GOODWICK 'S youthful and exuberant bid for glory in the UK National Brass Band Championships came close to success at the weekend.

Their interpretation of Philip Sparkes' uplifting test piece Endeavour earned plaudits from the adjudicators and gave Goodwick a thoroughly encouraging fifth place out of the top 16 First Section bands from all corners of Britain.

Goodwick's current blend of long-serving members and young newcomers, relatively inexperienced at this national level, produced some magic moments in this piece of music and conductor Matthew Jenkins drew the admiration of the adjudicators.

They praised the atmospheric opening and well-controlled performance, saying there was much to admire from the soloists, the band and the MD.

"Everyone worked very hard over the past weeks to show their mastery of this challenging and, in places, intricate piece of music," said Matthew. "It was good to hear that our interpretation had pushed the top teams really hard"

There was very little separating all the bands at this year's Cheltenham championships but the national title went to Unison Kinneil from Scotland with two bands from the north west, Rainford and Boarshurst Silver, picking up second and third prizes respectively.

Goodwick have already qualified for promotion to the Championship level so it will be more hard work in the months to come as they build on this latest experience of British competition.