Gay's Latest News

Best Band Member - Chris Cole

Piper of the Year - Jodie Inch

Most Improved Piper - Charlotte Gubb

Drummer of the Year - Chris Cole

Most Improved Drummer - Andrew Jefferies

Smartest Band Member - Harriet Dare

Most Promising Newcomer - William Dare

Commitment and Attendance - William Webber

Now to "The Kids Bit" this is a little performance by the youth member that Mike and I have nothing to do with and are not allowed to know anything about. This year Jude volunteered to write and produce the whole thing with help from Mandy and a few others. With Jude in charge it had to be something light hearted and fun. It was called "A Grand Day Out" and was set on the day of a typical band engagement, so the whole thing was mainly making fun of all the adults in the band and the little quirks they have. Mike and making sure every ones there, Darren and Jodie always being last to arrive and me and my box of tricks to fix any eventuality were among some of the things mentioned, thanks you lot I'll remember you!

Thanks to everyone that made the night a great success, you really are a great bunch.

1st December - Pyworthy Christmas Lights

The last time we did this gig there was a lot of snow around and a lot of the entertainment couldn't make it so it was down to us, a youth rock band and a local quiz (which we won). This year the entertainment was a lot more exciting - Belly dancers, a young girl singer, a flutist, a girl with hula hoops, us as well as a quiz, which we won once again.

The whole evening was different than most of the bands Saturday night engagements, a nice village event with the traditional spread of food, lots of cake!

23rd November - Bideford Christmas Lights

COLD COLD COLD. I thought Holsworthy Carnival was cold, but this one beat it hands down.

Our job was to march down the High Street to the bottom and play for about 20 minutes before the lights were turned on and later march back up to the Pannier Market trying to drag the people up there to watch the pirate show. Well as we stood waiting at the top of the High Street we wondered if we would make it down to the bottom as there were hundreds and hundreds of people down by the road show. So I marched down in tight ranks of four ready to go down to two's, but the power of a marching band works every time and the crowds parted making room for us right down to the road show.

On the march down we were one player missing, Mike, who was leading the Reindeers around the town and didn't make it back to us until we had marched on to do our performance. I was looking around for him through the first set and all I could see was a set of pipes being held high making its way through the crowd. Our performance went well and we sounded a lot better than we did at Holsworthy.

The whole evening went well although it was FFFFFFFFFFFreezing.

17th November - Holsworthy Carnival

Holsworthy Carnival is either very cold or very wet, this year it was the turn of very cold. Somewhere I had read that it helps to keep your fingers warm if you rub deep heat on them, so we tried it, I think it might have worked for a very short time, what really worked was the stuff that came off my hands onto my blow pipe, it warmed my lips up a treat, I wouldn't recommend it though. The carnival went well and I was glad we kept moving, I couldn't get the pipes sounding right, wasn't sure if it was the cold affecting the reeds, the pipes or the pipers. I was glad that it was a carnival and no one heard us for very long.

It was good to get back to the hall for a hot cuppa and a pasty.

16th November - THEME NIGHT, Children in Need

A bit early in the month for our usual theme night but the youth committee decided it would be a good idea just to have a general fancy dress night for Children in Need. So we all made a donation to dress up. It was harder to decide what to do when anything goes, most people thought of something though. We had vicars, cowgirls, lots of pudsey ears as well as Mr Benn and the shop keeper. PICTURES

11th November - Remembrance Day Parade, Bideford

We had a good parade with no hiccups, everything went really smoothly, we didn't sound too bad either.

7th October - Bideford Mayor's Official Visit

Well I now know Christmas is truly well upon us, as the band had a visit from the three wise men; Town Mayor Cllr. David Ratcliff, Band President George McLauchlan and Band Chieftain Cllr. Tony Inch. This was the Mayor's annual visit to the band.

We don't really do anything special for the visit, just show the Mayor what goes on behind the scenes. Teaching, practising and all the hard work that goes into the band, so we can proudly represent the town wherever we're performing throughout the South West. The band always feels that it is a great honour to lead the Mayor on the various civic occasions during the year.

5th November - Torridge District Council Meeting

We were invited to play at the beginning of the full Torridge District Council meeting. I'm not really sure why but it was something to do with showing off the youth groups in the district. I was a little worried about the sound as it would be quite loud in the Town Hall.

