Online Whit Friday Results
On Friday 5th June Foden's Band hosted the inaugural Online Whit Friday Contest. Over a two-week period bands were invited to submit recordings created during isolation, initially appearing on Foden's Facebook page. On the evening of Whit Friday a 7 hour YouTube stream brought to life the virtual Whit Friday event. Adjudicator Michael Fowles had the difficult task of placing the bands and commented on the high standard of all performances, as well as praising each for the technical expertise shown.
Results:
1st - British Army Band
2nd - Leyland
3rd - GUS
4Barsrest / Mango Design cash award for 'Innovative Presentation' - Bad Ass Brass
Foden's cash award for 'Spirit and Inspiration' - Whit Spirit
Tameside Council / Friends of Tameside Whit Friday Contest cash award was presented to all Youth Bands who supported the event.
Speaking about the contest Mark Wilkinson commented, “All at Foden's have been overwhelmed by the large number of messages supporting the event and would like to thank all the performers, bands and audience who contributed to its success. Due to its impact we are able to confirm that we will run an online event again next year, not to replace or compete against the official Whit Friday but as a valuable online addition. The interest in the contest exceeded our expectations with 90 bands from 10 Countries competing 'virtually' against each other playing 43 different marches. The live stream has been viewed over 22,400 times in 19 different countries including Kenya, Russia and Indonesia with 2,430 performers featured who each recorded their individual parts in isolation.”
Mark continued, “We are extremely grateful to Tameside Council, Friends of Tameside Whit Friday Contests, 4barsrest / Mango Design and Foden's who all contributed cash prizes as well as our 'partners' for their continued support. The online event was part of a successful application to Arts Council England's 'Emergency Response Fund' which was developed due to the Covid-19 crisis. Finally, I would like to thank Darren Lea for coordinating the project alongside Richard Poole, Ian Raisbeck and Jonny Bates who all worked extremely hard to make the event a success. Foden's is a forward-thinking organisation and we are extremely proud to have been the first band in the World to run an online event of this kind as a way to keep players motivated and working together during these difficult times. We have further exciting online events planned which will be announced in due course.”
The video stream can be viewed below:
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