Bugle Band Contest - West of England Bandsmens Festival Outdoor Contest

The WEBF committee are excited to announce the following changes to this year’s contest.

Following multiple enquiries, this year’s contest will feature a brand new section!

‘The Festival Showcase Section’ will be a non competitive, unregistered/ungraded section with an open adjudication, providing remarks for all bands entering. Gold, Silver and Bronze certificates will be awarded to bands based on their performance.

This new section enables unregistered, ungraded and scratch bands to enjoy taking part in the festival in a more relaxed manner whilst providing additional entertainment to our visitors.

The section will comprise of a 15 minute own choice programme and will have a £100 entry fee.

In an update to the current rules we have made the following changes:

• 1 of a bands 5 borrows for the contest can now be from a band registered 1 section above the competing bands registered section.
• Bands entering the youth section may now play players under the age of 21.

Further information can be found in the updated rules section and any queries can be sent to promoter@buglebandcontest.co.uk.

29/04/2025 UPDATE

Further to some really useful feedback from bands and individuals we would like to make some changes and clarifications to the Festival Showcase Section.

• Bands in this section can be un-registered, scratch bands, registered bands who don’t wish to enter their normal section, small bands who are unable to enter their section due to player challenges or bands made up of more than one organisation i.e. two bands wishing to attend but don’t have enough players so wish to join forces.
• Players in this section can play for bands in any of the other sections, there is no restriction on playing for more than one band.
• As the Festival Showcase is a trial, we have decided to waive the entry fee this year to allow us to gauge interest.
• Although we don’t currently propose to award trophies in this section we will be reviewing the spare trophies that we do have with a view to utilising these where possible.

This section is all about making the festival more accessible to musicians from a range of backgrounds and situations, and we welcome ideas on how to make this successful.