Torquay 2008
2008 West of England Regional Championship - Torquay 8th March 2008
On Friday 7th March the members of MSB travelled to Torquay by Coach to our favourite haunt in Torquay, the Frognel Hall Hotel. Steve and Helen Marks, our hosts for the weekend were as ever on the ball and providing for our every need.
The Coach certainly wasn’t the best from the fleet, with seemingly no rear suspension and a heater system jammed on full. Our usual driver Geoff, however maintained a strict tempo and got us there in time for Dinner (just!), though our Eb Bass player had to sprint to the bathroom on arrival to pray to the great white God.
Saturday morning saw a quick warm up at 8:30 while we waited for the draw at 9:00. We were drawn at number 3, not the greatest position, and one that meant we had to pack up and load the coach immediately. On arriving at the Riviera Centre we were allocated changing room number three so the cynical ones presumed that we would also come 3rd.
The performance itself started shakily as stage fright took over but settled down to produce an overall satisfactory performance, but not as good as we had achieved in rehearsal. When the results were announced we came a credible 4th but 4 Bars Rest seem to indicate that we could have won this one and said the following in it's commentry:
“It doesn’t matter at what level of banding Melvin White conducts, he always manages to produce a musical, if not flawless performance from his troops, and on Saturday morning it was the turn of Michelmersh Silver. The reading was one of the best of the contest, but it was little clips and blobs that took the edge off them finishing higher than fourth place. The clips were unforced and whilst the band can take delight for finishing in the top four, perhaps they’ll still be thinking, ‘if only’.”
When the maths was done it also looks like we will be promoted to the 1st Section, so all in all a great result even though we won’t be appearing in Harrogate at the finals.
After the excitement of the day we returned to the hotel to drink the bar dry, another contest day tradition. Unusually this year we were sharing the hotel with another group from Wales, celebrating a 70th Birthday Party, and our worries of a raucous brass band spoiling their stay were soon dissipated as we realised that they were noisier than us. However we tested their resolve on the last night where the entire Band drew lots for instruments and then proceeded to perform an impromptu performance of the test piece. A truly memorable and painful experience for all involved, but one which saw our Conductor, Melvin White roaring with laughter. Jo Dobson, an awesome Cornet player proved that Conducting was beyond her and proceeded to wave her baton in large circles, confusing even the best of players. |
