Format:	Set Test and Own Choice
Test Piece:	Nabucodonosor - Overture [unknown arranger]
Adjudicators:	J. Francis Cottier , Mr Green , W. W. Woodhams
Venue:	Peel Park, Bradford, West Yorkshire

Position	Band	Conductor	Music	Set Test Draw
1	Halifax Rifle Corps	Unknown		4
2	Dewsbury	Unknown		1
3	Heckmondwike Albion	Unknown		10
4	Baildon	Unknown		9
5	Dodsworth's (Bradford)	Unknown		7
5	Batley Operatic	Unknown		8
	Farnley Temperance	Unknown		2
	Deighton	Unknown		3
	Bramley Temperance	Unknown		5
	Cleckheaton	Unknown		6

See
http://www.ibew.org.uk/misc4286.htm

11 bands entered, 1 withdrew.

In contrast to previous contests, this was a single contest comprising both a test-piece and an own-choice operatic selection.

3 August 1861
Band Contest - Peel Park, Bradford
Another of these trials of musical skill, now so popular, took place in Peel Park, Bradford. The money prizes offered by the Park Committee amounted to £50, And a patent silver-mounted cornet, manufactured by Messrs. Townend and Son, of Tyrrel-street, Bradford, was presented by that firm to be contended for on the same occasion. Eleven bands had been registered as competitors, and ten of them appeared on the field of melodic rivalry. These were: No. 1, Dewsbury band - No. 2, Farmley Temperance; No. 3, Deighton; No. 4, Halifax Rifle Corps; No. 5. Bramley Temperance; No. 6, Cleckheaton; No. 7, Dodsworth's (Bradford); No. 8, Batley Operatic; No. 9, Baildon; No. 10, Heckmondwike Albion. In the order in which their names are here given, each band played the overture to "Nebuchadnezzar" (Verdi), after which they performed operatic selections of their own choosing; and at the close of the contest there was a simultaneous and very effective performance by the united bands of "Rule Britannia," the "Hallelujah" chorus from the "Messiah," and "God save the Queen." Mr. Brown, chairman of the Peel Park Committee, in announcing the decisions of the judges, said they were very highly pleased with the whole of the performances, and were sorry that each band could not get a prize. They commended Nos. 7 and 8, namely Dodsworth's (Bradford) and Batley bands, and awarded the prizes as follows: 1st prize (£20) to the Halifax rifle corps band, who also received the patent silver-mounted cornet given by Messrs. Townend and Son. Second prize (£15), Dewsbury band. Third prize (£10), Heckmondwike Albion band. Fourth prize (£5), Baildon band. The report of the awards was received with loud cheers, both on the part of the bands and the audience generally. The judges of the competition were Mr. Green, professor of music, and bandmaster of the Blue Coat Hospital, Liverpool; Mr. Woodhams, bandmaster of the North York rifle corps, Richmond; and Mr. Cottier, bandmaster, Liverpool. The last-named gentleman conducted the performance by the combined bands at the termination of the contest. Several professional musicians pronounced the meeting to be one of the best of the kind they ever attended, and one of them expressed his opinion that the playing was superior to that at the recent brass band contest at the Crystal Palace. The members of the Bradford Rifle Corps assembled in the park the same afternoon, and were engaged in battalion drill, with firing of blank cartridge, during a portion of the time occupied by the musical combat, so that the attention of the visitors was occasionally divided between the two. The weather was unfavourable, and that circumstance caused the attendance to be more limited than it otherwise would have been.