A huge congratulations to all who took part in the Yorkshire and Northern Lincolnshire Regional Championship last weekend!
See below for Jill Wright's report on the event.
Well – what a fantastic day we had at the Yorkshire and Northern Lincolnshire Regional Championship last Saturday! We watched nineteen performances across all three disciplines in the fabulous surroundings of the Leeds Conservatoire. I was very glad not to have been one of the Adjudicators, but Sammy Murray (Dance), Robert Marsh (Music) and Carol Schroder (Speech and Drama) were as efficient and professional as always.
Eleven musicians gave us a delightful morning of first class performance. We listened to music of different genres, from different countries and different time zones, played on a variety of instruments. We listened to pianists, vocalists, string and brass players, all performing at the top of their game.
The same was true in the afternoon, too. Five very different speech and drama performers enthralled us as they drew us into their story – and the same was true of our three dancers. The audience sat enthralled the whole day – where else could you find such an event, of such a high standard, from such dedicated young people?
The Award Ceremony saw every performer given a Certificate recording their performance before the winners were announced by their respective adjudicators. The Dance Championship was won by Olivia Weaver, representing Kingston-upon-Hull Festival with a Modern Solo. The Speech and Drama Championship went to Marley Horder, representing Scunthorpe Music Festival with “The day my finger got stuck up my nose”. The Music Championship was won by ‘cellist Euan Braddish, again from Scunthorpe Musical Festival, playing Popper’s Polonaise de Concert, Op 14.
Our last Regional Championship was in 2019; the intervention of Covid did a lot of damage, but there is no doubt that providing this kind of performance platform remains a vital part of what BIFF offers. Yes, it was hard work and the Organising Committee was kept very busy. Shall we do it again? You bet we will!!