The Band took to the contest stage as a Third Section band for the first time in its history on 10 February 2002 at the GBBA Entertainment Contest. This contest was held at the Royal Forest of Dean College and was an open contest with all of the 14 bands entered playing against each other whatever their grading with prizes also being awarded to the top three from each section. Due to the recent departure of our principal cornet and insufficient time to register Sue, our new tutti cornet, we took the stage with an under strength cornet front row. However, a fantastic performance by George Raggatt and Sue Musto on the day and a consistent performance by the band saw us finish 2nd in our section to Ynshire Band from Wales and beating West of England rivals Portishead.  Overall we finished a creditable 9th in the contest which featured First and Second section competition.