We positioned ourselves up on the balcony looking down on all the councillors, there wasn't a lot of room to play, with the bench behind hitting the backs of your knees and the pipes were dangling over the railing. While standing there through prayers I did start to wonder if there was going to be enough room for our chanters when we had our pipes up. Well it was to late to check halfway through prayers, so it would probably be ok.

After prayers it was our turn to do our bit for about ten minutes. Pipes went up and we were all ok with chanters, phew! We sounded good, all the chanters were together although a little trouble with drones roaring and cutting out but this should be resolved with the new bags and tone enhancers. We did our three sets of tunes finishing with Highland Cathedral and had a standing ovation from the councillors, we must have done a good job.

Well done for all those that made it to this one, you did the band proud and put the band into the good books of the district council.

3rd November - Camelford Carnival

We haven't done this one for a couple of years now, it always lies on the same day as Dolton and Dowland Carnival, so we have to sort of spread ourselves from year to year.

On our drive to Camelford we came across a road closed sign just outside the town, it seems a little too far out of the town to be for the carnival and it was well over an hour before the carnival started so we followed the diversion signs to find ourselves the other side of Camelford in the same predicament, but this time there was a marshal at the road closed sign so we decided as it was the only way left into town we went past the road closed sign and asked. He let us past and we realised we didn't need to follow the diversion all around the town, maybe a sign saying 'entry to carnival only' might be a help or something as I'm not to sure how many people this may have put off coming to watch the carnival.

The carnival went well until the very end where our drummers/band nearly took a cropper again! This time not from a car or a lorry, but a huge great shire horse. We spent most of the night keeping away from this horse, we even moved away from where we parked the cars to tune up as we thought is was a little to close. We got right to the last corner of the carnival when I saw the horse trotting down the road with three people on its back, well I did think it was coming a little quick, but then decided we'd be around the corner before they got too close. We turned the corner and I took a glance back to see if it was all okay, to see the horse and riders had followed us around the corner. It was now being pulled back in the opposite direction. Thinking the danger was over as the horse was going the other way I turned back to see where I was going and then took another glance back and is was still behind us. So we stopped and fell out.

31st October - THEME NIGHT, Halloween

Well some theme nights have to be repeated and this is one of them. Nearly everyone dressed up and we have great fun. Take a look for yourself.... Pictures.

Apart from the horse incident, it was a great carnival and a nice tea after, thanks Camelford Carnival Committee.

20th October - Okehampton Carnival

It was very hard to find the motivation for this engagement as it was on the same night as the England v South Africa, Rugby World Cup Final. We were all week trying to think of ways to either watch it or listen to it around the route, from a TV set up in the back of a vehicle to having ear pieces with the radio on. In the end we just decided to get around as quick as possible and try to keep track of the second half. We did get three quarters of the way around the route before kick off and the crowds did diminish as we returned to the town. I did peek into a pub window to see Johnny convert a penalty but couldn't make out the score.

We finished the carnival and then it was frantic texting and ringing to find out the score, which, when we did wasn't so good. So we brewed up a cuppa for everyone and decided it was probably best not to watch it.

In the carnival the band had another close encounter with a car. Coming down the main road back into the town I think it's either Exeter Road or East Street well there didn't seem to be any marshals on any of the junctions to stop cars entering the procession and a lot of cars were taking full advantage of this and one vehicle decided he wasn't going to wait for the band to march past before pulling off and the drummers nearly had it once again. I really don't think they know how dangerous this is, not only for the band marching past but for the young children standing at the side of the road watching the carnival coming in one direction and darting out into the road to pick up the pennies on the road, the last thing they are to be thinking of or looking for is a car coming in the other direction, splat kebab kid and it wasn't really their fault as the road is closed and cars aren't going to be coming from that way.

Well there's my rant to make up for the lack of things to write at South Molton.

I'd like to thank PM Colin Opie from the City of Exeter Pipes and Drums for joining us for the evening.

29th September - South Molton Carnival

Nothing really to shout about or moan about, a nice engagement with no hassle. Doesn't make the blog very interesting though, I'll have to make up for it next time.

28th September - THEME NIGHT, Cowboys and Indians

You would think that we would have theme nights decided and planned for the whole year as there's only 12, but we don't and Cowboys and Indians was only decided a few days before, so there's a few of the same old faces dressed up and looking goooooood, plus one new member...... PICTURES

22nd September - Bideford Farmers Market

We always seem to struggle to get a band together for these Farmers Markets as a lot of our band have Saturday jobs, except side drummer Chris who gives up his wages and comes out with us, way-to-go Chris you're a star!

