This was the second year that The Aveley and Newham Band has attended this most prestigious contest- held at the Symphony Hall Birmingham, on Sat 15th Sept.The testpiece was a towering new work Visions of Gerontius,by Kenneth Downie. The inspiration for the work was found in the hymn Gerontius and in the words of the poem, The Dream Of Gerontius, by Cardinal John Newman.The adjudicators for the day were Steven Mead, Geoffrey Wittham and William Relton. 

The Band arrived in Birmingham in the knowledge that only a much improved position, over the previous year, would see them through to a third British Open. This did seem a daunting prospect considering the quality and form of the opposition. The Contest was viewed by 4Barsrest as having perhaps the strongest line-up of bands ever seen at Birmingham. They may well have been right, with 17 of the top 20 ranked bands taking part and with Aveley and Newham the lowest ranked at 27.

The Contest held the prospect of being a terrific battle of the giants. Black Dyke was vying for a hat-trick but with Cory, Grimethorpe, Desford and Fodens all capable of taking the title. The result went to The Cory Band under the baton of Dr Robert Childs with Black Dyke in second place under the conductor Dr Nicholas Childs. Fodens were placed third. Aveley and Newham were placed 15th beating Sellers, Polysteel and Kirkintilloch.

Polysteel, I feel, would surely agree that it is incredibly difficult to settle, at the first appearance, into such a contest at a new venue and a new acoustic, especially as they had been in such great form throughout the season.They won at Yeovil, took 3rd place at The English Nationals and of course wom the Grand Shield. Now like Aveley and Newham, a poor result in the first year makes the situation almost impossible to retrieve.

After feeling a lot more comfortable on the stage this time around,The Aveley and Newham Band was disappointed to be relegated along with Reg Vardy Band.