Unofficial Christ's Hospital Forum

Hello,

I just wanted to open up a post to gather opinions on the recent ‘Final Band Parade’ videos the official Christs Hopsital Facebook page have uploaded. Please find a link for this below:

https://vimeo.com/724789969/4bdc5945d4

Personally, I’m quite angry, sad and disappointed at the sheer lack of respect that’s been shown for band parade here by the pupils. Having attended the school for 7 years myself and been band captain on my final year, I am aware that at the end of term, some fun is had and band parade is done differently. The Grecian houses on my last year crossed and went into the opposite door to normal. In doing so, the traditions of band parade were adhered to and the whole thing remained almost entirely uninterrupted whilst marking our final march into lunch a memorable one. Grecians running at one another and pretending to have a sword fight, stopping to crouch down and then just running into dining hall is frankly a step too far.

Let me know what you think as I will be putting together an email that will be sent to the headmaster and the school governors.

Personally I thought it looked good fun. The boy on the electric guitar was impressive. It was a one-off for the last band parade of the year. I admit I have never experienced or seen anything go this far on band parade but it made me smile, knowing that it is an exception and not the norm. Might not be to everyone's taste but I don't see how it could cause anger, some young people having a bit of harmless fun on their last such occasion. There is no threat to the tradition of band parade. I am glad they are allowed to enjoy being young human beings. Because behind CH's pomp, rigorous tradition, many formal aspects, etc., they are normal kids.

Last band parade a week before the end of term seems more of a degrade?

More of a concern is that they have abolished Band Parade on Tuesdays and Thursdays to free up valuable time for pupils.
And I'm not sure if the Bugle Band still exists?
Fridays is now Band Parade.

Agreed, the videos appeared to me to be a one off harmless bit of fun. Not sure what Clarence Seaman would have made of it but times change thank god.

Have band parades fallen victim to the cafeteria style catering? Requiring a more staggered approach to queuing?
Cramming 850 pupils through two doorways for a single sitting , eat what's put in front of you or starve, approach, needed a more military style marching into dining hall in squads efficiency enhanced by the band at lunchtimes. Sad as to this day, I still enjoy a good brass band , just as well living 500 yds from the Windsor Guards barracks! However the sound of the tin can bugle band was an acquired taste!

There is a staggered approach to dining, but those not scheduled to eat, just return to their houses via the back door.

I would certainly recommend a visit to the cafeteria.
The servers are pleasant, there is a choice and the food is sumptuous.

The less martial pageantry the better IMHO. I can see the value of doing it say, once a week, but it was a chore doing it daily.

pierre wrote: ↑Wed Jun 29, 2022 10:49 am Last band parade a week before the end of term seems more of a degrade?

Kiff wrote: ↑Wed Jun 29, 2022 10:55 am More of a concern is that they have abolished Band Parade on Tuesdays and Thursdays to free up valuable time for pupils.

I was also surprised by both of these aspects. Since when has there not been marching into lunch every day Monday to Saturday?

Kiff wrote: ↑Wed Jun 29, 2022 4:08 pm There is a staggered approach to dining, but those not scheduled to eat, just return to their houses via the back door.

I would certainly recommend a visit to the cafeteria.
The servers are pleasant, there is a choice and the food is sumptuous.

At one stage in the 90s about half of the canteen employees were South African. They were often happy to chat. I spoke to some who were accountants, lawyers, etc. who earned more being "bockers" here than practising their professions over there. I guess the country was getting back on its feet after Apartheid.

Bandcaptain123 wrote: ↑Tue Jun 28, 2022 8:48 pm opinions on the recent ‘Final Band Parade’ videos the official Christs Hopsital Facebook page have uploaded. Please find a link for this below:

https://vimeo.com/724789969/4bdc5945d4

That looked such a lot of fun! Everyone was happy and enjoying themselves, chill...

I'm more interested in knowing why there was a guitar player, as for the rest, just looks like a fairly restrained version of muck up day (more of an Australian thing than UK) with kids goofing around and having a bit of a laugh. No harm, no foul, just a bit of fun.

This wouldn't have happened at Beating Retreat, OB day, or some other more formal event, so I imagine the school's capacity and reputation for occasional pomp and ceremony remains intact.

Made me smile. Wish we had the opportunity to do this just once, for a final parade 47 years ago!
Well done the guitarist, loved his Sussex by the Sea.
As for a strong e-mail to the head, sure you can't find something else worse to complain about in the world?
If you do write to him, just sign it "disgusted of Tunbridge Wells"!

SandysJ wrote: ↑Sat Jul 02, 2022 8:08 pm Made me smile. Wish we had the opportunity to do this just once, for a final parade 47 years ago!
Well done the guitarist, loved his Sussex by the Sea.
As for a strong e-mail to the head, sure you can't find something else worse to complain about in the world?
If you do write to him, just sign it "disgusted of Tunbridge Wells"!

Nowhere did I say it would be ‘a strong email’ and I am definitely not a conservative so any email would be signed with my name.

If this is just left without addressing, what you will now find moving forwards is that subsequent Grecian years will try and ‘one up’ the year that’s gone before until the whole lunch parade becomes unrecognisable. The fact that it is no longer just the Grecian houses that are doing something different, it is now the band and the rest of the school that are joining in is evidence of this. Where will the line be drawn on what is deemed acceptable and what is not? And will this now encroach into becoming an end of term thing? A half term thing etc etc.

And if it was just a bit of fun for the pupils and staff to enjoy, why plaster it all over the school’s social media where members of the public could stumble across it and not have a clue what’s going on there? All they will see is a load of Grecians just pissing about and seeing how far they can go with it in front of all the staff that have taught them over the years.

I’m sure there are other things to complain about in this world if you enjoy that sort of thing, I’m just a proud Old Blue expressing a different opinion and viewpoint on that video that doesn’t want silly behaviour to encroach into one of the cornerstone traditions that makes the school unique.

Having had days to digest it, the overriding feeling I get having stumbled across the video is embarrassment on two different levels. On behalf of the staff who either allowed it to take place or were blissfully unaware of what the plan was and for whoever runs the social media pages who thought it was a good idea to upload and have that represent what the school and its traditions are about.

Neither the bandmaster or the headmaster that were there in my time would have allowed that behaviour to pass without comment. They would have allowed some fun to be had as it’s understandable everyone wants this given that it’s the end of term, but they wouldn’t have allowed the parade to be interrupted to that degree.

Thanks for being prepared to put together an email. My thoughts:

1) it looked great. As if there were a group of kids who have had 2 severely disrupted years due to covid which caused them significant challenges but were able to enjoy a bit of well planned and harmless fun

2) it's good to see the school supporting them

3) I've heard a rumour that the yellow socks are being changed to rainbow ones in celebration of diversity, please can you ask whether we can get some?

As I reflect, I think it’s remarkable that we bestowed so much ceremony on receiving such dreadful food (in the time of Mrs. Keeley, mass-poisoner).

ISTR much worse transgressions than this in my time. We started one band parade under the Big School arches and ‘buzzed’ the band. PeA stopped opposite the band and went head-to-head using Kazoos or Vuvuzelas or something. I also remember the doors being barred from inside the Dining Hall leading to a bemused pile-up outside.

I also have dim memories of a car being pushed into Quad at the head of LHA. Also a ghetto blaster. All good harmless fun.

One thing that strikes me from the videos is that the ethnic mix is now very strong indeed. I have no views on this but thought it was remarkable - or just coincidence based on what was filmed?