Musn Carter in her practice room
Monday
The week started off as usual with a delightful PT session at 7.30 to start the day. After recovering from PT the familiar sounds of instruments echoed round Gibraltar Block. Today was the day of my very first saxophone recital and the nerves were starting to kick in! I had a rehearsal with Prof Douglas at 1045 which went quite well putting me at ease. 1245 came around very quickly after that and it was onto the performance. I was last in the line-up of 4, following Musn Clark on flute, Musn Allen on Sax and Musn Burton on cornet, all went well.
Musn Carter in her practice room
Tuesday
The day began with freshly ironed sheets, the smell of polish and constant sounds of the Hoover up and down the corridor. Tuesdays are a busy day for myself, having 2 Prof lessons and choir practice. I had a flute lesson with Prof Karen Evens at 1045. At the moment we are working towards my grade 8 exams which I will be taking later this term. At 1230 we had choir and started to look at the songs we will be performing on our Open Day. Then at 1330 I had a saxophone lesson with Jimmy Hastings. The day finished at 2000 after a concert band rig up for the Alton gig on Thursday.
Wednesday
Parade Band was cancelled due to our annual hearing tests taking place, a break from the norm and a chance of a lie in was welcomed by most. After stand easy we had a Jazz class with WO1 Bandmaster Gavin Martin, this is a weekly occurrence, for those who are interested, teaching the basics of Jazz cords and improvisation. For Recreational Training today we did Athletics competion for Nelson, overall we did quite well with 7 individuals winning medals and as a whole we came 2nd in the competition.
Some of the girls relaxing during stand easy
Thursday
The morning started off with a 4 mile run around Southsea, the perfect way to start the day. The day started as usual but at dinner time it was into smart civvy clothing to set off to Alton for a Concert Band gig. The evening was a great success, as the crowd happily tapped their feet during the usual finale of Land of Hope & Glory and of course A Life on the Ocean Wave, the Regimental March. It was back to Nelson on the coach after enjoying the hospitality at a local fire station… many thanks to our hosts.
Friday
The day began with Parade Band in the Concert Hall, (as it was raining). Today
we were rehearsing two new marches in preparation for our Open Day. The day
carried on as usual with everyone tired from the previous evening. We all got
secured at 1500 due to the concert the night before. That evening there was
a wind quintet performing at Haslar, which I heard went very well.
The weekend came around quite quickly and some of Training Company were off
on long weekend, due to a Fanfare gig next week. The majority of the rest of
us went across to Plymouth to help celebrate the engagement of Musn Laura David
and Bug Don Johnson. Congratulations to the happy couple.