Friday 9th June saw the Greatest Free Show on Earth once more in Saddleworth and Tameside. The annual Whit Friday Marches attract bands from all over the country. I guess it was because I never took banding seriously until 1999, but the first time I ever played at the Whit Friday Marches wasn’t until then. Since then I’ve only missed one Whit Friday, in 2002 when Imps played at the Masters two days later. This year was a first for me though, as it is the first time I’ve played for a scratch band.

Back in February, I played at the Brass at the Guild contest for Jackfield Elcock Reisen and was asked if I fancied playing at the Whit Friday Marches for a scratch band which was being put together. I agreed and also volunteered to guide the band around Tameside. I guided the Ransome Band around Tameside last year and we managed to play at all 11 venues. The scratch band was born and swiftly named Hawaiian Brass.

Friday saw 44 of us marching around Tameside dressed in Hawaiian shirts, hula skirts and sandals. We marched to the theme from Hawaii Five-0 and played the march “The President” on the stand. At the time of writing, I’ve not heard of any of our results, but we certainly entertained people. We were the fourth band to play at Denton Cricket Club, traditionally the start of the Tameside contests. After that we played number 2 at Dukinfield. As the night progressed, we brought the audience onto our side, with our antics on the march. We got huge cheers as we marched down to the stand and this translated into big cheers when we finished the contest march. Sadly, I’m sure this won’t translate into great results, although we may get a few good places.

We arrived at Broadoak, our last stop for the night, at just after 10.30pm, the closing point. However, the reputation we received all the way around meant that we were able to talk our way onto the contest card, playing the last band and getting a great cheer from the crowd. Talking to some of them, they had been waiting from 6pm to hear us play, which was a great testament. It wasn’t that they thought we were a top band but they had heard that we were something to watch on the march down to the stand.

Friday was also the start of the World Cup, I’ve managed to catch some of the games, most notably the England / Paraguay game. I’ve seen parts of a few other games, but I have to say that I haven’t been impressed with England so far. There seems to be too much hype and not enough action. Cote d’Ivoire impressed me, but I still fancy Argentina to win the tournament. The Czechs are dark horses for me, but it’s still only 3 days in.

I’ve spent most of the weekend recording a Christmas CD with the band. It’s got fifteen tracks on it, including “Ukranian Bell Carol”, “The Little Drummer Boy” and “Fanfare of the Bells”. It will be out later in the year and although it’s been a little surreal recording a Christmas CD in the middle of the year, especially when it has been so hot, I’m sure it will go down well. That said, our last CD still hasn’t been released. If I can get some excerpts from the tracks, I will try and put them up on my website later in the year.

Anyway, it’s quarter to midnight, I’m at work in the morning and “The Dirty Dozen” is about to start so I’ll sign off for now. Hasta luego.