A BRASS band will be hoping to make plenty of noise after winning a major tournament and making it through to a national final.

Brunel Brass fought off 13 other bands to scoop the top prize in the West of England Championships, winning the first section competition at the Riviera Centre, in Torquay, last weekend.

The 14 entries had to play Bertrand Moren’s Mountain Views to a panel of judges, who were unable to see the band performing and awarded marks anonymously.

It was the band’s fourth major win in five years and comes after they won the second tier national crown last September.

They will now wait for the test piece for this year’s national final in Cheltenham in September, where they will compete against professional bands in the top tier first section.

Band chairman Matthew Walton said: “It’s amazing – we are still in shock really. We absolutely played a blinder.

“We went into it hoping for a top six finish and to get first was unbelievable – and the judges said when they announced it that it was by some way too.

“We were drawn as number 13 and as they read out the top six we were getting more and more nervous.”

Mr Walton said the band was now looking forward to taking on national challengers and continuing their success.

He said: “From next year we will be in the championship section, competing against bands from all over, including the really well-known bands like Flowers, Woodfalls and Mount Charles.

“To come from essentially division four at the start to the equivalent of the Premier League this year is incredible.

“We have got to look at that section and see if we can compete with them.

“We’ll have to be careful not to put too much pressure on the youngsters.”

Adjudicator Jim Davies said: “They were excellent – so well directed.

“There was some lovely balanced playing on show. They were a clear and well deserved winner.”