Association with the Excelsior company lasted until 1973, after which the band reverted to its former and much respected name of Melingriffith. For a while, construction company George Wimpey provided rehearsal facilities at their office canteen in Newport Road.
During the long hot summer of 1976, the band (as Melingriffith once more) were again engaged by the BBC for an episode of the popular Welsh sitcom Fo a Fe. By coincidence, Ryan Davies once again played the bass drum, and this time the marching was real ... filmed outside Cardiff City Hall to the strains of T.J. Powell's "Castell Caerdydd".
Success continued in both the concert and contest fields, but with the lack of any sponsorship and the gradual loss of players to other bands, it became impossible to maintain the high standard of the Championship Section. After 45 years 'at the top', the band was relegated to the Second Section of the National Registry in 1977, and finally to the Fourth Section - a sad reflection of past glories.
The band returned to Whitchurch in the early 1980s at the invitation of the Community Centre, and rehearsed in the former Welsh School building on Old Church Road. When this was sold in 1988, the band moved to Tabernacle Chapel, Merthyr Road, where it remained for several years.