SANDHURST SOCIAL CLUB- GHURKHA EVENING
As mentioned earlier, on Thursday 8th May we performed at the Sandhurst Social Club for their Ghurkha evening. The evening was arranged as part of the community integration program which the Royal Military Academy Sandhurst is keen to promote. Frank Jackson who has worked with the Ghurkhas for over 20 years in the RMAS organised the evening which was an outstanding success. There were over 60 Ghurkhas present on the night and they hosted everyone very well with samples of Ghurkha cuisine which kept all Social Club members happy. The Corps of Drums played a 20 minute slot which received a very impressive response. Drum Sergeant Jamie Gilliam performed a drum solo which he has been working on and again this went down very well with the audience. Frank organised a raffle on the night and the £107 raised was donated to the Corps of Drums. Well done to all band members that attended this
Personal Loss
I would like to advise you that my mum passed away on Saturday 24th May. Although she had been ill for sometime it was unexpected. My mum was a very strong supporter to the Corps of Drums and she helped with donations whenever she was able to. She was present at our Thank You Concert in 2006 and was extremely proud of all the band members. Whenever I spoke to her one of the first things she asked me was “how is the band doing?” Her funeral is on 6th June. After discussion with my brother, we thought it would a nice touch if some of the band could play so my mum can hear them one more time. Amy, Greg, Bob, Nick and Josh were more than happy to help me and I would like to thank them in advance for doing this. It will certainly be a very emotional day. Mark
FUND RAISING
Our fund raising team are always working very hard to raise further funds for the band. Both Linda and Lorraine continue to write to many local companies to see if they would consider making a donation to us. Although the letters have only just been sent out we have already received donations from Camberley & District Funeral Services and also Waitrose. Although the band has been very fortunate to have received great support locally we must keep trying to raise additional funds to help us achieve some of our goals. I am currently in negotiation with a new supplier of uniforms that can make very high quality tunics for us, these will be much higher in cost than we have previously paid but we feel that the additional quality will be a better long term investment. Therefore we need to build sufficient funds to cover the cost of these. Fund raising is a very hard and time consuming job so I can not thank Linda and Lorraine enough for all their efforts. As mentioned in last month’s news letter, if you know of anyone who may like to contribute to the band then please put them in contact with me so I can discuss what we need further or answer any questions they may have
Do you need a practice drum? If so then read on.
I have been working through the drum store and will have about 5-6 drums that I would like to sell to make extra room in the band store and help raise some more funds for the band. These will be quite old drums but still playable and ideal for practice. If anyone would like to know more then please ask me on any band practice evening, however I am likely to display them one practice evening during June. They will be sold on a first come first serve basis so please let me know if you have an interest
Corps of Drums lead the Scouts of Berkshire
Our first major parade in 2008 was the Berkshire Scouts St George’s day parade which was held at the Royal Military Academy Sandhurst. We met at the scout hall to get ready and then marched to the RMA where we assembled and formed up and them marched playing up to the RMA Chapel. We did this parade last year and I am not sure if it was because the weather was better this year but we were all surprised at how many people were there. We halted and played several tunes static which received a really good response. After the church service the scouts assembled with the Corps of Drums in front ready to march on. There was a really good turn out of scouts this year and we estimated that there must have been about 250 which was a good amount for the march. We marched around the parade square in front of the Old College which was a really good setting. As you can see from the group picture above, we were very fortunate to get such a good back drop. I would like to say well done to all band members but especially our new junior members who carried them selves very well. Well done.
New Ranking System Introduced
I have already mentioned in my opening note that I am about to introduce a ranking system within the band. Why I hear you ask? Well although I do not want it to run the same way as you would have it in say the Army Cadets, I do feel that it is a way on recognising those band members who have made commitment far above the call of duty. This is not to say that other band members have not worked hard, but the candidates I have chosen have shown an above average commitment to practice. Alan Lemon suggested that we look to introduce the ranking system and after much thought of what we could benefit out of it I agreed to try it. My thoughts are that any band member that can demonstrate to me that they have the ability to fit the role which I want then they could also be considered. I will talk through what will be required from the members in question and if I am happy with their commitment to this new role then I will announce the successful candidates in the next issue of the news letter. However all band members should be aware that this ranking system gives them no authority to order other band members about and if this happens then they would loose their rank immediately. I feel I need to emphasise this point.