Anyway we had enough for a band to make all the right noises. We did have a good crowd watching although one of our police force did have a very disgruntled moan from a very unpleasant man about the band playing and couldn't wait for us to go back to Scotland. It's really does make me mad when kids are doing something with themselves, they work hard at what they do and they just get put down like that. Well I do hope that one day he might appreciate that there are some good kids out there who are trying to do something with there lives, and it's organisations like ours that help teach kids the good values of working together and working as a team, it also instils the rights and wrongs in their lives and that to get along in life you have to abide by a few simple rules and respect one another. There I've had my rant and it's off my chest, I feel much better now thank you.

We must have done something right as we collected over a hundred pounds from our two short performances, so thank you to all those who did enjoy our playing and to the dancing old lady who loved us and put a smile on everyone's face.

8th September - Bideford Carnival & Festival of Piping and Drumming

It all started on the Friday night, with a concert by Jiggerypipery. Mike and I had seen them perform a few times and Mike had been dying to get them up here to perform. So now he had the perfect excuse and they opened the festival and a stomping job they did. I know all the guys that went from our little band loved it and can't wait for the next time. I hope everyone else who came along enjoyed the night as much as we did.

Saturday - The big day. The morning kicked off with workshops which were really interesting. First I learnt about the fundamentals of the pipes with Pipe Major Andy Edgar. I then went to the Drum Major workshop and learnt how to do the basics properly from the legendary Drum Major Ged Pether, I even got the hang of the state walk by the end. I know everyone found the workshops really informative and our side drummers haven't stopped drumming since their session with Dave Budge, thanks Dave it was hard enough to shut them up before, no really it's brilliant to see them loving to drum and with a thirst to learn more.

We then had a few hours off, well the rest did, Mike and I then had to get back to organising the carnival and load up the marquee for the VIP's in the evening. At 3pm we set up the marquee and then moved to the tuning and rehearsal area.

Rehearsals started at 5pm and we really could have done with starting at 3.30pm, as we only had time to work out where we were going to stand and how we were going to do it, no time to actually rehearse the tunes. So I knew at this point things weren't going to go smoothly later. So we moved to the start of the carnival and I was amazed by the crowds and the size of the carnival there waiting to move off, the place was absolutely buzzing with excitement. The march around the town went well with more people watching around the whole route, I don't think any more people could fit onto the quay so had to spread further along the route.

Now it was time for the massed bands, which is what most of our band had been waiting for the whole year. It didn't go quite as smoothly as I hoped and we still have things to work on, but nothing major. It's just hard to fit everyone one in such a narrow area so everyone can hear and sort of see what's going on, but we're working on it and we learn every year. From the crowds point of view the massed bands was out of this world and fantastic, the best yet, were a few of the compliments that have been handed to the band. So we are doing something right.

I would like to thank everyone who has helped out over the weekend, from Jiggerypipery giving us a stomping night, all the people who ran around selling things, collecting money, putting up things, feeding people, marshalling, closing roads off, putting up signs, to all people who gave workshops and Tony Docherty & Dave Budge from the University of Bedfordshire Pipe Band who came down to give workshops and a lot of support for Mike and I over the whole weekend.

1st September - Porlock Carnival

Doesn't seem to matter what time we leave for this one there's never enough time to tune up properly. I spent more time trying to tune side drums than pipes, can't wait for the new drums. I think we did a very professional job at this one, and the crowd loved us.

After the carnival it was chippy time and this week we drove back to Lynton where Gubby had already rang through our order so it was all waiting for us when we arrived. Mike played a few tunes to say thanks when we got there and then got very persistently harassed by a lady, a little under the influence to play some more, so Mike played and the rest of us clapped and cheered him on.

31st August - THEME NIGHT, Beach Party

It's August theme night and summertime, so what better than a beach party night. PICTURES

29th August - Bideford Quay - Part of Bideford Regatta Fortnight

After a day off it was back into the uniform. This time to perform on Bideford Quay in the evening as part of the entertainment of the Regatta Fortnight. We arrived to find quite a few waiting for us to perform, which was surprising. We played twice and it was great to see so many old members and parents watching. We were also joined for the evening by Pipe Major Dave King from the Cornwall Caledonian Pipes & Drums, who just happened to be in the area on holiday. Thanks for joining us Dave.

