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RE: City of Oxford Travesty

It was this particular situation that prompted my earlier posting
registration). I was on the registration desk for the top section and hav=
e
to say it's heartbreaking to have to inform a band registration problems.=

The members of City of Oxford have my sympathy for the position they find=

themselves in.

A couple of points though:

The members of the regional (and indeed, any other) committee do indeed
come from bands who may be affected by the outcome. However, they all
donate their time and effort free of charge in the interests of running
this contest - any decision they make will inevitably affect members of
their own bands but they have to do so impartially and in my experience,
they do exactly that. The fact that there are members from other top
section bands on a committee should not stop any appeal being given a fai=
r
hearing and  knowing the people on the team as I do, City of Oxford will
get a fair hearing.

However, the committee is only there to run the one  contest and to do so=

under rules provided for them - it's not like you local association. I ca=
n
assure all readers that neither myself nor the contest controller enjoyed=

any of the registration issues we had to deal with at Basildon.

Until there a sensible process is in place to replace the current
registration system, the potential for this sort of problem will remain.
There seems to be little support to change it from within the relevant
bodies that currently control it - the band press is a waste of time as a=

proponent of change, it's up to the likes of us, the grass roots bandsmen=
,
to force these issues into the public domain - I for one would be quite
happy to spend time working with other like minded souls to re-engineer t=
he
process we currently use.

Andy Wooler, Conductor, Uckfield Concert Brass
MD "The Classic Dance Band", Trumpet "Sussex Symphony Orchestra"
awooler@xxxxxxxxxxxxxx (home),
andy.wooler@xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx (work)
http://ourworld.compuserve.com/homepages/awooler

Cameron wrote:


Dear list-members

This is a long post. I would be grateful if you would read it all and rep=
ly

with your thoughts. In writing this post, I think I can speak on behalf

of all of the members of the City of Oxford Band (Alastair is currently

on holiday and therefore does not have access to an email account),

although I have not been asked by them to write it.

Somewhat ironically, given the jubilant demeanour of my recent posts and

the nature of the contributions from Andy Wooler regarding registration,
the

City of Oxford band has been provisionally disqualified from Sunday's

Regional Championships in Basildon, pending an appeal to the regional

committee and, if necessary, the NCC.

The reason for the disqualification was that the band's principal

percussionist's name did not appear on the contest signature form. This

was simply an oversight on the part of our contest secretary (who,

incidentally, won the best cornet award on Sunday). When she drew up the

list, our percussionist's card was at the registry being re-done (after

having been lost by the authorities at the Leamington Spa contest in

December). Consequently, our contest secretary ommitted his name from the=


list by mistake.

The player in question has been the principal percussionist with the band=


for five years, and has not missed a contest in that time. His membership=


of the band extends further back than most in the band. This was not a

case of cheating or abusing the system. It was a simple and honest

clerical error. If our disqualification is upheld, we will lose our place=


at the Royal Albert Hall because of the smallest, most trivial of errors.=



I accept that laws are there to be adhered to. The members of Rhos Silver=


Band, whose second section national title was taken last year, know all

too well that fielding unsigned players is a costly mistake (whether

deliberate or not). However, the error in the case of the City of Oxford

is insignificant compared to that of using unsigned players. Though we

may have inadvertedly broken a (rather pointless) rule when our

percussionist played on Sunday, I fervently hope

that the regional committee abide by the spirit of the law rather than

the letter of the law when they consider our appeal. It is a spirit

exemplified by the City of Oxford Band. How many other bands could boast

full attendance at all practices up to six weeks before a contest?

It goes without saying that I cannot provide an unbiased opinion, as I

am a member of the affected band, but it seems totally unfair that such a=


small mistake should cost us our life's ambition.

It would be a travesty if we

were to be disqualified, especially as James Scott (the adjudicator on

Sunday) said that the top two bands were well clear of the field. In

short, we thoroughly deserve our place at the RAH.

As I understand it, an appeal has been lodged with the regional

committee. Unfortunately, two members of that body are members of the

Morrells (Kidlington) band. This band is the traditional rival of the

City of Oxford, and may take a delight in seeing us disqualified. (A few

members of that band even said so at the contest on Sunday). We at City

of Oxford have no quarrel with the Morrells band (aside from a healthy

local rivalry) and it would be extremely mean spirited of the Kidlington

committee members to vote to uphold the disqualification out of spite. In=


addition, I am led to believe that at least one member of the committee

is from Redbridge Brass, who came third in the competition and would

therefore be given a place at the Royal Albert Hall if the decision is

upheld. Surely, a committee (at least partially) composed of people with

vested interests such as these cannot consider our appeal impartially?


If the appeal is unsuccessful at regional level, we will lodge an appeal

with the National Contesting Council. I am confident that we should win,

given the paltry reason behind our disqualification.

In conclusion, I should like to say that words cannot adequately express

how frustrated the rest of the band and I are. To qualify for the Royal

Albert Hall has been our long-term ambition for years, and it now appears=


that our efforts may be rewarded with a slap in the face from band

beaurocracy. I think our appeal is a strong one, given the player's long

record with the band, the nature of our performance (earning two points

more than Redbridge Brass, last years Champions), the fact that we may be=


demoted if we are disqualified (see below!), and the fact that the mistak=
e

made was an insignificant and honest one.

I would be grateful for your opinions on this matter. Thank you for takin=
g

the time to read this long message.

Respectfully,

A very sober and frustrated,

Cameron Mabon
2nd cornet, City of Oxford Band

P.S. There is a danger that, if we are disqualified permanently, the band=


will be demoted to the first section (because of some 'unusual' contest

results last year)!! This would result in the bizarre

situation of the other first section bands competing against arguably

the best Championship Section Band in the region (as we will be if we

continue to improve at the rate at which we have done so for the last few=


years)!!! The first section

areas would be a farce, and all because one trivial rule was broken

inadvertedly.

--

  Cameron Mabon				 cmabon@xxxxxxxxxxxxxx
  Piano, cornet and duck-call
  Fundamental Brass	       http://users.ox.ac.uk/~newc0349/fun
  City of Oxford Band     http://www.jesus.ox.ac.uk/~cmabon/COSB.html


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