Then tonight, on the way home, conveniently (not) on the M40 roundabout my battery light came on. I stopped at Kwik Fit on the way through Bicester, they tested it and told me it needed recharging and sent me on the way (very uniterested by it), and then, spittings distance from my home (although annoyingly just that little bit too far, I conked out. Called the AA out, waited an hour, called again and was advised that the guy was held up on the previous job and he might be another hour. He advised me to walk home and wait there.

Now the police have come round to check that I’m okay. They are fine with me leaving my car where it is, so that was nice of them at least.

Anyway, whilst I wait for the man from the AA, Terence in Strawberry Van with our shopping, here’s something to cheer me up. Not the greatest recording, but a great piece of music!

We came, we played, we saw some other bands playing, and were judged. Thankfully we weren’t competing against each other, but rather in a Chelsea Flower Show style, against the criteria. Last year’s gold medal winners of Northampton Concert Band scored silver and we took away a respectable Bronze award.

That’s the thing with removers, I can see how it makes sense in terms of speed to pack boxes as you find the stuff in the room and label them with the room from whence they came (and if you move from House A of x-size to House B of x-size, I can see how this would work) but when House B is of y-size and what came out of one room is highly unlikely to go back into a corresponding room, then it does make it bloody irritating, nigh well impossible to find things when you need them. There’s so many things that we know we have and are within these four walls if only we could identify which of many identical boxes they are in.

I thought we might have been down to half measures on the old flautist front tonight, with a message from Rachel that she and Sarah weren’t going to be there, and probably not Debbie either. That is, I thought that until I got to band tonight to discover that we have another new player tonight. And apparently there’s another one wanting to join. Add to that Amy who is planning to return, and maybe six three piccolos when balanced out by six flutes won’t be all that bad?!!! *grins*

2. I propose a motion of incompetence in … our band librarian. After the Christmas concert in December, Alan collected in all the music pads. We all thought that this was to take out what we’re not playing again, and put in the new music for this term. But no. We all get to rehearsal tonight to discover that he hasn’t done any of that, and we have to hand out all the music and collect in all the old music before we can start playing. Useless! Absolutely f-ing inconsiderate of the irritating old fart. /rant

3. Because of wind band tonight I haven’t spoken to Emma tonight, and I miss it dreadfully. Going to bed now, I feel like there has been something missing in my day. Please, please, please can I get my job situation sorted so that we can think about getting a new place and making it our home.

As such, last night, appropriate music was brought out including, Leroy Anderson’s Christmas Festival (never played this before on picc), and some excerpts from The Nutcracker (one of my favourite pieces of music ‘though as I’ve now discovered, fiendishly difficult to play.

When Emma arrived with her Mum, apparently I looked like I was terrified – a nervousness that she’d only seen in me before on our first date. Still, the concert went off to great success (including the un-rehearsed performance of The Blues Brothers).

With a BBC2 first half, following the interval we moved off into a BBC1 finish of flag-waving and pomp and circumstance with party-poppers and silliness…

Broadway Showstoppers
Welcome to the Abingdon Concert Band’s review of the top musicals! Very loosely based on Channel 4’s “Top 100 Musicals” and with our own experience of what we know you love best this superb selection will have you tapping your feet and dancing in the aisles. An evening of your favourites with symphonic wind orchestra sound.

Very ‘loosely, it was too, with more classical wind band pieces put in to, together with some ‘other’ theatre music, and (in honour of Mozart’s 250 celebrations this year) an arrangement of The Magic Flute – a Broadway show of it’s day if ever there was one!

There were gunshots, screams, and helecopters added to the mix, but in the end though, I think the performance to steal the show was our rendition of Andrew Lloyd Webber’s Phantom of the Opera – the expression on our Conductor’s face as he brought us off, said it all really.

featuring…
Stage Centre — GOFF RICHARDS (b. 1944)
Andante Cantabile — PIOTR ILYICH TCHAIKOVSKY (1840–1893)
Serenade Op.44 — ANTONIN DVORAK (1841–1904)
Singin’ in the Rain — NACIO HERB BROWN (1896–1964)
Prelude, Siciliano & Rhondo — Sir MALCOLM ARNOLD (b. 1921)
On the Quarterdeck — KENNETH ALFORD (1881–1945)
Sandpaper Ballet — LEROY ANDERSON (1908–1975)
The Grasshoppers’ Dance — ERNEST BUCALOSSI (1863–1929)
Suite Française — DARIUS MILHAUD (1892–1974)
Il postino — LUIS BACALOV (b. 1933)
Gallimaufry — GUY WOOLFENDEN (b. 1937)

Tickets £6 (£5 concessions)
and cds of past concerts will be on sale on the night