The Minibands started at 9.30am and ran until 11.30am. Grade 4 was a good contest with 9 entries drawn from 7 different bands, but in Grade 3 and the Open Grade GMC Fire Service was the only band to enter - a telling sign of the scarcity of good drummers within the branch at the moment. Lack of sufficient tuning rooms made things less than ideal for the Minibands during the morning but the situation was much easier in the afternoon for the Trio Piping.

An interesting note: There were only two entries in the Juvenile event but, for the first time in over ten years, they both consisted entirely of Juveniles, ie. neither Pipe Major took part. All six players involved are very promising young players. It is in their hands that the future health of the Branch, and of their bands, lie.

It is also interesting to note that more bands took part in this year's event than in any Branch Contest for at least ten years, ie. nine bands from the Branch and one visiting band. They were: Scots Guards Association, Greater Manchester County Fire Service, Chorley, Liverpool Scottish Reg. Assoc., City of Sheffield, Bolton Scottish, North Manchester, Warrington, West Yorkshire Fire Service and West Midlands Fire Service.

Our judge for the day was P/M George Summors who did a fine job in spite of having sustained a broken wrist a day or so before the event.