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|    |  |  Aulnay-Sous-Bois, France
By L/Cpl John Rowland
Friday 15th May saw the band leave for one of the much loved away trips, which included a long over night journey. Leaving Romford at around 23:30 that night, they made their way to Dover to get the ferry to France where a long trip lay ahead of them to Aulnay-sous-bois, a district of Paris.
The band arrived on the Saturday morning where they made their way to the gymnasium for breakfast and a quick freshen up before unloading the coach and getting changed. A quick warm up, which consisted of around 4 tunes, was undertaken in front of the other 4 bands watching, then all aboard the coach to the start point of the first parade.
All around the town of Aulnay were posters advertising the event. What the band wasn’t expecting that the largest picture on there to be that of BSM Katryna Durrant, Pvt Iain Peat and L/Cpl John Rowland!
The band’s formed up in the park where the parade was to set off from and all played one tune each to announce themselves. The band performed a rather new march, Sir John Moore March, which seemed to please the surrounding audience and officials.
After this, the parade set off with the band the last to start. However, the march turned out to be a rather stop start affair, mainly down to the slow progress being made by the Triumph Pipe Band from Coventry that was in front!!
The weather was rather warm for the occasion, so the chance to get a cooling drink was a much appreciated affair after this parade. A short break was had when the bands started to perform for the audience around, and then marching off back to the park where the whole thing began.
Lunch was very much enjoyed by all, but the highlight of the meal was when Pvt Matthew Perry’s chair collapsed from under him. The reason for this is unknown, but the laughter that rang around the dinner hall told the story well enough.
After lunch the band had a quick rehearsal of the routine which they were to perform back at the gymnasium, and then a rehearsal of Highland Cathedral alongside the above mentioned Triumph Pipe Band from Coventry and the Helsingor Pipegarde from Denmark. However, the practice turned out to be rather long after it was found out that the band had a different version to that played by the pipe band. However, after a few confusing moments, the problems were rectified and the practice concluded.The band were then taken to the next starting point for the march back to the gymnasium.
After the relatively short march, a long period of time was experienced between the end of that and the start of the performance in the gym. The band entered the hall to Royal Salute, a not so much popular but more well known tune of the band.
After a typical marching display, the band moved into concert formation for an interesting period of the display. During the rendition of Can’t Take My Eyes Off Of You, a number of people from the audience decided to leave their seats and start dancing on the arena!! Not something that is usually experienced on any of the “normal” shows that are taken on by the band! The audience also seemed to enjoy the solo performed by Pvt Iain Peat.
After this performance had concluded all the bands came back on for the muster and massed bands performance to conclude the show. After the finale, the crowd started calling for an encore, which was duly accepted. Pvt George Humphries also won an award for being the youngest participant in the show!
After the show, the band got changed and packed everything up so they could head off for dinner. However, this was delayed after one of the wheels on the trailer holding the band’s equipment decided to break! This ended up causing quite a bit of disruption while repairs were carried out on the streets of Aulnay. However, they did finally reach dinner, which was a rather nice Lamb Curry with an equally nice dessert.
With dinner now finished, and thoroughly enjoyed by most, the band headed off to their hotel for a well deserved shower and relaxation time. Some of the older members decided to venture out, like they normally do, only this time, yet again, the band from Coventry were waiting to welcome them.
Sunday morning was greeted by, under band standards, a lie in. The hotel rooms were emptied and the band headed off to spend some time in Boulogne. However, some drama occurred on the journey where L/Cpl John Rowland had thought he had lost his passport. Thankfully it was found down the side of his seat, though the embarrassment was to be seen all over his face.
The band made their way to Calais to begin the journey back to Romford, at which they arrived around the 20:00 mark. Yet again, another very enjoyable weekend was had by all. Aulnay has welcomed the band on many occasions, and after this weekend, it’s possible they will be welcoming the band back many times more.
Comments: 0 | posted by Iain in Band Shows on Tuesday 16 June 2009 - 13:41:32 
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