Chester Lions Club names Bland music competition winners

The Bland Music Scholarship Contest, sponsored by the Chester Lions Club was held March 1 at Chester Baptist Church. Twelve students competed for prizes of two $100 U.S. savings bonds for first place and two $50 saving s bonds for second place.

The competition included vocal and instrumental pieces. First-place winners will advance to the Lions District competition, to be held 2 p.m. April 19 at Immanuel Baptist Church in Colonial Heights. The final, state competition will be held in May at the Virginia Lions state meeting at Tyson's Corner, with a first-place prize of a $2,500 scholarship.

The Chester Lions Club has been sponsoring the Bland music competition for many years. The contest helps music students and honors James A. Bland, a distinguished black composer best known for the song, "Carry Me Back to Ole Virginny", which until recently had been the Virginia state anthem.

Winners were :