MEMBERS of Malvern Hills District Brass Band were celebrating this week after finishing sixth in a national competition at the Royal Albert Hall.

The band battled against 19 others in the Fourth Section of the National Brass Band Championship in London on Sunday (October 22).

The band made it to the play-off by coming second in a Midlands area final at Burton-upon-Trent earlier this year.

Jenny Cobley, the band's spokesman, said: "We travelled down on Saturday morning, so were able to spend the afternoon exploring. We had a final practice in the evening and at 7am on Sunday set off for the Albert Hall for the draw for the order of play."

The band was drawn to play 18th out of the 20 taking part.

"At the end of the contest, the results were announced in reverse order for the first six bands, just to make it more nerve-racking," said Mrs Cobley.

"We gave a huge cheer when our name was announced in sixth position. We had not expected such a good result, having heard the quality of some of the other bands.

"Needless to say, we spent the rest of the day celebrating. We feel it was a great achievement to become the sixth-best band in the country in the Fourth Section and hope that the name of Malvern will become even better known in the future.

"Because of our success this year, the band has been promoted to the Third Section, as from January 2001."

Malvern Town Council last month agreed to give the band a £500 grant, which helped pay its travel expenses to London, and for banners to hang from their music stands.

"We would like to thank the Council for the grant," said Mrs Cobley.

Earlier this year, the band stepped in to save the day after a threat to the traditional summer brass band concerts in Priory Park.

The band agreed to play for free on four Sundays during the summer, after Malvern Hills District Council cut funding for the concert season.