties and a handful of beer festivals for good measure. Come September, senior band conductor Willie McMullan accepted an invitation to take the band to the National Brass Band Championships in Cheltenham, helming a brave performance which found favour with much of the brass band press - if not our adjudicators. Nevertheless, a great time was had by all members and travelling fans who made the trip down.

The senior band also opted to enter the Scottish Challenge in November and finished the year on a high by taking best band in section, an award we also managed at the Northern Counties and Fife Charities competitions, ultimately leading us to pipping third section Band of the Year. MD George Annan - "It was a great way to end the year by picking up the Third Section Band of the Year Award. We have had a great year, and not just on the contest stage - we have done lots of great concerts, rehearsals are well attended, and there is a lovely atmosphere in the band"

Recently re-established post-COVID, Perthshire Youth Brass also did us incredibly proud by taking a Gold award at the Scottish Youth Championships in November, sowing the seeds of the next generation of players in our senior band.

Christmas carolling and concerts are often a great opportunity for the organisation to play as one band and blood in some of our younger players and this season was no different, but with some extreme weather unfortunately leading to a few call offs from long standing engagements - we promise to be back next year! The organisation now look forward to a prosperous 2025, with the senior band competing in the second section for the first time since 2022 and the youth band looking to repeat glory at their respective championships. Further on the horizon we will also be working hard throughout the year to fundraise for our Germany tour in July 2026, where we will be celebrating the 75th anniversary of the twinning between Perth and Aschaffenburg. Anyone wishing to join or speak to the band about engagements should get in touch via our contact page.