From Belle Vue to Birmingham: The Story of the British Open
- Liv Appleton
- 23 hours ago
- 6 min read
Updated: 1 hour ago
A Short History of the World’s Oldest Brass Band Contest
The British Open Brass Band Championships is the oldest and most prestigious brass band contest. For audience members it offers a chance to watch some of the finest brass musicians in the world showcase their musical dexterity and for players the opportunity to go head to head, performing challenging and innovative works. I’ve attended this incredible competition, both as a player and as a spectator, and it is one of the best events in the banding calendar. Walking out on that stage feels like you’re not just stepping into the spotlight, but into history.
From its birth at Belle Vue in 1853 to the grandeur of its current home at Symphony Hall in Birmingham, this is the story of the British Open Brass Band Championships.
The Birth of Tradition at Belle Vue (1853)
In the middle of the industrial revolution a tradition that would span over 170 years was born.
Before the 1850s there were wind, brass and reed bands that had formed all over the UK, but nothing much in the way of a brass band ‘movement’ that we know today. These informal ensembles performed in pubs, churches and other venues within the local community and were made up of a variety of instrumentation, including relics such as the serpent and keyed bugles. Similarly, there had been some competitions for these ensembles in the early half of the 19th century, but it was the contest that was held on Monday 5th September 1853 at Belle Vue that was to prove to be the most influential in the birth of the brass band movement.
The first contest was organised by the owner of Belle Vue, John Jennison, alongside cornet player and bandmaster, James Melling and Manchester music dealer, Joseph Higham. Eight bands competed in the first contest in front of 16,000 spectators and it was the Mossley Temperance Saxhorn Band that took the trophy.
The first set ‘test pieces’ were introduced in around the 1860s and the 1870s saw the beginning of uniformity in terms of instrumentation and number of players.
Thanks to the annual contest at Belle Vue, the brass band had evolved from sporadic, mis-matched, informal ensembles to uniformed, competitive, disciplined musical teams. People travelled far and wide to watch them battle it out within the grounds of Belle Vue. Prize money made the competitions even more heated and the stage was set to host the first of our community’s musical legends.
The brass band movement was born.
The Belle Vue Years (1853 - 1982)
Following its debut in 1853, the British Open was held at Belle Vue Zoological Garden annually (except for a cancellation in 1859) until the venue was closed down in the 1980s.
Why Belle Vue?
The Belle Vue years are an iconic period in the history of the British Open and the banding movement itself. During the mid to late 19th century, the popularity of the brass band was growing and the sprawling leisure park at Belle Vue (known as the Showground of the World) was the perfect venue to allow tens of thousands of spectators to watch the famed brass band competition. Seeing an opportunity, businesses such as factories, mills and mines sponsored their own brass bands to offer controlled recreation for their workers and also to help promote their brand.
From its inception, this contest quickly gained a reputation as the most prestigious contest and a win at Belle Vue wasn’t just about the pride of a winning performance - it was bragging rights, as well as a nice little pot of cash and silverware to boot!
The Introduction of the Set Test Piece
At first, bands could bring in their own arrangements to perform, which led to band trainers, like Alex Owen (who found a lot of success with bands, such as Black Dyke and Besses o’ th’ Barn) showboating incredibly difficult and long (some were over an hour) test pieces. Other bands couldn’t compete with this level of work, resulting in the same few bands taking the title and making the competition a little monotonous. So, it came to pass that the rules were changed to level the playing field with the introduction of the ‘set work’.
Legends are Born
The introduction of the British Open contributed to the meteoric rise of ‘big name’ bands - many of which still dominate in the upper echelons of banding today, such as Black Dyke, Foden’s, Fairey’s, and Brighouse and Rastrick. However, in the early decades of the competition, there were three key conductors who dominated the competition- Alex Owen, John Gladney and Edwin Swift - with Gladney taking 20 wins between 1873 to 1904.
From a playing perspective, the Belle Vue contest also saw the rise in talented players that would go on to become legends and inspire the next generation of brass band musicians, such as Harry Mortimer, Maurice Murphy, Brian Evans and Lyndon Baglin.
From Belle Vue to Birmingham - 1982 - 1998
Sadly, Belle Vue’s status as the ‘Showground of the World’ began to fade towards the end of the 20th century. The zoo closed in 1977, which sparked the beginning of the end for the venue, as the wider leisure complex deteriorated and, in 1981, it was announced that the site was to be sold. The last contest held at Belle Vue was in September 1981, where City of Coventry took the title playing Arthur Kenny’s Variations on a Ninth. It was banding legend, Harry Mortimer, who managed to secure the contests at Belle Vue for the last few years of its existence; a legacy that has lasted into the present day - more on that later!
After the closing down of Belle Vue, the contest had to find a new home.
From 1982 to 1995 the contest was held at the Free Trade Hall in Manchester. In 1997 the contest was postponed due to the death of Diana, Princess of Wales. Finally, in 1998 the contest found its new permanent home at Symphony Hall in Birmingham. In January of that year, the postponed 1997 British Open Contest took place and it was Yorkshire Building Society performing Whitsun Wakes under the direction of David King who took the prize. September 1998 saw the Fairey Band take the title, performing Diversions on a Bass Theme, before YBS and David King took the trophy back the following year.
A Family Affair
After hanging up his baton as the musical director of the Fairey Band a few years earlier, in 1976, Harry Mortimer took over the operations for the British Open after the owners at Belle Vue were keen to be rid of the responsibilities of organising extra activities at the site. In the early 1990s, his legacy was passed on to the next generation of the Mortimer family: Martin and Karyn, who continue to own and promote the contest today!
The British Open Championships: An Enduring Icon
The British Open is more than a brass band contest - it’s a piece of living history. It has offered the stage in which many pieces, conductors and bands wrote themselves into the history books and inspired generation after generation of brass band musicians. To this day, it is the contest that brings together the very best our community has to offer and it will always be the biggest, most prestigious contest in the brass band calendar. Long may it continue!
Acknowledgement
I'd like to say a big thank you to Gavin Holman who owns the IBEW Brass Band History Resources, which is an absolute treasure trove for brass band fans filled with historical documents, information and images. I would thoroughly recommend checking it out: http://www.ibew.org.uk/index.html
References:
Labour and Love: An Oral History of the Brass Band Movement by Arthur Taylor
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