The Rushden Echo, 17th October 1947, transcribed by Kay Collins
Rushden Temperance Band Euphonium Player Beat Them All - He is New Champion
Britain’s new euphonium champion is Mr. George W. Sayer, of Rushden Temperance Band. His wife and little daughter were among the first to congratulate him when he won the championship medal and £50 at Central Hall, Westminster, on Saturday.
Appearing in the "Daily Herald" all-Britain solo championships as winner of the London area qualifying contest, Mr. Sayer was tested against Arthur Doyle, last year's champion, and 13 other euphonium players—all winners or runners-up in the seven area eliminators.
He was tenth in the stand, and, with Mr. Harold Jaeger, of Wellingborough, as a very helpful accompanist, played "Carnival of Venice" with such mastery that Messrs. Frank Wright and J. A. Greenwood—two of the country's most famous adjudicators—marked him very high at 190. The runner-up was H. G. Mather, of Westhoughton. Each contestant chose his own test-piece.
Mr. Sayer had travelled to London with a coach-load of friends—most of them colleagues from the Temperance Band. Mr. William Scholes conductor of the "Temps," was there, and the whole party felt that Mr. Sayer had earned his honour by a genuinely outstanding performance. Mr. Arthur Doyle—now of Luton, and formerly with Munn and Felton's—was generous in his congratulations.
The "Temps'' were also represented in the contests by Mr. Ron Bennings, their principal trombone player, who, like Mr. Sayer has won many prizes for solo work.
Mr. Benning was runner-up in the trombone section of the London area qualifying contest, but failed to get a place on Saturday. He was drawn to play fourth, and his test-piece was "Send Forth the Call."
One Band Man
The euphonium champion lives at 6, Station Road, Rushden, and is a clicker in the employ of Messrs. Sanders and Sanders, boot manufacturers. His whole banding career has been spent with the "Temps" and a jubilee photograph of the band taken in 1926 and republished in last week's "Rushden Echo, and Argus," shows him as a small boy holding a tenor horn.
During the war he served in the R.A.F. There was no opportunity for him to join a Service band, but he kept in practice by helping civilian bands whenever possible.
Mr. Sayer entered last year's championships without success. On Saturday he received his prize from Sir George Dyson, Director of the Royal College of Music.
News of the victory will be received with special pleasure in Bermuda by Mr. Sayer's mother, who flew the Atlantic last week to visit another son, Mr. Ted Sayer, editor of the “Bermuda Gazette”.
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