Since George wrote our article for the summer edition much has happened.
Festival
As always we had a great time at the Volunteer Band Festival in Portsmouth. We didn’t come away with any prizes, but we all enjoyed it greatly. The luck of the draw meant that we opened the afternoon concert. This meant that those of us that wanted to could enjoy watching all the other bands play, relaxed in the knowledge that our bit was over, whilst many of the Band nipped out for some shopping therapy. Not a shopaholic myself, I enjoyed listening to the bands and thought everyone produced a very good selection of music, although it has to be said that it became rather amusing that Pirates of the Caribbean was played so many times – I am sure the audience could easily have sung along with the final rendition. (We of course played it first.)
This year was the first time for a long while that our marching slot was late in the morning (in fact it was a rush to change for the concert and have time for lunch). However, the advantage of marching later is you have time for breakfast too! Being a fairly small band, and having a relatively high turn over of serving personnel, due to the nature of Northwood HQ, means that this year we had no Corps of Drums for the marching display. We were somewhat amused therefore to read the comments concerning our drum solos when the feedback arrived several weeks later. Perhaps the adjudicators felt we deserved a few points for effort. The festival now seems a distant memory and we are thinking of the next one.
Brize Norton – Party in the Park
Our first gig back after the summer break (with just two rehearsals, the week prior, to get back into the swing of things) was a concert to a large paying audience at RAF Brize Norton (much more fun than the usual bread and butter dinner gigs). Celebrating 70 years at Brize Norton, there was a whole afternoon of activities for local people and personnel from the base, including appearances from a number of other local bands. The day culminated with the Northwood Volunteer Band concert and fireworks. As this was an outdoor event, we were lucky with the weather (we were on a covered stage but the audience weren’t). However our meteorological personnel assured us that the cloud cover was very thin and it wouldn’t rain, and sure enough they were correct.
It was chilly by the evening but hot on the stage due to the lights. However, the heat might also have been something to do with the number of people on the stage. Our numbers had swelled significantly with the addition of players from HMS Heron, HMS Collingwood, HMS Ark Royal and even a few from the local RAF cadets. We ended up with nearly 60 players. Getting that number on a stage designed for nearer 30 was a challenge. I wouldn’t have been surprised to see the conductors, Dave (Northwood) and Dave (Heron), wearing safety harnesses in case they stepped back. However, all went well and no one fell off; not even the Dixie Band that had to play literally on the edge!
We finished the evening with Britannic Salute accompanied by fireworks, which the Band could hear and smell but not see. The encore was also Britannic Salute with more fireworks: we had 10 minutes of fireworks to use up! The crowd clearly enjoyed themselves, especially all the children running around in the footlights. The day raised £10,000 for charity so it was a success all round.
St Thomas Church Concert
In what has now become an annual event, we had agreed to a concert in aid of the ‘raising the roof’ fund for a local church. Things were going well until the week before the concert when Dave was summoned to go and play with Portsmouth Band in Rotterdam. To our rescue came WO2 Bdmr Ashley Williams from Portsmouth who led us through the rehearsal and the concert itself. Although we were rather short of players, compared to the Brize Norton gig, we still produced a good concert and Ash kept the audience very well amused between pieces. Overall, the evening was a great success: sorry Dave it seems you are not indispensable after all.
All Change in the Band Room
Here at Northwood HQ the Band rehearses in the community theatre, which also doubles as a playgroup facility, yoga class room, briefing room etc. For us, this means setting up and clearing away completely for each rehearsal. With a large band store and plenty of room on the stage for all the percussion, it has never been a problem. However, for some months the builders have been on site changing the landscape of Northwood HQ considerably. Each week we need to negotiate a new set of obstacles to get to rehearsal. Just like the sandcastle you build on the beach, we watched the waves get closer and closer… Eventually by October the bulldozers had finally reached us and the theatre is now a pile of bricks. However, all is not lost. We have a new sandcastle, having been relocated to another part of the site.
The new band room is in fact an old office building that has been given a complete revamp to make it into a temporary (18 months) combined space. Needless to say there were a few teething problems, but we have now settled into our new space and everyone can find their way to it to rehearse. There is a silver lining: up from the ashes of the old building a new fully equipped purpose built theatre is being erected.
Other news
In addition to the concerts, we have been taking part in our usual round of dinners. These included the more recent Trafalgar Night dinners. One of these sticks in my mind more than the others: at the end of the evening, during the singing of the sea shanties, the diners decided to set fire to the ships of the line along with the menus etc. Needless to say the wine had been flowing all evening and the diners were very merry. The worrying thing for us was that we were positioned right under the sprinkler system and as we watched the ships go up in flames and the smoke and smell of burning chocolate began to choke us, there were several worried glances upwards! Luckily we escaped without a soaking.
At another dinner (which shall remain a secret) Dave left us to set up while he was off on a recruiting drive: Our Corps of Drums problems may be about to be solved (fingers crossed). It seems this base had a Corps of
Drums without a band to march in front of – which, for Dave, was like finding buried treasure!
Also worth a mention is the gig that got away... mainly because at the recce it became apparent that the organisers only had room for a quartet, not a band. When it was politely pointed out that the drum kit alone would take up most of the space allocated, they suggested we played in another room further down the corridor (separate from the diners) and left the doors open so they could hear us! Needless to say that gig didn’t happen – they got a quartet instead.
Leavers and Joiners
Finally it falls to me to say a big thank you and very sad farewell to two of our players: Ash Charteris (flute) - gone to swell the ranks of HMS Heron Volunteer Band at RNAS Yeovilton, Ronnie Westerman (trumpet) and Dave Smith (trombone). We are delighted to welcome back to the fold: Ty Monks and Rob Watkinson, both on cornet.
Other joiners? Well as I write we have recently seen not one but two oboe players (a very elusive breed). Who knows, perhaps one or both will stay. We also wait with baited breath to see if Dave was successful in landing us a Corps of Drums; watch this space.
I think that about covers it from our end, happy playing!
Penny
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Last updated May 2008
