September2000.htm

2000: BTB Year in Review Part III - A New Beginning

September:

The first weekend of September was a very important one for the band, as it saw the culmination of months of planning for our Silver Jubilee Reunion. The evening went very well indeed, with over 100 friends and players both past and present turning up, and the main hall decorated with special balloons and a large display of photos from the past 25 years - in some cases showing an alarming array of hair-dos and trouser-styles! After a short concert from the present-day band, there was an excellent buffet dinner and a chance to catch up with faces from years gone by, before everyone was unceremoniously shepherded back to the hall for a barn dance. A most amusing video was taken of some of this, which hopefully we'll be able to get some clips from to put up on the site (password-protected of course, in case any innocent children stumble across it without realising what it is). Thanks to Karen W. for taking on most of the organising, Sandra and team for the catering, the Isle of Oxney band for persuading us to make fools of ourselves through the medium of dance, the balloon lady (whose name escapes me, sorry!) for offering us the chance to enjoy squeaky-voiced helium-fuelled antics at the end of the evening, the Legion (as ever) for the bar, and Bob and team for the venue. Oh, and to everyone that came along and conspired to make it such an enjoyable evening for everyone.

The band was due to play our final Battle bandstand concert of the year the afternoon after the reunion, so we decided, as part of our silver jubilee clebrations, that it would be nice for any ex-players who fancied it to bring their instruments along and join us. Especially as several of them still play elsewhere in the country and don't get a chance to visit these parts very often. The end result was a very crowded bandstand as, consequently, somewhere in the vicinity of forty players, many unrehearsed (not that it sounded any different to normal...), sat down to play. One particularly reluctant trombonist (oh, if only all trombonists were thus) was even shamed into participating despite only having come along to watch. Well, Liam mate, if you were silly enough to bring your trombone along and hope to get away with it...

September saw the band bid farewell to one of its best servants of recent years, as Karen Wells jetted off to the remotest possible region of Pakistan for two years. Having gone to Africa in a previous attempt to escape the clutches of the band (and evidently not found it to be distant enough), Karen is to be training local teachers in and around the himalayan town of Chitral as part of a VSO placement. With a bit of luck (and patience, knowing the electricity supply there) she will read this page from time to time, so we would like to take the opportunity to thank her for all she has done for the band, as committe member and librarian, and in organising the 25th anniversary celebrations almost single-handed (out of stubborness though, might I add!).

September is also the month in which we say goodbye to our University-types. This year Phil (D), Chris (Mills), Ruth (M) and Simon were also joined by Natalie, Stuart and Chloe. Our thanks go to them for their help over recent times, and we look forward to seeing them at Christmas. The band also lost its Principal Horn, Rachel, who we wish well in her future career. Further to this, to add to our list of absent Repiano players, Phil Attrill went off to America for the near future, although we hope to see him back upon his return. Or else we're gonna send the boys round to see to him. Right?

With this outflux of players, we had to play our traditional Autumnal game of musical chairs. September saw two players "promoted" from our youth band to win their first senior caps (Alex on trombone, and Jonathan to join our already "award-winning" bass section). David Gullick, long-haired nutter, screaming trumpeter (another Chris Willard. Doh!), and long-term associate of the band, also joined, having graduated and moved back to the area. He is currently playing Rep, although we will probably have three Rep players coming back at Christmas! To round things off, former principal horn Darren "Choochy-Face" Pelling was spotted from time to time, loitering in the shadows of the second horns, and Claire Mitchell was promoted to the Principal Horn seat.