Fodens conducted by Russell Gray take the North West Area Championship in Blackpool on 10th March 2002. This is the fourth time in five years that the trophy has returned to Sandbach. In 2nd place, just one point behind, was last years winners Williams Fairey conducted by Howard Snell.

John Barber, Russell Gray, Pete Coulson & Morvern Gilchrist

Paul Taylor, Adrian Morris and John Barber

Full results were as follows.

Place	Name of Band	Conductor	Points	Draw
1st	Fodens	R. Gray	197	4
2nd	Williams Fairey	H. Snell	196	10
3rd	Leyland	G. Cutt	194	7
4th	Besses o' th' Barn	L. Nicholson	193	1
5th	Wingates	B. Hurdley	191	6
6th	Haydock Ogden Travel	I. Brownbill	190	8
7th	Marple	J. Cant	189	11
8th	Freckleton	P. Dalton	188	3
9th	BT	M. Fowles	185	2
10th	Longridge	S. Booth	182	5
11th	Mossley	J . Davies	180	9
-	Todmorden Old	D. Hadfield	-	Withdrawn

Test Piece: Whitsun Wakes by Michael Ball
Adjudicator: Roy Newsome (Adjudicators remarks for Fodens)

A Proud Conductor

Helen Tyler

Fodens, Williams Fairey, Leyland and Besses o' th' Barn will represent the North West Area at the National Championships in the Royal Albert Hall on 19th October 2002.