27th August - Mini Run, Westward Ho! & Lifeboat Day, Bude

This has been a bit of a tradition for the band to lead the mini's off from Westward Ho! In the morning and then head down to Bude and perform at the Lifeboat Day as well as have a barbecue. The mini run went well and I'd never seen so many people seeing the mini's off.

We then headed off to Bude where Simon and Jude had the barbecue all ready and burgers ready before we had to play later in the afternoon. We played on the Castle Green, because of the work being carried out on the wharf and drew quite a crowd.

The band always looks forward to our Bank Holiday barbie and this one was just as good as the rest with two or three ending up in the canal as usual.

Thanks to all those who helped out feeding us.

26th August - Mini Run, Bideford

We couldn't do this one last year as the band were performing at the Plymouth Navy Days. So it was good to be back and leading the mini's once again. They start off from Victoria Park and I don't think you could have squeezed another mini in there, I think there was over 300 mini's peeking out of everywhere. We played a few tunes before we led them off, out of the park and down along the quay. We then waved off all 300 odd minis.

25th August - Bradworthy Carnival

This one will be remembered for the demise of a side drum......... Of our four side drums we had three red and one black one and as it would be another six to eight weeks before the new side drums would arrive I thought it would be a good idea to cover the remaining black drum with red vinyl. So I took the drum after Ilfracombe Carnival on the Thursday and returned it to its rightful owner at band practice on Friday night. Andrew, our rookie side drummer, was very proud of his new shiny drum, BYPB logo and all, he was no longer the black drum of the family.

Anyway back to Bradwothy where we marched into the village square to collect the Carnival Queens and lead them to the start of the carnival. It was here in the square that Andrew's nice shiny drum decided it no longer wanted to belong to him and snapped away from the harness, crashing to the ground and smashing the shell in half. I think I said something like "Oh my giddy aunt" or very similar. We didn't have time to do anything there and then as we were just about to march off. So I had the time it took us to march to the start of the carnival to think of how to fix it and then about 20 minutes to fix it when we got there.

I came up with a few ideas along the way and then shot off to the car to put them in action. The hook of the drum was ok and it was the carry hook on the harness that had falling off. So we fixed up the shell that was damaged with some sticky tape. I now had to work out how Andrew could carry the drum, I did have a drum sling but the drum had no leg rest so I tried both harness and sling trying to get the sling at the same height and the carry hook was on the sling, this nearly work but the drum swung about too much. So it was back to my pipe box / fix it box. After a bit of digging I found two gutter bolts just the right length to reattach the carry hook to the harness. All fixed, it wasn't great but it was playable and we were back up to full strength on our sides.

Sometimes nice easy carnival's aren't so nice and easy!

23rd August - Ilfracombe Carnival

This was the start of a long and busy weekend for the band - Five engagements in five days and Ilfracombe Carnival is a long hard march to start it off with. The Parade starts at the top of the town and winds its way down through the town until we eventually get down to the harbour. The hardest part of the carnival is the last bit, all the main crowds are here and you're just about all blown out and all you want it the end. We put on a professional show right until the end though.

We did have trouble again here with coin throwing, I really don't know why they throw coins at the band, it'll only result in us pulling out of the carnival in the end, but on the whole it was a good march down and the band police had they're hands full most the time and it was a little breezy to in places (hehe).

After each engagement we seem to have to find a chippy and this weeks lucky chip shop was - Squires in Braunton, who were just about to close but decided they could manage another 20 bags of chips. Thanks!!!!

18th August - Bude Carnival

I think this was the best the band has sounded this year, had a nice pitch and pace. First half of the carnival was really good even getting wet in one heavy shower that only lasted three tunes. Bude Carnival sort of has three parts - first part is packed with people and we sounded great - second part is the long hard slog around the golf course, we do most of this to a tap playing tunes here and there, it was in this part we lost the nice pace we had - third part is back down through the town and due to the rain most of the people watching had disappeared, we also had some very long waits as well. On the last stretch we found out what the hold up was, about 6 floats in front of us was a float that decided to stop and climb off the float and give a 10 minute dancing display. So all the vehicles in front of it had disappeared and cars were now getting on the carnival route. When we did get moving most of the things in front raced off and when we reached a roundabout we nearly had a side drummer wiped out by a car dashing between the carnival. They had been told to stop buy one of our band policemen but decided they couldn't wait and went just after the band. All this was being watched by a marshal as well as a police special, who said they couldn't do anything about it! Hmmm so what were they actually marshalling???

