Two contests in two days was the challenge faced by Cross Keys (and many other bands from the local area) but it was a challenge that Cross Keys rose to and thoroughly enjoyed.

They started the weekend on Saturday with the SEWBBA Spring contest at Tredegar and followed that up with the Weston Super Mare Contest on Sunday.

At Tredegar the band were of course competing in the 2nd Section for the first time in years and were the so called new kids on the block, perhaps not expected by many to do as well as they did.
Drawn at number 6 the band had time to relax and prepare for their debut in the 2nd section. This relaxation and calmness before the band went on stage worked wonders as they went on to produce a performance that no other band was able to beat. The performance of Philip Sparke's 'Kaleidoscope' was out of the top drawer and featured some excellent ensemble work as well as superb soloists, none more so than the band's principal cornet player Karla Howe who walked away with the Will Wood Trophy for the best instrumentalist in Section 2 - an award she thoroughly deserved for the classy performance she delivered.
In his remarks at the results, adjudicator Roy Sparkes said he was very impressed with the overall standard of the prize winners but that the performances of the other bands finishing lower in the final results were slightly disappointing. He pointed out that the winning performance inparticular featured more or less exactly what he was looking for.
A fantastic result for the band on it's debut in Section 2, congratulations to all espeicially Karla.
The full results at Tredegar were as follows:-

1. Cross Keys  - 189 pts.
2. Lewis Merthyr - 188 pts.
3. Ynyshir Welfare - 187 pts.
4. Llwydcoed - 186 pts.
5. Blaenavon Town - 185 pts.
6. Ogmore Valley - 184 pts.
7. Gwaun Cae Gurwen - 183 pts.

Best Instrumentalist: Karla Howe - Principal Cornet (Cross Keys)

After the jubilation of the win at Tredegar the band travelled over the severn bridge to compete in Section 4 at the Weston Super Mare contest.
Again the band produced an excellent performance of Kaleidoscope which this time around failed to impress the adjudicator Derek Broadbent and the band finished a disappointing 6th place out of 8 bands entered.
The performance was tipped by many neutrals to be the winning performance but that wasn't to be and the band instead of celebrating a double win on the same weekend celebrated the win at Tredegar and enjoyed themselves just as much as they would have if they had won at both contests.
Mr. Broadbent was critical of the bands tuning, the band had incidently been praised for it's tuning a day earlier and thought that the dynamics didn't vary enough to impress him.
The full results at Weston in Section 4 were:-

1. Bream Silver - 180 pts.
2. Totnes - 178 pts.
3. Bratton Silver - 177 pts.
4. Brunel Brass - 176 pts.
5. Pontypool Brass - 174 pts.
6. Cross Keys - 173 pts.
7. Upper Rhondda - 171 pts.
8. Newport Borough - 170 pts.

So that about sums up brass banding - Some you win, some you lose, but you can normally guarantee you will enjoy yourself whatever the result!