The English (No Blacks, Asians, Jews or Welsh) Contest is taking place this Saturday in Chorley, Lancs.
The full list of bands attending has been whittled down to very few. A representative of one band that has withdrawn, who asked not to be named, but we know is Gordon Greatorex of Lincoln Logistics Band, said "This fucker is gonna cost us £4,000 when you get the band in a hotel, pay the bus and a money-grabbing MD for the day. We could piss that up the wall and then, if we even qualify, we have to raise another £40,000 to get to the European Eistedffod in Azaerbaijan. It's a no-brainer, fuck it off".
However, several bands have not "fucked it off" and some will be there on stage, weather permitting. They will have to go through the indignity of playng not one, but two, test pieces in front of a hall packed with at least 17 people.
The goal is to make it to Azerbaijan, where the winning band will be able to mix with others from throughout Europe who are actually still enthusiastic about it all.
Greatorex added, "its alright over there, those fuckers are swimming with money off of their councils and stuff and actually love brass banding. For most of us in the UK we still ask ourselves why we bother".
It should be a cracking contest.
