The Edge's Phil wins top prize at Brass in Concert 2010!

The Edge's award winning ways have fortunately been taken on by Phil Blake-Convey -the illustrious tuba-playing member of our Finance Team.

Having been the principal tuba player in the Welsh Guards for many years before joining the team at The Edge, Phil now spends his spare time playing with the Grimethorpe Colliery Band - probably the world's most famous brass band.

Most weekends Phil can be found performing with this amazing team somewhere in the UK - and he is justifiably proud of being part of a group with such an incredible history and accolade of achievements.  The band are the real heroes behind the film Brassed Off, a connection which Phil seems to have foretold by being part of the cast at the National Theatre when the stage show of the film had its world premiere in 1998.

Reinforcing its international reputation on both the concert and contest platform the band has just scooped the top prize at Brass In Concert 2010 at the Sage in Gateshead - winning the award for a record 15th time.  Grimethorpe's eclectic mix and match musical approach won the overall prize for ‘Quality of Performance' and saw them select a programme from Monterverdi, Verdi and Vivaldi to Bert Bacharach and Ennio Morricone all with an enhanced sense of style and a clever touch of ironic Grimethorpe humour - and they also picked up 3 other awards on the night!

Next year sees Phil off to play in the Sydney Opera House with the band, and we wish him all the best with his playing and send congratulations to the whole team at Grimethorpe. Well done! 

If you're interested at seeing Phil in action take a look at www.grimethorpeband.com where you will find full details of all their concerts - they could be appearing at a theatre near you!