Massive contest win for Northern Irish brass band puts them in the record books and leaves members 'on a high'

The competition – called the Dutch Open Brass Band Championships – was held in Groningen, Holland, and the First Old Boys Band were the outright winners, beating 20 other groups drawn from the Netherlands, Germany, Belgium, and France.

They had to perform three pieces of music in half an hour.

The judging was blind; it was done behind a screen so the judges did not know which bands they were listening to.

Joe Cassells, the band's honorary president and former tuba player, who has been with the band since the late 1970s, was not present in Holland but followed the band's progress over a livestream.

Mr Cassells (aged 63 and from Saintfield) put it down to "a lot of hard work", saying that they had been rehearsing virtually every other day in the run up to the championships.

He added that each member paid about £400 from their own pockets to attend the Dutch contest.

"It's the first time any band from Ireland has won outside of these islands – outside of the UK and Ireland," he said.

"It's the biggest thing we've won in our 79, nearly 80, year history.

"Personally, for me, I'm very proud as president and as a former conductor and player – particularly for our younger members.

"People are still on a bit of a high after that."

The band was founded in 1946 from former members of Belfast's 1st Boys Brigade company based at St Mary Magdalen Church in Donegall Pass – hence the name "Old Boys".

Today the band is based out of an office on Royal Avenue in the centre of Belfast, where they typically rehearse twice a week.

Most of the roughly 30 members come from greater Belfast, but some travel from Portaferry, Lisburn, Bangor, and Dungannon.

The youngest is 15, and the eldest 72.

The group has an illustrious history.

There is an annual contest run by the North of Ireland Bands Association, in which bands from both sides of the border compete, and the Old Boys have been Irish champions about 20 times.

They have also performed for the UK-wide Proms, and once played at the Irish president's residence on the Twelfth at the invitation of Mary McAleese.

Alan Haworth, who plays the euphonium and has been in the band for 25 years, was one of the winning delegation to Holland on June 14.

Originally from England and now living in Banbridge, he said some of the playing had been “quite strenuous,” adding: “To say we’re delighted would be a gross understatement.

"There was a lot of leaping about, screaming, and giving people hugs and pats on the back, and that sort of stuff."

They all went out together afterwards, and “didn’t come back ‘til the sun was rising – which is a bit of an achievement for a man of 53”.