During half term (Monday 12th to Friday 16th of February 2007) I went on a Look at Life course with the Royal Logistic Corps Band in Deepcut. We had to arrive for 1pm on the Monday afternoon and after a Welcome Brief and a chance to get to know each other ~ (there were 13 of us aged between 14-
On the second day (Tuesday) we had a Marching Band, Full Band and Big Band rehearsals, which was great fun. That afternoon we had to do a 1½ mile run which I did in 13:26min which wasn’t bad for my age, if you want to get into the army you need to do it in 14:00mins, so actually I did quite well. That evening we had a tour of the Army accommodations which weren’t that bad. Wednesday we had two full band rehearsals and a mock audition similar to those given to new recruits, (I passed ). That evening we had an X-Factor event for the whole band and LAL (look at life) students. On Thursday, we had a day trip to Kneller Hall which is the Royal Military School of Music in Twickenham But in the evening the real fun began what we did was a small exercise when we went into the woods in camouflage, we were also armed with a machine guns (but sadly no ammo ). The instructors were really sneaky and when we weren’t expecting it they let off thunder flashes and tracer bullets which scared the life out of us!
On the final day (Friday) we joined in with a Passing out Parade rehearsal. We then watched the real thing. After lunch we joined part of the RLC band and gave our parents a concert before we went home. I had a great week and really enjoyed it, and I can’t wait to go again during the half term in October. To go on the course you need to be at least grade five standard or above on your musical instrument.
Josh Thorne
Drummer & Bugler
Sandhurst & District Corps of Drums
