THESE players are amateurs in name only. Blowing in on Sunday with guest conductor Phil Chalk, they breezed through a multi-coloured programme with versatility and panache.

Straight off the launch-pad of JJ Richards’ march, The Waltonian, the band tackled Berlioz’s swashbuckling overture Le Corsaire. For the cornets this was a display of astounding unanimity at lightning speed.

Kenny Baker’s Virtuosity gave principal cornet Stuart Lingard an opportunity to demonstrate exactly that. Four of his colleagues followed suit in Ronald Binge’s close-harmony, Mantovani-style Cornet Carillon. In contrast, Queen’s song Innuendo evoked plenty of flamenco flair.

The highlight of the evening came in Cornishman Goff Richards’s Demelza – named after the much-loved character in Poldark – where Sheona White showed why she is arguably the best tenor horn in the business. Her controlled legato, allied to creamy tone, was breathtaking.

John Ireland’s Elegy was smoothly delivered, although it was a pity we could not have heard A Downland Suite in full. A Strauss march and Rossini’s La Danza opened the second half, before the temperature slackened. Even so, Nicholas Brodszky’s Be My Love brought out the best in David Belshaw’s euphonium.

A springy Rondo A La Turk and the march from Respighi’s Pines of Rome reignited the band’s customary fire. Chalk was an efficient conductor if less effective as compere. He omitted The Land of the Mountain and the Flood, promised in these pages last week. Those minor disappointments apart, it was an evening to relish.