The Monmouthshire Merlin newspaper reported on 3rd September that after the band accompanied 40 coach loads of the ‘Tredegar Juvenile Excursion’ of the local Court Britannia to Hereford on the last weekend of August 1880, under conductor Mr Tom Hardy they then headed to Presteign in mid-Wales on the Wednesday to compete ‘...for the grand prize of £20 and a gold medal’.

It stated that; “...at four o’clock  in the afternoon a telegram was received by Captain Shepard announcing the gratifying intelligence that the coveted honors had been duly won by Mr. Hardy and his men, and that Mr. Brinley Richards had complimented the band on their excellent style of playing.

The news was received in the town with extreme pleasure by all classes.”

Confusion

It appears that there was also some confusion of the identity of the band, which according to Western Mail competed as the 1st Monmouth Rifle Corps (Tredegar), although it did add that the adjudicator Mr Brinley Richards ‘complimented them highly on the style of their playing, particularly the performance of Mr Hardy (cornet) and Mr W Davis (euphonium).’

However it did go on to state that; “The news was telegraphed to several friends in Tredegar, and the utmost satisfaction was expressed by the many supporters of the band, this being the sixth or seventh conquest; in fact they have never been defeated since Mr Hardy took the baton, and they fairly merit the title of the Tredegar prize band, by which they have been known for the past year or so.”