Yorkshire Imperial Brass Band
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You can probably count on the fingers of one hand the number of Brass Bands famous enough to be known by their nickname. Yorkshire Imps is undoubtedly one of them. Hailing from Yorkshire which has contained many of the world’s finest bands for over a century and a half The Imps have earned the right both in the contest arena and on the concert platform to be regarded as quite simply one of the best in the business. (Since it’s formation in the 1930’s the band has featured consistently as one of the finest bands in the movement. Indeed, in Dr Roy Newsome’s ‘The Modern Brass Band’ (Ashgate, Aldershot 2006), they are listed as one of the top 10 bands of the second half of the 20th century. |
The band was originally formed as The Yorkshire Copper Works Band at Stourton near Leeds where the factory was based and when an industrial merger created Yorkshire Imperial in 1958 necessitating the bands name change they became affectionately known as The Yorkshire Imps. (With roots taken from the old Stourton Band of the 1930’s and a merger with Rothwell in 1999 the current line up are rightly proud of their provenance.
The band has represented Yorkshire some twenty times at the National Finals the first being in 1946, conducted then by the famous Sam B. Wood and playing Henry Gheel’s Oliver Cromwell. They have out of those 20 appearances been placed on no less than 15 occasions. Their victory in the Yorkshire Area Contest in 1981 was indeed remarkable, playing under the Musical Direction of John Pryce Jones they were awarded an unprecedented 199 out of a maximum 200 points for their performance of Edmund Rubbra’s Variations on The Shining River beating Black Dyke into second place and Grimethorpe into third. Investigations continue to this day in an attempt to find the culprit responsible for the missing point!
There will be a Hog Roast before the Concert
