2000: BTB Year in Review Part III - A
New Beginning
August:
- It was all change in the Commitment
League! Summer holidays and youth music tours took their toll on various
band members, all of which allowed "Chairman Ron" to snatch Stuart's
"Mr Committed" mantle. This, of course, gave him the age-old right,
as the current top-of-the-points man, to paint the roof of his car silver
for a month. Russell (who had boasted at the beginning of the year that he
was sure to win) thus found himself 6 points adrift and consequently decided
to get up at 4 in the morning one Saturday to drive to Somerset, just so he
didn't miss Friday's rehearsal and drop 3 more vital points. I'm not sure
if this is exciting proof of the Commitment League's hold on us all, or just
very sad. Or both.
- News
surfaced that hostess-with-the-mostess Kirsty would not be able to match last
year's spectacular gin-quaffing effort at the band BBQ, as she is pregnant
again. Congratulations to Kirsty, Chris and Jake from
us all! It's good to see other players are helping to keep future band
numbers growing since Karen Kemp's well-deserved retirement from the task...
- Catsfield
Fête....aaaahhh...Catsfield Fête. Our traditional
first weekend in August once again proved the old French saying "le plus
ça change". Although on the surface it all seemed the same
as every year, in fact many things were so different...my miserable failure
to win a coconut on the coconut shy..."Mr Whippy" man Stuart's success
on the very same sideshow (hrumph)...Paul's inability to throw/wang a wellington
boot...the meek general acceptance of the cake stall's lack of carrot cake...the
soprano-playing stand-in gimp for the "Two Imps" xylophone
duet...Phil's newly-dyed hair causing extreme finger-waggling-elderly-relative
embarrassment in front of the whole band...I could go on...sorry, I am aren't
I? Thanks to Penny for helping out, and also to Youth Band players Alex and
Jonathan, who we hope to be seeing more of soon. As soon as I can find some
embarrassing photos of them in actual fact.
- Once
again, the Willard household played host to the famed BTB band barbecue. Following
last year's oh-no-we're-out-of-proper-beer horror, the decision was made to
upgrade the real ale supply from thirty pints to a thirst-quenching full barrel
of seventy odd pints. Despite some notable absentees, the seven or so who
were drinking it performed admirably, leaving only a few pints to be finished
off later in the week. Consequently, my bathroom-redecoration skills were
put to the test, and although others thought otherwise, personally I thought
it was quite tastefully done. As in recent years, an enormous fry-up was consumed
the next morning by the "sleeping-bag crew" (and Russell, who insisted
on getting a "real" bed. Great big girl's blouse).
- Bank Holiday Monday saw the band making our
now-traditional visit to Hever Castle in Kent. Now, this is seemingly considered
the height of navigational difficulty, as although we have now played there
several times, there is always one car-load that arrives having got themselves
lost. Not that I'm saying that (just picking names at random here, you understand)
Chloe and Stuart would ever have a problem on this front. No, I expect that
they were passing fellow band members going the other way through the lanes
of Kent for some other reason...and to claim that any form of heated discussion
may have taken place between the two of them as a result of this would almost
certainly be unfair. Would it not? The pre-performance picnic was further
enhanced this year by the presence of the remainder of the beer from the BBQ,
which was handy. Unfortunately most of the band now know the water-maze like
the back of their hand, so the usual soaking-wet-uniform efforts from the
likes of Olau/Simon looked to be unlikely. But thankfully being dry was not
to be an option for very long, as the middle set of the afternoon was wiped
out by the weather, and we all got somewhat damp. Great.
September
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