Greater Manchester's Finest

Image: © Paul Anderson Taken: 1 Jun 2007

Three Greater Manchester police women on duty in the centre of Dobcross during the annual Whit Friday Brass Band Contest in June 2007. Often described as 'the greatest free show on Earth', the Saddleworth & District Whit Friday Brass Band Contests take place every year on the afternoon and evening of Whit Friday which fell on the 1st June in 2007. Over a hundred brass bands participated in some twenty different contests at venues scattered around the moorland villages and towns on the western edge of the Pennines. All of the contests are open-air, many in delightful surroundings. Contests typically start at about 4.30pm. Each contest offers prizes for the best band, best youth band, best soloists etc. At one of the busier venues, you could expect to hear over 50 bands, before the winners are announced shortly after close (10pm or 11pm, though the most popular contests can go on well into the early hours). It is possible to look in at several contests during the evening but with over 100 bus-loads of bandsmen about and many of the roads closed to traffic plus the inevitable parking problems, it pays not to be over-ambitious. For more information click on http://www.whitfriday.brassbands.saddleworth.org/ Image Image Image Image Image

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