YOU could forgive the organisers of Wychavon Festival of Brass for blowing their own trumpet.

From small beginnings, the festival has grown to the stage where it is now the leading one-day entertainment contest in the country.

Indeed, brass band enthusiasts are in for a treat when Pershore High School hosts the event on September 24.

So great has been the response that the organisers have had to set the starting time forward for 15 minutes, from 10am to 9.45am, in order to accommodate the number of bands and run up until 10pm.

"We are now in our 11th year and during that time numbers have increased every year," said organising secretary Clive Allen.

"This year was exceptional in that we had to turn away 14 bands wanting to come simply because we could not accommodate them."

Never mind festival of brass, it will be a veritable feast of brass with more than 50 concerts during the day.

Bands have collected their cornets, transported their trumpets and uplifted their euphoniums to converge on the Vale from all over the country to take part: from the deep west of Cornwall, Wales, Lancashire and Yorkshire and the Home Counties.

"We have got quite a number of new well-known championship bands coming, some of which have not previously performed in this area," Mr Allen promised. "They will be alongside others who have competed regularly with us and most of our local bands will be performing."

Brass bands have a big following and the festival will bring a lot of people into Pershore on the day.

Mr Allen said: "The contest is now so well known that people plan a weekend stay around it and we have also been sending a lot of tickets out to band followers."

The championship section - the highlight of a top-class day - brings together some of the top bands in the country. Welsh band BTM will be defending the title they won last year but are likely to be hard pressed by the Mount Charles Band which finished a close runner-up.

The challenge

Rolls Royce Coventry and Woolley Pritchard Sovereign bands are both returning after short absences to take up the challenge, along with First City Brass, a Northamptonshire band on a first-time visit.

Evesham's Avonbank Brass Band takes part in a very tough second section competition and, in the fourth section, there is a much bigger entry than normal with new bands from Cheltenham and Gloucester competing.

Day tickets cost £5 on the door for all concerts or they can be bought in advance for £4 from Carleton House, Bridge Street, Pershore, or Vine Mews, Vine Street. Evesham.