Sunday 10th October was a special day, as the Band organised a Playday at Ellesborough village hall, Butlers Cross, near Wendover. We had arranged for Alison Cox of Findanote to bring nearly 50 pieces of music for us to play to see how we liked them, and whether we wanted to buy any. That makes it sound rather dull, but on the contrary we had a fun day playing through the music, practising our sight reading, and enjoying just making music.
The Band was augmented by a number of our friends, some of whom were ex-members of the band who have moved away but came back just for the day, it was good to see them again. We also welcomed Paul Speed who came for the day to assist Neil Chapman with the conducting. The weather that day was unusually warm and sunny for October, so that during breaks and at lunch time we could socialise outside in the sunshine. To fortify us for the hard work playing so much music there were ample supplies of cakes and pastries, plus a fish and chip lunch.
There were far too many pieces of music to list them all here, but among the pieces we played were America from West Side Story, Puttin’ on the Ritz, Breezin’ Down Broadway by Adam Gorb, Edwardiana by Adam Gout, and Stephenson’s Rocket by Nigel Hess. By the end of the day we were all pretty exhausted, but we’d happily do it again another day.
Now begins the task of choosing which pieces we would like to play in our concerts, and deciding how many we can afford!
I would also like to say a huge thank you to everyone who was part of the day for the level of enthusiasm, the warm welcome, the feedback and of course the lovely food that was served.
It was a very enjoyable day and I hope that it is one of more to come!