CH Band at Twickenham - England vs Italy - Feb 10th 2007

Post by **jtaylor** » Sun Feb 11, 2007 2:51 pm

Went to the match - band played well, raised comment from the mates I was with.

Click on images for larger version (most over 2Meg):-
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Post by **jtaylor** » Sun Feb 11, 2007 5:19 pm

Here's the mention in the match programme:-

Euterpe13 · Post by **Euterpe13** » Mon Feb 12, 2007 8:12 am

It does make you feel proud....
I have a tape of the Beating of the Retreat, and people who see it are always amazed that a group of schoolchildren can perform at the Band's level.
In my Mum's opinion, they knock spots off a great many adult/military bands!

Katharine · Post by **Katharine** » Mon Feb 12, 2007 8:37 am

Is it really possible to get into the Band when only 12? It seems very young to me.

Euterpe13 · Post by **Euterpe13** » Mon Feb 12, 2007 10:26 am

yes it is - not sure what age my brothe was when he joined the drum section, but cannot have been much older than that .

Great Plum · Post by **Great Plum** » Mon Feb 12, 2007 10:40 am

Wow, a tiny band - brings back good memories of playing at Twickenham!

Mid A 15 · Post by **Mid A 15** » Mon Feb 12, 2007 11:31 am

Thanks for those Julian, they are excellent.

It is slightly disconcerting that one or two of the Italian players appear to have their fingers in their ears though

Mark1 · Post by **Mark1** » Mon Feb 12, 2007 11:32 am

Katharine wrote:Is it really possible to get into the Band when only 12? It seems very young to me.

Well, not to go to Twickenham (or play on HMS Illustrious)!

Being limited to only 50, it ended up as almost all Deps and Grecians, some GE, and the odd UF - the argument being that the older members would have had more experience, and also won't get another opportunity.

It definitely was the most amazing experience, though - the energy of the crowd for the National Anthems, and when the England team ran onto the pitch...

englishangel · Post by **englishangel** » Mon Feb 12, 2007 1:14 pm

So they couldn't have a few more dainty little schoolgirls (and boys of course) there but they could have those soldiers in their clodhopping boots.

Mark1 · Post by **Mark1** » Mon Feb 12, 2007 2:00 pm

englishangel wrote:So they couldn't have a few more dainty little schoolgirls (and boys of course) there but they could have those soldiers in their clodhopping boots.

I don't know...
although we were only half strength, we probably made over 80% of the volume...
Also, the soldiers did take their role very seriously - jtaylor can back me up on the speed with which they sprinted the national (rugby association) flags from the field!

Also, one might notice the single drum major, who is on his UF! All four senior to him were unable to make it, for one reason or another.

Post by **jtaylor** » Mon Feb 12, 2007 5:21 pm

Very efficient army guys - always very organised.

I thought the drum-major looked a bit younger than normal - but he did a great job, and I bet he'll never forget that opportunity!

Did the band get seats to watch the match? I'm hoping/assuming they did....

J

Mark1 · Post by **Mark1** » Mon Feb 12, 2007 5:40 pm

We did, they gave us odd twos and threes (some with restricted view

) I think most of us were in North Lower and East stands.

Great Plum · Post by **Great Plum** » Tue Feb 13, 2007 1:26 pm

We used to have really good seats on the touchline back in the 90's...

John Knight · Post by **John Knight** » Tue Feb 13, 2007 1:50 pm

Great Plum wrote:We used to have really good seats on the touchline back in the 90's...

I wonder if the real reason that the band was limited to 50 is because they did not want to give away 100 seats.
Could be a problem with a full house.

Mark1 · Post by **Mark1** » Tue Feb 13, 2007 2:29 pm

well, I don't think so, because until a few days beforehand there was a small possibility that there wouldn't be any tickets spare for us, especially since England had won against Scotland - the engagement didn't come with a definite promise to provide us with tickets.

No, one reason for limiting our size might be to do with our position on the pitch (as you can see on the photograph). We had to fit in front of the RBS painted advertisement, which under no circumstances could we tread on, smear paint from, or obsure. So I suppose (advertising) money was still a main cause...

Anyway, the seats were more than adequate for us, rugby philistines as most of us were!