Apart from the end of the carnival we had a good march, sounded great and the band was on a high.

12th August - Burma Star Parade, Exeter

A nice easy parade for the band and always a great pleasure to lead the veterans to church. This year we learnt a new tune just for the Burma Star, "Heroes of Kohima". I think the tune went down well, it did take a little time to get over to the members what we were playing as the vicar got the name wrong, we then tried a second time but the gentleman announcing held the microphone to far away so apart from not hearing a word he was saying there was lots of feedback. Which did sound like a lot of hearing aids squealing, I'm sure it was mic feedback though. So at the third attempt Mike got the message across about the tune.

After leading military men it was then off to see another military man - Colonel Sanders KFC, which was the highlight for the band members of the day, and what made it even better was the buckets were on Pat and Fergie. So the day ended as a Birthday party for Fergie in KFC for which we thanked him with an outburst of Happy Birthday at the top of our voices.

11th August - Bodmin Carnival

First time the band had ever done Bodmin Carnival, it's always fun doing something you've never done before, but then I've never bungee jumped yet and I'm sure that's not fun! Anyway we tuned up on a playing field / green not sure what it was classified as, all very relaxed and Cornish. Once again we led the carnival and once again we had to follow a shire horse, who decided to unload just before we moved off and I'm sure it had been waiting all day, my was it a big one. The parade was quite easy no great hills to climb with great crowds right at the end.

After we finished we watched the rest of the carnival come in and were really impressed with St Austell Town Band. We've played in lots and lots of carnivals, parades etc in our 17 years and they have to be the best band we've seen, they played really happy cheerful tunes, not the usual town band slightly dreary marches.

Thanks to Bodmin Carnival Committee for the great refreshments at the Barley Sheaf pub after the carnival.

We also welcomed back to the band - Side Drummer Jamie Loder.

4th August - Tintagel Carnival

This was turning out to be one of those engagements that just wasn't happening. Due to one reason or another people were dropping out of this one, but we did have just enough to make all the right noises, but then a few hours before the carnival our stand-in bass drummer rang to say he couldn't make it. So there we were with no bass drummer and we couldn't afford to lose any more pipers or drummers to move onto bass. So it was mad panic and trying to think of all the alternatives, anyway to cut a long story short which included the thought of taking a smaller bass drum so we could maybe find someone to play it, I was desperate. Jamie stood in at the last minute and I mean the last minute, we were meeting at 5pm and he helped out at five to. Jamie had left the band a few weeks ago, but fortunately he still had his uniform and was only to happy to drop everything he was doing to help the band out in our dying hour.

Well in the end it all worked out really well, the band played well, although a little weak. The hardest part of the whole carnival was following a shire horse with bright sunshine in our eye and trying to dodge the parcels being left by the horse.

Thanks to Tintagel Carnival for the great tea after the carnival.

29th July - Bude Canal Day

Different than previous years, as we had to play on the Castle Green instead of the beside the canal. This was because of the regeneration work that's started on the wharf. So we marched from the Bude Light up onto the castle grounds to make our entrance. Our first performance was good, we then had a break before our second performance. During our break we listened to the Boscastle Busker. He was great, sang for about three quarters of an hour non stop, he had most the band tapping their feet.

Our second performance wasn't as good as the first, not sure if this was due to the standing around in the sun - making people feel tired and sluggish, but the whole performance just didn't seem to feel right, seemed a fight with the bass drum, sides and the pipes. Perhaps we need team talks to hype the band before we go on each time - or maybe not.

We were then due to travel on down the coast to play at Crackington Haven Carnival, but unfortunately this was cancelled because of a water logged field.

28th July - Landkey Summer Show and Fete

Another first for the band and a nice little relaxed job, well it was when we managed to get everyone there. We even had the pleasure of being on the same bill as the famous Westcountry TV presenter "Seth Conway". Doesn't get any better!

Best part of the day - we managed to stay dry!!!!

