| Name of walk | Ulverston Canal Gala & Ambleside Sports |
| Date of walk | 2019-07-25 |
Brass band photos from the Ulverston Canal Gala, Ambleside Sports and playing outside the Coronation Hall.
Canal Foot.
Our band room is at the other end of the canal at Canal Head.
The Ulverston Training Band, a mixture of adults and youngsters, which means I get to play 1st cornet and actually play the tune.
We play from 11.30am until 12.15pm.
I didn't expect to see a Dalek go past my music stand! That's multi-galactic Ulverston for you! Ulverston, twinned with Skaro.....who'd have thought?
Apparently, the Supreme Dalek has a holiday home in Bardsea! A couple of weeks ago I was asked what my specialist subject would be on 'Mastermind'. I replied 'Dr.Who' 1970-74, the Jon Pertwee Years. A much simpler time, when Daleks couldn't climb stairs and major catastrophes could be easily averted just by 'reversing the polarity of the neutron flow'. Happy days!
Levens viaduct
At Ambleside Sports Ian, the conductor of the South Cumbria Brass Band, preparing to start our 12-4pm slot.
It was sweltering and the hottest day of the year! So no jackets or ties.
Brendan takes these photos.
O'er the band is within sight of the beer tent! We have a programme of 27 pieces to get through.
The back row cornets, Billy, Helen and me. My first time playing 3rd cornet parts by myself. I have a T-shirt for when I'm bell ringing that says "Jazz bell ringer....I'm not going wrong, I'm improvising!" I think I need a cornet one.....those fast marches.....I end up best guessing!
There were three pieces of new music that I played for the first time today, which went okay, so my ability to sight read is steadily improving!
After an hour we have a break and get a chance to wander about and watch the running/cycling races, and wrestling.
The fell runners are heading up the hill. A bit hot for that today! At the end of the day we met MP Tim Farron, exhausted and red as a beetroot after his fell race. Obviously much preferable to being faced with Boris!
There were hound races too today.
Basil Brush! I'm back in the 1970's again! Boom Boom!
Wrestling on the right, races on the left.
Back to work!
Ian and the 1st cornets.
I'm shirking! The band play 'Happy Birthday' for a member of the audience, but I can't see well enough to share the music between the three of us, so I sit back, relax, and finish my coffee.
As a 3rd cornet most of my notes are below the stave, in fact, some of them are so low frequency that I never know if I'm making music or attempting to communicate with passing Whales!
A great view of Loughrigg Fell from the tent.
Suddenly the heavens opened and it poured. Ian the conductor was in the rain, but he battled on. I had ten bars rest at the end of this tune so I could capture the moment!
We had plenty of breaks.
Some of the band take full advantage of our proximity to the beer tent!
Three happy cornet players.
The view from my music stand!
Freezing our behinds off outside the Coronation Hall in Ulverston, last month. I even had a guy sit on the spare chair next to me (left in case Billy, 2nd cornet, came) and start unwrapping and eating a pie! Bizarre! I totally lost count. At least it amused the hell out of everyone else
Another sunny, but windy day outside the Coro. These photos were taken by Brendan.
No, we don't have three conductors! That is a statue of Stan Laurel (born in Ulverston) and Oliver Hardy, with Ian.
Derek and Mervyn doing their thing!
Hazel and me.
Ian with his back-seat-drivers.
Hey, it even looks like I know what I'm doing!
I 'borrowed' this excellent photo from the South Cumbria Brass Band Facebook page!
Next up is The Ulverston and North Lonsdale Show on Wednesday the 31st July, then Cartmel Show on the 7th August.
Jo.
