Didn’t we have a lovely trip the day we went to Bridgend? or Downton Band goes abroad (look out Wales)
The day dawned bright and full of promise. The first hurdle of the morning was skilfully jumped when the Wilts and Dorset coach turned up on time. The band loaded up the vast array of percussion equipment, uniforms, instruments and, most importantly, supporters and we set off to spread the Downton musical word – next stop Bridgend or possibly Chippenham depending on the state of the second horn’s bladder.
Certain of our number were travelling up separately - Simon and Flic!? Matt working on a Saturday Chiverton, John and Mrs Owlett. Certain of our number were unavoidably absent – John Collar and his musical appendicitis, Marcus and his glandular fever, Keith and his relaxed holiday vibe, Andy Whitlock and his angle grinder carnage. It sounds more like an episode of Holby City than a band trip.
Just over the bridge, as we mused on the fact that they charge you to get into Wales, we liaised with our new soprano erstwhile solo cornet player. At last all seemed right with the world. Bring on the Holiday Inn Express.
On arrival we booked in and realised that we were all incredibly near reception. Was this because we were navigationally challenged or that they thought we could annoy each other later with our excessive drinking noise rather than the older couples and family groups who were also staying there.
After a quick wash and brush up we boarded the coach once more and set off following our choir link Keith to our concert venue. This went swimmingly until we forgot what car we were supposed to be following- still nothing that a seven point turn over a humpback bridge couldn’t solve!
We arrived at the venue to find a huge sports hall with some very strange acoustics which made us sound impressive and solitary all at the same time. Finally the horn section seemed to be blowing loudly enough – wonders will never cease. The back row cornet section seemed to have come over all professional – had Woodfalls infiltrated our band once more?
We leapt aboard the coach and returned to change for the concert with a mere hour to turn ourselves around. Downton Band had never moved so fast.
As we returned to the venue the audience was gathering – the blue rinse and blazer factor was quite high but they seemed generally feverish with excitement as they prepared for their evening of top quality entertainment. We identified the choir members, not by their fine voices initially but by their exceptional dinner suit wearing talent and the hazy memory of just how much they could drink.
We walked to the stage full of anticipation with the audience clapping us on – oh how we hoped we could live up to their expectation! The first piece Cortège from Mlada rang out impressively and we rose to the occasion magnificently. The Beatles medley went well – Roland was genuinely impressed with the horn section – what an evening! The choir performed a whole series of male voice choir classics with their particular brand of talent, humour and sheer brilliance. As they sang the hairs on the back of our necks were tempted to stand up! The euphonium solo rang out and was almost flawless despite Fred taking several run ups to get that perfect breath. The first half finished with a performance of Diamond Heritage which went surprisingly well and did not recreate the last time we played it – the trombones came in at the right tine and everything.
Highlights of the second half were numerous – the choir hit new high spots and the band triumphed with some marvellous brass band moments – who can forget our Marches On Parade? The choir presented us with an amazingly intricate present which evoked the mining heritage of the area and must have taken hours of painstaking craftsmanship. We responded with a Salisbury paperweight – you can never have too many paperweights I say.
As the dying notes of All that Jazz faded and we took our final bows, our thoughts turned to the bar (obviously) and the rather fine buffet that had been set up. Over the next few hours, much beer and food was consumed while the choir ran through their vast menu of entertaining songs. Even Pete Jung stepped up to the plate with his uncanny impression of his own father. How proud were we? Gazza showed why he has never applied for the X factor but made up for the lack of tune with his sheer naked enthusiasm – oops sorry bad use of naked. Even Dave the bus joined in with a rendition of Johnny Be Good. The evening was rip-roaring and yet quite surreal – Simon and Flic chose to play with the kids and missed it all – ho hum!
We repaired back to the hotel with several rousing choruses of Yogi and a member of the choir who allowed himself to be kidnapped. On our return we realised that we had a veritable treasurer trove of snacks and booze which we proceeded to drink our way through until the early hours. Our welsh kidnappee showed his tender romantic side by whispering various swear words down the phone to his other half. As the wee small hours approached and then passed I retired to my bed with only my bump and a bottle of Shloer for company, oh and the lovely principal euphonium player. The rest of the reprobates stayed up for another couple of hours – I can only predict what
happened then but I believe that our Welsh chum became progressively more lairy and disorientated and required a bit of sorting from various members of the band who can hold their drink – Thank you Dave!
The morning arrived with everyone looking surprisingly bright eyed and bushy tailed. After a very civilised breakfast we packed up and boarded the coach once more bound for the rugby club. This was a ramshackle olde-worlde weird sort of a building that had some sort of charm and the worst toilets I have seen in a long time. The quota of choir members who made the morning was rather than smaller than expected but we ran through some classic band and choir numbers before attacking the buffet and reminiscing about past band tours. Some of the band recognised the décor as being original seventies.
As the afternoon wore on we said our farewells and boarded the coach for our return trip. The coach wended its way home with the band pleasantly well-oiled and dreaming of the next leg of this strangely fulfilling exchange.
Thanks to all our deps for their marvellous contribution to the weekend – Terry, Josie, Streeter, Martin, Mike,
Thanks to our newest member Dave – oh how you have settled into the groove seamlessly.
A huge well done to the whole band and particularly Danny for his organisation of the weekend and a great big Welsh thank you to the choir for making us feel so welcome. See you next year!