Medina Marching Band – Work shop trip
As some of you may be know, we received a grant towards the end of last year from Connexions. This was a grant that was driven by five of the older band members who put an idea forward to visit the Medina marching band on the Isle of Wight to hold some work shops. We did this on Sunday 15 April and had a really successful day. After an early start we arrived on the island and made our way to the Medina High school where we met with Kevin Hayward and members from his band. After a short rehearsal, we split up and carried out work shops on drum, saxophone, flute and cornet and a special work shop for our new junior drum major. After lunch we then assembled for full band and marching practice on the field and as there was a good turn out by the Medina band on the day there were over 50 in the band. Josh Thorne led the band around the field and had his first taste of being a drum major. This was a very successful day and Kevin mentioned afterwards that his band benefited as much as we did by it. I will be hopefully organising with Kevin a further trip hopefully this year where we may be able to take the whole band.
ALDERSHOT YOUTH BAND CONTEST
Unfortunately I have advised that the Aldershot Youth Band Contest will not take place again this year. As you can appreciate, organising a band contest is a big task and Pete Woods who normally does this can not manage it this year. It is a shame but I fully understand Peter’s predicament as I know how much work goes in to organising such an event. Pete has told me that he hopes that it will be back on next year. If any of our readers feel they may be able to offer Pete some help in organising it for next year then please contact me and I will pass your details on to him. As this would have been our main event this year, I think we will put all our efforts in to the RMA Heritage Day as this will give us an opportunity to show off what we have learnt over the past year.
In Memory – Colin Joseph Garde 1961-2007
I am sorry to advise that Toby Garde’s brother Colin passed away on March 16th after a relatively short illness. Many of you will not have known Colin but he had been a supporter of the Corps of Drums since it was formed and always attended as many of our parades as he could. Colin worked in the clothing stores at the RMA Sandhurst for 27 years and was the person who on many occasions arranged for us to get hold of kit that we needed. Our peak caps for example came from Colin. I have known Colin for a number of years and I knew how much he enjoyed seeing our band. I attended his funeral on Wednesday 28th March and was touched to hear that any donations made would go to the Sandhurst & District Corps of Drums. I would like to on behalf of the Corps of Drums pass on our sincere sympathy to Toby and his family and would like to say that Colin will be missed.
Intermediate & Advanced Drumming Course
As mentioned earlier in this news letter, we are starting our Intermediate and Advanced drumming school on Saturday 17 March. This will be a very challenging course for those taking part but also one where participants should hopefully have some fun as well. Alan Lemon will be running the course and he has put together a very comprehensive course based around Rudiments. Rudiments are of course the very heart of any good drummer and once learnt and practiced will have amazing results in the drummer’s technique and ability. I must stress that only 100% commitment will be expected of those taking part and participants will only keep up if they practice. The course will be over 3 main lessons and then a date will be set (on a Sunday) to carry out the final test. This course is open to anyone but as already mentioned you should feel confident that you can give the commitment to practice.
A week with the RLC Band
During February one of our band members Josh Thorne attended a week with the Royal Logistic Band, click here to read his account of the week
Josh has been a member of our Corps of Drums since we started in August 2005. He plays the side drum, bugle and Cornet and has helped with the recent bugle school we ran. Well done Josh and thanks for your write up
Josh has been a member of our Corps of Drums since we started in August 2005. He plays the side drum, bugle and Cornet and has helped with the recent bugle school we ran. Well done Josh and thanks for your write up
February 2007 was a special day for one lucky couple, relatives of drummer Nick Bowring were married and as a special present Nick and fellow drummer Josh Powell played as the newly weds came out of the church. I asked them if they played “Beating Retreat?” (it’s a joke) Nick told me “it was really good, both Josh and I felt honoured to put our uniforms on and play as they came out of the church”. This was a first for any members of the Corps of Drums to be involved in. Maybe we could add weddings to our list of services? I think that it would really add to the special day