27th July - THEME NIGHT - Casualty

The idea was to come in what you might find in casualty or hospital in general. PICTURES

21st July - Tavistock Carnival

We haven't done this carnival for a couple of years, this always seems to be a busy weekend for the band and we're always wanted by about three different places, it was Tavistock's turn this year. The carnival is quite a long one with one main street beside the canal that seems to go on for ever. On the whole it all went well, a little trouble with some chav's near the end, but we get that at most carnivals, the dumb wits.

A BIG BIG thanks to Gubby for sorting out the pub so we could use their loo and the 20 bags of chips for the whole band after we finished.

8th July - Bideford Youth Day in the Park

This was a chance for the band to recruit new members. We were hoping to perform but due to change of date we were unable to. The whole day was to show the youth and parents of Bideford what it has to offer. I think on the whole it wasn't a lot of good for the band, most of kids that looked a little interested in what we had to offer were about 5 or 6 and a little too young for us and most of the kids wandering around that were the right age for our band already belonged to the other youth groups exhibiting there. I think others must have been finding it a little slow as they were trying to recruit our members, which I thought was a little cheeky, it's okay that they meet on other nights than band practice night but when it comes to the weekend and the time you tend to show off the skill of your group the child then has to decide which group to let down. Luckily the small group of members we did have there are very dedicated to the band and turned them down politely.

I think if the band was going to be enticed back again next year, it would need to be more of a fund raising event for each group showing on the day. This would not only give more incentive for the group but give the public more to do on the day and not just look at a lots of bored members standing beside displays about their organisation.

There was a plus for the day - we did have 5 hours of good practice on chanters and drum pads.

7th July - Kilkhampton Fete and St Breward Carnival

It was the first time the band had performed in Kilkhampton and it was good fun. The band led the Fete Queen to the church square to be crowned, then down the road around another another square and back up the road to the fete. We then had a quick breather before performing again. We then all sat around in a big circle and were given refreshments, great fun.

It was then onto St Breward for more tea and cake before the carnival. We had a double helping of cake as it was piper Harriet's birthday and the band surprised her with a big chocolate cake. The carnival is one of those easy but hard ones. The first part of the route is nice and easy with an appreciative crowd but the second half is up a steep country lane that seems to go on for ever and then all of a sudden you're at the top and it's time to play again into the field at the end.

This year we were asked to play after the prize giving. I think they gave out prizes for a whole year's worth of events and the poor carnival queen had to sit through the whole of this and even she lost that regal smile and the excitement of the evening by the end. After the prize giving it was then........... draw prize time, but in the end we did get to perform and the people that did hang around were great.

Thanks once again to Dave for standing in on bass and for letting me swap instruments so I could play bass in the field at St Breward.

30th June - Liskeard Carnival

Wet Wet and VERY Wet. We arrived in Liskeard to heavy rain and parked in our usual place in the school. Luckily we did find somewhere undercover to tune up, and the rain seemed to come down more and more while we did. So we tuned up and then all put our Inverness capes on and moved out to the main road at 6 o'clock, where we march down to the start of the carnival. When we got there we found no one around, no marshals, no majorettes, no police and no activity in the fire station where there's usually a live band tuning up. So instead of waiting around in the rain we thought we should walk down to the start, just as we set off a marshal turned up and asked if we were marching down, after a little discussion it was decided to walk down.

The rain did ease off for the actual carnival and the route was shortened. We did our usual march down the main street of Liskeard at the end of the carnival with the City of Plymouth Pipe Band, which is always great fun and always a very tight fit trying to fit in six rows of pipers up a very narrow road at the end.

We all then headed back to Holsworthy, or Holsworth as it says on the shirts of the kebab shop people, for take away and to sing Happy Birthday to Big Dave.

29th June - THEME NIGHT - Punk

We was looking well hard and renamed the band Bideford Youth PUNK Band. PICTURES

24th June - RBL Devon County Rally, CTCRM Lympstone

It was a great honour for the band to play at this event. A good performance from a slightly smaller band then we usually have. I must say I was a little disappointed with the effort at turning out for this important engagement, but the one's that did make it did a professional job and we had lots and lots of encouraging comments about the band. So a big pat on the back for this one.

The Royal Marine Band were also playing at this event and they do amaze me every time I see them, the sound of their band seemed to fill the whole parade ground and it was interesting to see how a drum head service was done. We didn't get to see the beating retreat at the end which was pity as we had a lot of hungry kids all dying to get off to find food. As we drove away from RM Lympstone the rain started to fall so maybe it was good that we missed the end.

