Harrogate: The Story

The band is celebrating winning third prize at the National Finals after a fantastic weekend to remember in Harrogate.

The inevitable mix of nerves and excitement were fully evident on Saturday morning as the band assembled for one final rehearsal before embarking on the 300 mile journey north. With the rehearsal over and the coach fully loaded with band members, supporters, instruments and the contents of Fiona and Adrian’s fridge, we bid farewell to Sidmouth at about 11:30am. If Sunday was to be all about the contest, then Saturday was all about the second most important competition of the weekend – Martin’s quiz. In what was a closely fought battle between the two teams at the back of the coach, it was Basses Minus One that clinched victory over the perhaps slightly over competitive Team Gnu. United in their victory, this moment was to be the beginning of a special bond between team leaders Steve and Graham that would only grow in strength over the course of the next two days. With the likes of the quiz, a DVD and a highly intellectual game of Scrabble (just how many points is it for rat, Gemma?) to keep us entertained, we had soon arrived at our hotel in the centre of Harrogate.

After a relaxing but low key evening on Saturday, come Sunday morning the band were up and raring to go, despite knowing that we had a fairly long day ahead of us. With the draw for our section not until 1:30pm, we got back on the coach and headed a few miles out of town to the bandroom of the Tewit Youth Band. Equal to the impressiveness of the actual bandroom itself was the impressiveness of the fantastic ‘good luck’ cake that had been made for us by Emily, a member of Tewit Youth Band who comes and plays with the band when on holiday in Sidmouth each summer. Thank you once again Emily, both the cake and the bandroom were lovely!

Back in Harrogate, Martin made his way to the International Centre to find out where we had been drawn. With the fourth section already running behind schedule, we knew that being drawn 15th out of the 17 bands in our section would mean our turn on stage would come well into the evening. However, none of us realised quite how late into the evening it would turn out to be! With the whole of the afternoon having been spent apart, by 7:00pm it was essential that the band regrouped and refocused. For most bands, this would probably consist of a simple team talk. But, if there’s one thing that was to become apparent over the couple of hours that followed, it’s that we’re not like most bands! At first, it was Fiona’s and Colette’s creation of a Willow Pattern Alphabet that got the band focussed on the crockery inspired music. A short while later, Hilary – the person with possibly the worst public speaking skills in the room – somehow found herself positioned in front of the band with 25 faces staring at her in anticipation of a story. The band listened intently as she read them the story of the Willow Pattern, much to the amusement and perplexity of the onlooking bands. With story time over and Christine’s and Josie’s excess energy burnt off with some star jumps, it was time for a short warm up before trekking to the other side of the building to wait to play. By this time it was close to 10:00pm, but, thanks to the camaraderie shown by the band and an inspired pep-talk from Adrian, spirits were high and we took to the stage with a reignited sense of pride and determination. A good performance followed, with just a few nervous slips and clips that were perhaps inevitable given the enormity of the occasion.

With the last of the 17 bands having played, we gathered in the hall with the 16 other eagerly awaiting bands to find out who had impressed the two adjudicators enough to find themselves placed in the top six. With an aim to come in the top 10, we sat hopeful but certainly not expectant that our name would be in amongst those read out. Our delight at being placed third was evident from the fact our cheers echoed loudest around the large auditorium, even compared to those bands placed in the top two. Despite the few blips that we already knew about, the adjudicators recognised that our performance captured the oriental feel that is crucial to the story being told. With the time now gone 11:00pm, we headed back to our hotel to celebrate our success in style. Led by Graham, Steve and Ivor, we treated the rest of the hotel to several karaoke classics, before reaching the highlight of the evening (apart from the results of course!) with our own attempt at the Conga. As the singing, dancing and all other events of the day gradually took their toll, we headed to bed as very proud National Finals prize winners.

Given that Sunday was such an exhausting day and it was well into the early hours of Monday morning before most of us got to bed, it came as no surprise that the long trip home was a slightly quieter journey than on the way up. To round off an already great weekend, we returned to Sidmouth to find our bandroom had been decorated with flags and a ‘Well Done’ sign courtesy of members of staff from Sidmouth Town Council. This was a lovely surprise and the support very much appreciated by us all.

Although this was very much a team effort, the band needs to say a big thank you to a few individual players. Firstly, thank you to Rachel and Sally, who were both drafted in to fill a couple of empty seats, but who we’re thrilled to say we’ll be seeing much more of in the future. Thanks also to Ian (our flugel player Esther’s husband), who, only three weeks before the contest very bravely agreed to come and hit a few things in the percussion section for us. Ian did a fantastic job playing all sorts of instruments he had never picked up before, and we even think he secretly enjoyed himself more than he would like to admit! Thank you Martin and Fiona for the time spent over the past six months making sure the weekend went as smoothly as it did. Finally, as always, thank you to Adrian for the relentless hard work he puts in before every contest and for putting up with those few extra grey hairs that must be an inevitable part of being the man in the middle.

So, what did Sidmouth Town Band learn from our trip to Harrogate? We learnt that two bass players being forced to share a twin room works wonders for sectional bonding, that Mexican waves are a great way to forget about nerves when waiting for results, and that there is no way you can fit six people in a Yorkshire Hotel lift. We also learnt how something as seemingly insignificant as Hilary reading a story could play such an important part in coming together as a team and finding that extra fire in our bellies to go out on stage and achieve something special. The whole weekend was a great experience and an invaluable morale booster, but to come away with those fantastic memories and a trophy for being the third best Third Section band in Great Britain..? As our principal cornet and second man down players Fiona and Colette would say, ‘That’ll do!’.

Pastures New For Joel

The National Finals was a big occasion for all of us, but even more notable for one member of the band. For Joel Stephano, the band’s bass trombonist, it was his last engagement with the band before heading off to Sheffield University to study Electronic Engineering.

Having been introduced to the youth band by Fiona (our principal cornet player and a teacher at his school), Joel quickly progressed into the senior band. Growing in confidence, his playing has continued to improve year on year. Although we’re very sorry to see Joel go, we’re lucky that bass trombone is the instrument of choice for Rachel, who played euphonium for us at Harrogate in Elaine’s absence.

Good luck in Sheffiled Joel! We’ll miss your insane optimism, your annoyingly talented musical ability and your insistence on choosing solos that are impossible for the band to play. Make sure you come and play with us whenever you’re back in Devon!