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|    |  |  Tiel Taptoe 2009, Tiel, Netherlands By L/Cpl John Rowland
Another weekend and yet another European show for the band and corps of drums. This year is turning out to be a much travelled one after shows in Aulnay-sous-Bois and Saint Quentin, both in France, during May. Now it was Holland’s turn to host the band over the weekend of the 5th – 7th June.
The band set out from Romford at a slightly more respectable time of 22:30 to catch the ferry to Dover. A very smooth crossing was followed by a 4 hour journey to Tiel, of which the band spent most of the time sleeping, or trying to.
During the weekend, the accommodation wasn’t of the normal variety, which is usually a Formula One “hotel”, or hostel, but the band hall of a local band, KTSM, within Tiel who had organised the event. After being met at the hall by leaders of the aforementioned band, breakfast was served, which in traditional European style, wasn’t exactly what a lot of the band had hoped for.
The coach was unloaded and sleeping arrangements carried out, then the band had an hour’s free time to do what they pleased. Many spent the time wisely cleaning their equipment, while Band Director Ian Yeoman and Drum Major Sam Jepson went off to discuss the finer points of the days programme.
The first task of the day was to perform a short march to the arena where the band would be performing later in the day. The weather was ideal for the situation, nice cloudy sky and a calm breeze, though the refreshments that were on offer at the end were very much appreciated.
Then came what the event organisers had called a “tour of the city”. Of course, this turned out to be a lovely 2 hour march, in which the band stopped and started and had a number of pictures taken. During the march, in the city centre, the band performed a short “concert” for officials watching which pleased and entertained the watching crowd.
The band continued on their march, and march they did! Numerous occasions during the march the band wanted to stop and go back, but they carried on and performed to their usual high standards to the very end. The “tour” ended at an elderly people’s home where a short concert was performed for their enjoyment. For this, a reward of some light refreshment was given, which very much appreciated at this point.
It was now time for dinner, and it was an odd occasion as normally, dinners provided aren’t to most people’s taste. This one however was very nice indeed. The menu consisted of freshly made soup with vegetables and meatballs for starter which was followed by chicken curry with boiled rice. It was enjoyed so much that many of the band decided that they wanted seconds, for both courses!!
After dinner, a quick rehearsal of what the band would be performing was undertaken before making their way to the arena for the evening’s tattoo. The show consisted of 3 performances. The first was a short 10 minute show just after the beginning which consisted of a simple march round, to reflect the bands military style, of which they were the only true type in appearance. The second show was a longer 20 minute appearance which consisted of a short marching display, and then a couple of concert pieces. What was to follow, however, was not expected.
After Aulnay-sous-Bois, it seemed that things could not get any stranger when performing concert pieces. During a rendition of Can’t Take My Eyes Off Of You, many members of the Aulnay audience decided to get up and dance. Little did the band realise, that the same would happen yet again in Tiel. During Hey Baby, in which the drummers perform the well known dance routine from the 21st Century cover, a number of the audience joined in. Then, after finishing and getting ready to march off to Louie, Louie, the crowd started chanting for an encore and began to sing Hey Baby. Now encores are nothing new to the band, but for a crowd to start singing as well, that is something completely new. So it was decided to give the crowd exactly what they wanted and duly proceeded to march off to Hey Baby.
The band had a short break, in which some rather gluttonous members went to get some snacks, before returning for the final muster. This included a rendition of Abide With Me, a solo bugle piece, and the playing of the British and Dutch national anthems. For the band, only God Save The Queen was needed, which gave a much needed rest to many cornet players!
So the show was now concluded, but of course a show is never a show without an after show party and that is exactly what was laid on afterwards, with music provided by one of the other guest bands.
After this, the band made their way back to their accommodation where they had their own celebrations to enjoy, for the weekend was also Quartermaster Frank Yeoman’s 73rd birthday and Bert Waite’s 80th birthday. Needless to say, for once the band as a whole had a rather late night.
Sunday morning entailed a slightly early wake up call, though not as early as is normally suffered! After breakfast, and very warm thank you to the bands hosts, it was time to make the way home to Romford. A short stop off in Belgium at a chocolate making factory and then the rest of the journey to Calais was all that stood in the way of the band and getting back to England. Well, that was until the band reached Calais and saw the rather long queue of coaches waiting at HM Customs. By the time the band had got through, the queue had grown to over double the length of that of which they joined.
Yet another rather smooth crossing and the band were back on home soil and on their way to Romford.
Yet again, another thoroughly enjoyable trip for all that went, which was made even better by the very warm reception given by their hosts, and the very enjoyable food that was received. For certain, this is one of the shows that the band would love to do again and again.
Comments: 0 | posted by Iain in Misc on Tuesday 16 June 2009 - 13:43:56 
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