We found food at Exeter in the form of a KFC, which disappoints me more and more everytime, not sure if it's me getting older or KFC's standards are dropping, but the kids enjoyed it until they were told the ice cream machine wasn't working so it was then off up the road to McDonalds for dessert.

As we couldn't play happy birthday to Will Webber at the engagement the whole band sang to him in McDonalds, which amused the rest the customers and embarrassed Will - so job well done.

17th June - Bideford Mayoral Parade / Ilfracombe Victorian Week Closing Parade

We got away without getting wet, which was a surprise. It was quite hot and humid most the day. It was an early start, pipers met up at 9am (well most of them). We tuned up with most of the pipers still half asleep, it sounded okay and we made our way to the Town Hall where the drummers were waiting and the parade began. Everything went smoothly and it didn't sound too bad, I think a few still hadn't woken up though. It was then onto Will's place, to get changed, chill for a bit and have lunch. Most the adults chilled while the kids played football, not sure where the energy came from.

We then changed back into our uniforms and it was on to Ifracombe, where we had a quick tune up. It was sounding quite good, although I don't think it sounded as together as the week before with all the younger pipers, so we need to find out what's happening there! The parade down through the town went quite quickly with no problems, just had to dodge the steaming packages on the road left by the horses in front.

Drummers did a great job as usual even though you were a few missing, well done everyone.

First time out for new band policewoman Hazel Bissessar.

9th June - Ilfracombe Victorian Week Opening Parade

It wasn't looking good, we had 9 players down and they were all the older more experienced players. I changed a few reeds on Friday night for something a little stronger to try to give us a bit of strength. We didn't have our Bass Drummer so we had to lose a piper and big Dave got the job. We also promoted Tenor Drummer Andrew Jefferies onto side to give us a little more power on the back.

Well what can I say, the band did a brilliant job. Pipers were playing together, Side Drummers were together and most important the whole band was playing together. Dave did a brill job on Bass and towered above our rather short looking band. I was most impressed with Andrew on side drum for the very first time, he only started learning a month ago and fits into the side section like he's always been there, well done Drew!

I think this must have been the youngest band we've ever been out with and you should all be proud of yourselves, I'm proud of you all.

30th May - THEME NIGHT - Hat Night

It got to the end of the month and we nearly forgot theme night! Oh my, how could we do that, so we had to think quick and came up with "Hat Night", easy just wear a hat, the sillier the better - PICTURES

28th May - Potwalloping, Westward Ho! and Braunton Village Fair

We met up and tuned up in Bideford as it is a lot easier than trying to find somewhere suitable in Westward Ho! Tuning didn't go well - just one of those days when things just didn't sound right. I got somewhere near it and we made are way to the Potwalloping. Westward Ho! was very windy and I thought the people watching would have something interesting to look at as well as listen to.

We didn't play too badly, still sounding a little weak in places but we can work on that.

It was then off to Braunton and another arena performance. Braunton used to have a carnival parade through the village, but this year they decided to do away with the parade and just have the carnival. We did our performance and then we got asked if we would lead the fancy dress parade around the ring, which was fine and we were glad to do it. After about an hour we finally marched back into the arena, to find the parade already making its way around the ring, so we tagged on at the back. It then decided to leave the ring and do a lap of the field, but as we left the arena all the walkers seemed to disappear and I had no idea where to go, so just stopped the band and gave up. The fun of village fetes eh!

It was a great but rather windy day.

26th May - BYPB Dance

This is the third dance the band's held to raise a few pennies. It's not a dance like Saturday Night fever disco or a banging rave, but nice gentle sequence dancing (a bit like ballroom for those who don't know). This time it was at St Giles in the Wood, in the middle of nowhere, but we had a great crowd of people and raised over £200.

Thank you Simon & Lorraine for sorting it!

19th May - Lord Mayor's Parade, Plymouth

This year we took a full band (well only a few away) down to join the City of Plymouth Pipe Band this year. Once again we had a great time playing with the Plymouth band. This year's route was different than the last few year's that I've done it. The other way around the city and a bit chopped off, shorter but just as hard work, well I thought it was, maybe I'm just getting older! We all invaded the KFC on the way home, which is always fun to see the looks on peoples faces as a tartan army walk in.

Thanks to the Plymouth band for letting us join them and for the refreshments after.

