Page 97 - MERCIAN Eagle 2015

The Band of the Mercian Regiment
Lance Corporal Helen Cooper
It’s been another exciting musical year for The Band of the Mercian Regiment. At
the beginning of 2015, the band travelled to Cyprus for its two-week annual camp. They stayed at Dhekelia - a British Army camp - in glorious sunshine, and enjoyed the opportunity to participate in an intensive musical training programme.
The local residents knew of the bands presence, due to it performing at an Easter church service, a concert in Pissouri Amphitheatre and a concert at the Victor Beach Club. It’s not often the band have a sea view whilst entertaining a crowd, and they certainly made the most of it!
As soon as the band returned home
they were thrown into a busy schedule of rehearsals and high profile events, including the Stoke Tattoo on the 9th of May.
The Stoke Tattoo is a popular annual event, which guarantees an amazing atmosphere, standing ovations and is always a ticket sell out! The band performed their marching display and performed
a fantastic concert. They also got to accompany a choir and joined in the mass bands finale at the end. They had a great time and are delighted to be invited back again next year!
We are constantly having new band jobs come in, but it’s always lovely to do a few of our regular ones and we returned to Crich in July, for the annual pilgrimage of The Mercian Regiment.
At Crich, many Mercian family members and local dignitaries form at the top of the
hill in Derbyshire, taking in the stunning scenery. They socialise with old friends, listen to the band and attend the church service, but most importantly, they take the time to remember those who have once served amongst or before them.
The band showed resilience in their performance, due to extreme weather changes. Upon arrival, the sun shone down bearing its heated rays, making it hard work to play our instruments in our heavy scarlet uniforms. However, once we formed up on top of the hill to play in the church service, the clouds took over the sky and we were soaked through within seconds with extreme heavy rain and hail. We struggled to stand still and some of our music blew away, but the band carried on and managed to give the crowd a ‘wet’ performance to remember!
Life as a military musician often involves lots of travelling across the country and sometimes abroad. In the past we have visited many different countries including Germany, France, The Falklands and even Hong Kong! It’s so exciting to see new towns and cities, some of which we would never experience in our own personnel lives.
The brass quintet and Saxophone group have certainly used the power of their
sat navs this year, travelling to perform at different locations for Officer Dinner nights. The locations haven’t been abroad this year but have included Bramcote, Shrivenham and Kidderminster.
The band has had lots to do during the second half of this bounty year too. The main exciting event was the Tidworth Army Reserve Tattoo, where the band played alongside other TA bands and also the Welsh Male Voice Choir, Military Wives Choir, and the Kings Troop Royal Artillery.
There’s been a few changes amongst the band recently as we’ve welcomed many new members, four of which have transferred from other bands.
Sergeant Jake Lees has joined from the Coldstream Guards, playing saxophone and in charge of band recruitment, Dean Banister, another saxophonist has joined from the Rifles band in Waterloo, James Wykes, a trumpet player from 150 RLC and Tom Cripps, a percussionist from PWRR.
The band is also delighted to welcome new recruits Emily Jenner (clarinet), Iain Fraiser-Barker (trumpet), Emma Sumner (clarinet) and Nichole Reed (trombone). We have so many talented new players and also a few potential recruits in the pipeline, although we are always looking for more people.
We rehearse every Tuesday night and love to see lots of new faces! So, if you
play an instrument and fancy coming along, please contact Sergeant Jake Lees either via email 4merc-band-recruiting@mod.uk or ring the band office on 01902 303835. You can also follow us on our Facebook page, and if you see us out and about please do come and say hello!
On parade and played at the home of Worcester Warriors in June
The Band of The Mercian Regiment were in attendance at Crich to support
THE MERCIAN EAGLE
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