UK Tour Day 2 (May 28)

We started our first full tour day with a full English breakfast buffet at the hotel in Boscombe. Following breakfast we proceeded to the Pine Walk Bandstand in Bournemouth. The bandstand is located alongside a stream and walking paths through a lovely park. The first official piece presented was the march Petone Citadel. Many people stopped to listen to variety of music that was split into two mini programs with a 15 minute break between the two sets.

It was a pleasant surprise to see Lt Colonel Susan Bukiewicz, one of our divisional leaders, at the concert who is in the UK attending the ICO.

Following the concert we loaded our equipment before having lunch on the bus or on Boscombe Pier en route to Christchurch for an afternoon of sightseeing. The Christchurch Priory is over 900 years old. As we approached the Priory the church bells began to ring and a bride and groom were provided a surprise first greeting as they exited the church. The look on the brides face was priceless as 30+ plus people all in identical jackets applauded them. After a few pictures they were soon whisked away in a white Rolls Royce.

We then returned to the Boscombe Army hall for a quick sound check before enjoying a delicious dinner.

Tonight's concert consisted of our "A" program and I will provide details of our "A" and "B" programs in a later post. For now, just understand that we have two basic concert programs that serve as the basis of our tour concerts. We tend to alternate them and customize as needed. Tonight we had only one customization and that was inclusion of "Chassidic Dance" by Howard Evans who is the Bandmaster of the Boscombe Corps Band. Bandmaster Evans was asked to conduct the piece.

In addition, we played "Purcell Variations" and were pleased to have Kenneth Downie who composed the piece in attendance.

It was interesting to learn that although we are here to help celebrate the 120th anniversary of the ISB the Boscombe Band, our hosts for the weekend, are celebrating their 125th anniversary this year.

All in all it's been a day of blessing and we are looking forward to worshipping with our Salvation Army friends tomorrow in Boscombe (am) and Reading (pm).