5th May - Torrington Carnival

Torrington Carnival always seems like the start of our engagements for the year and it's always a long hard march to start the season off with. This year seemed just as hard as the previous ones - it was either the hot evening or it's me getting older! The parade went well and seemed to flow better, not much starting and stopping. When we got to the town square where most the people watch the carnival we tried out our new trick of playing Amazing Grace at a quick march pace then breaking into Scotland the Brave and it worked really well.

Well done everyone you did really well. Pipers we need to blow a little harder as we're sounding a little weak at the moment!

27th April - THEME NIGHT, White Night

White night, sounds like a member of King Arthurs round table, but we didn't have to come dressed as knights, just dressed in white. PICTURES

25th April - Cheque Presentation to BYPB

This was a first for the band, playing at the Royal North Devon Golf Club at Westward Ho! We played a few tunes before we were presented with a cheque from Rob Floyd (Zoe Floyd's Dad).

Rob did a sponsored double marathon, yes two marathons in one month. His first marathon was on 1st April at Taunton where he finished in a time of 3h 48m 49s and then the famous London Marathon on 22nd April finishing in an improved time of 3h 35m 13s, Wow! Way to go Rob, with lungs like that you should be a piper.

We're not sure of the final amount raised, but I'll let you know. As they say, "Watch this space".

22nd April - St George's Parade, Dunster

This year the parade took on a new twist as it was the 100th year of Scouting. We marched the parade to and from the Church along the same route. In previous years the march back from the church has been a short route and a nice short march. For our first full band engagement of the year it wasn't a bad performance. Well done Chris and Richard for a sterling performance on side, you held it together well.

First time out for Tenor Drummers Maddie Meddings, William Dare and Piper Zoe Floyd. Will Webber also joined the ranks of the pipers from the tenor section.

14th April - Bideford Farmers Market

Last minute call for the band to perform. So we were short of players and only just had over half the band playing. Our Bass drummer couldn't make it so we did our first performance with piper Jodie Inch standing in and our second stint had Piper Dave Crossley on bass finishing and marching off with Me, the PM, on bass. For a small band we sounded good and we even managed to collect over £100.

31st March - Drum Corps at RMB Chivenor

The Drum Corps are asked if they could perform a drum solo at the Royal Marines Association Dinner at RMB Chivenor. We were asked to come up with about 10 minutes of performance! (big glup). After many band practices pondering over what to do we finally came up with 5 minutes and 35 seconds worth and the time it took us to march on and off would bring it up to nearly 10 minutes (we hoped). It was now down to some hard practice, first to get the drumming right, then to sharpen up the performance and drill.

Before I go on I ought to mention that I joined the side section for this one to help boost numbers and maybe help with a little confidence. The night before the performance it all came together and the drummers were playing all together and without wriggling and looking around, so we tested our performance on the pipers and they were actually really impressed.

The night of the performance we were all nervous and had a quick run through just to get rid of any of those mistakes. The run through went perfectly until I thought that I ought to practice the salute I had to give at the end. I brought my hand up smartly, saluted and giving my all I brought my hand down to karate chop my drum, doh! So this brought the rest of the drum corps down in fits of laughter, thanks lads. So now the pressure was off our performance and now on my salute and if I could manage it without hitting my drum we'd be okay.

After standing around for a while and lots of nervous chatting about who was going to go wrong and who was going to drop a stick it was time to go on. The performance went smoothly and my salute to Major Dunn was perfect. Major Dunn give me some very nice words to pass onto the rest of the drummers and was very impressed.

Well done drummers you really impressed everyone, keep up the hard work and unity you've built up on this one.

30th March - THEME NIGHT - Bad Hair Night

From purple hair, hair tied up in funny ways and hair that looked like they just got out of bed, not to mention the amount of hair gel, we all looked a little silly bunch. PICTURES

23rd February - THEME NIGHT - Cross Night

Wasn't sure what to call this one, it started as ladies and gentleman night, but the idea was to come as the opposite sex - boys as girls and girls as boys, so I've called it Cross Night. We had a few brave boys dressing up as girls and I'm sure they had a lot more fun than the girls dressed as boys. PICTURES

31st January - THEME NIGHT - Night Night

The first theme night of the year and it was "Night Night". The idea was to come to band in night clothes, PJ's, nightdress etc. There wasn't much chance of going to sleep at band practice though. PICTURES