Onchan Silver Band are celebrating after their performance at the Manx Music Festival on Sunday, 26th April 2026 saw them walk away from the brass classes with a clean sweep of all five trophies – believed to be the first time a band has achieved such a feat since a fourth and fifth trophy were added to the prizes in the early 2010s.
Their winning set, conducted by Musical Director David Karran, consisted of a march (‘Castell Coch’), hymn (‘Amazing Grace’), and 20-minute entertainment programme themed around space exploration and narrated by their compere, Samantha Winstanley, which featured ‘Soaring the Heights’ by Christopher Bond, ‘Lament’ from the orchestral work Stabat Matter by Karl Jenkins, ‘Gonna Fly Now’ by Maynard Ferguson from the film Rocky, ‘Lake of Tenderness’ by Ben Hollings and ‘Horizons’ by Paul Lovatt-Cooper.
The band was delighted to walk away with the awards for the best march, best hymn, most entertaining programme, best soloist (for Principal Euphonium Chris Quayle’s performance of ‘Lament’) and for the best overall entertainment programme performance. The Gordon Kennaugh Astill Memorial Trophy for the most entertaining programme of the evening is particularly meaningful to the band, and they were pleased to take it home for the second consecutive year, as it is awarded in memory of the band’s late long-time Musical Director, Gordon Astill. The band was also excited to win the Jimmy Crosbie Memorial Rose Bowl for the best overall entertainment set for the very first time in their 89-year history.
The band’s fine form on Sunday followed a successful afternoon in the Promenade Suite the previous day, with an ensemble from the band winning the top prize in the open brass ensemble class with a performance of the overture from ‘Ruslan and Ludmilla’ by Mikhail Glinka. The brass solo classes on Saturday also saw several strong entries from Onchan Silver Band’s sister organisation, the Isle of Man Brass Academy.
The band’s continuing strong results come off the back of a successful trip to Blackpool in March, where the band came third in the fourth section of the North West Area brass band championships, achieving promotion to the third section after three years of consistent results.
The band is grateful to the organisers and volunteers who run the Manx Music Festival, and would like to congratulate the other bands, Ramsey Town Band and Rushen Silver Band, for their excellent performances.
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