UK Tour - Day 5 (May 31)

Today marks the time in tour where we wake up, travel to a new place, play a concert, go to bed and then begin the cycle over again. That will be or schedule until we arrive back in London on Saturday. But we will get to see a bit of the countryside from inside a coach and will meet many fantastic people along the way.

We loaded the coach and trailer in Reading this morning and headed to Norwich where we were to be hosted at the Norwich Citadel Corps. The Norwich Citadel is corps number 304 in the Salvation Army world and has a longstanding brass band tradition. Their band has been in our territory no fewer than three times and the Norridge Citadel Band visited Norwich a few years ago. So, there are some connections between our home territory and Norwich.

Upon arrival we set up quickly before heading out to find lunch on our own. The band found everything to eat including roast beef sandwiches, sausages, fish and chips, cornish pasties and Subway. One of those is not an indigenous dish!

Following lunch we took a brief tour of Norwich on the coach as we made our way to a boat tour of the Broads, Britain's magical waterland. The Broads are a series of lakes and rivers joined together into a delightful and beautiful waterway. We were treated to a 1 1/2 hour tour out of Wroxham.

At the conclusion of the tour we were treated to a lovely carvery dinner before returning to the Army hall for final concert preparations. One of our young percussionists wasn't feeling well and it was necessary for him to miss the concert. It was nothing serious (he's fine this morning) but it was very helpful to have a member of the Norwich Citadel Band fill in for him for the concert.

The hall was nearly full and we used our "A" program with Mike Hanton performing "Swing Low". We also included the congregational song "Zephaniah's Song".

It was a good day in Norwich and we are grateful for all the provisions made on our behalf. After a short night of sleep we are headed further north to Leeds tomorrow.