Downton Band At The New Forest Show or Where There’s Muck There’s Brass
The day dawned bright and early on Tuesday 25th July as another New Forest Show came into being. This year the marquee was almost palatial ensuring that the euphonium section was not for once wrapped around part of the support structure and that we had room for the basses and a huge plethora of percussion to give Paul Williams room to create. The New Forest Plonkers were back with their own particular brand of music, humour and cider and with a vastly improved brass section! Unfortunately our esteemed baton twirler Mr Roland Wright could not make it on the first day and so we had the pleasure of Lloyd Bartlett who did a fantastic job and bravely led the band through some of the trickiest repertoire with his musical flair and panache. The first day ended with the traditional repair to the beer tent and then the return to the camp site for those lucky participants in Paul William’s stag extravaganza.
The Wednesday arrived strangely after the Tuesday in much the same way. Roger Robinson stepped up for a spot of baton twirling and commanded the band admirably through the morning. The stags turned up looking suspiciously clear headed and eyed ready for another day in the fray- their selflessness is legendary. Yet again we impressed the crowd with our Downton Band classic and a few old faves thrown in. Gary wowed us and the audience with his Georgia and the horn section thrilled Ian Alexander with their marvellous performance of Born Free (from the top no less!) I’m sure he’ll take that memory home with him!!
At this point I must highlight the fact that unusually for your esteemed correspondent she made almost no entry into the beer tent due to her advancing baby creating status and so I can only speculate on the jolly japes and jokes that ensued in the Commoners Drift. I think it was so warm that most people did not have their own body weight in beer but I know that John Collar had a logical method for working through all his favourite beers and still being able to read the music. Maybe my absence stunned the band so much they turned away from the demon drink but I think not somehow!!
Roland eventually arrived at lunchtime and he took up the baton with gusto despite the Plonkers still announcing him as Roger Robinson initially. The afternoon ended with everyone melting from the heat and Streeter requesting Hootenanny for the second day in a row (why oh why oh why?)
On Thursday we all arrived bright eyed and bushy tailed to be told that Beavis was still dressing on the campsite before he drove the van over. This was quite reassuring and also frustrating as he had all the band gear, but I think we can all agree that a naked Beavis with his banding equipment would be too much of a shock at that hour of the morning
The final day heralded a cast of banding thousands – a trombone section that sounded like 76 trombones, Brian Easterbrook on 1st horn ( I think he enjoyed himself but it was quite hard to tell), a really bolstered up cornet section and Jonathan Camps flitting between cornet and percussion adding his own particular brand of magic wherever he was. You can always tell with the first piece what the band is going to be like and the word for that day was ‘Gercha!’ The crowd embarked on a rollercoaster of banding emotion as we thrilled them with Breezing Down Broadway, calmed them with Dear Lord and Father of Mankind and confounded them completely with Swing Low Fantasy where half the band played it at a different speed to the other half but it still finished at the same time – weird! The horn section swapped top tips with each other and I think we all agreed that swapping 1st and 3rd valves may work on a cornet but does not appear to have the same restorative effect on a horn!! The Plonkers wreaked their revenge towards the end of the day by requesting Perfect Day (thank you Bernaerts) but at least we managed to avoid Hootenanny for the third day in a row.
These three days would not have been possible without the vast amount of help from our local banding chums and so thank you to all the players below for their support, camaraderie and general good humour.
Lloyd Bartlett
Paul Williams ( hope the wedding went just as you wanted it to)
Ian Alexander
Martin Easterbrook
Mark Pye ( Amparito Roca – legendary)
Richard King
Mike Davis
Keith Morgan
Denis Upshon
Paul Street ( don’t switch those valves)
Laura Hillman
Dave Shelley
Richard Taylor ( The Star forever)
Jan Boler
Richard Boler
Remus Sawyer
Brian Easterbrook ( definitely don’t switch those valves)
Brad Sturgess
Babs Camps
Jonathan Camps
Scott Stewart
Andy Carter
Here’s to the New Forest Show 2007 !