Riviera Concert Brass

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Well done to Samson who completed a sponsored walk in aid of the Save Our Seagrass Campaign. He walked from Beacon Cove in Torquay to Brixham Harbour taking in the 5 sea grass beds in Torbay. Torbay has seagrass beds the size of 2400 football pitches. As well as providing habitats for many sea creatures, it also helps to keep the sea clean, helps stop coastal erosion and holds twice as much carbon dioxide per hectare as a rainforest. He set off at 5:30am and reached Brixham 4 hours later. He was rewarded with a kiss from his sister and a hot chocolate and rocky road.

Mike and Hannah did two remembrance events last week. The first was to honour the memory of the local Home Guard members who were killed/ injured at Corbyn Head whilst on duty. This year the event also marked the 100th anniversary of the Royal British Legion. Torquay was one of the founding groups and has raised a great deal of money over the years for veterans and their families.

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The second was at the Cenotaph in Torquay and was for the HMS Repulse and HMS Prince of Wales Association. It was very touching to see a 101 year old veteran stand and salute his fallen comrades and great to see children, grandchildren and great grandchildren still remembering the sacrifice of crew members of these vessels. https://www.bbc.co.uk/history/ww2peopleswar/stories/79/a4217979.shtml#:~:text=The%20Sinking%20of%20HMS%20Prince%20of%20Wales%20and,worthwhile%20defensive%20support.%20About%201200%20men%20were%20lost.

Well, who would have thought it would take so long, but last night was our first tentative step back into rehearsals. Thermometers, risk assessments, chairs from home, spit rags and sanitiser are a bit of a pain but at least the weather stayed nice for us. A few missing due to illness which was a shame as we could have filled the whole playground but great to be back playing together.

Although the Band were not able to be involved in remembrance at Beacon Quay this year, our MD was asked to sound Last Post on the 6th of June to remember the troops who left from this slipway to take part in the landings in Normandy. It is quite a humbling thought to think that for many soldiers, this was the last piece of land which they stood on and as a Band, we hope that we will be able to keep the memory of these brave men alive for many years to come.

This week we have learnt that one of our fantastic bass players, Bernard Ryan, has passed away. Those who knew him will agree that as well as being a great musician, he was a wonderful source of knowledge, the true sense of a gentleman and a good friend. Travelling from Saltash to rehearsals with his wife June, he was never missing, even when he didn’t feel 100 percent. I am sure we will still hear the echoes of his unforgettable laugh ringing out at our rehearsals. Our thoughts and prayers are with June and all of Bernard’s family.

This evening on zoom we had a minutes silence for our dear friend Bernie and shared our memories of him.

Zoom tonight was teddy bear themed with Teddy Bear music and our “old” (some very old) bears. Even Sally brought along her teddy. Chris brought his cat but it left when we started playing!

This week, Sally was joined by her brother Max. He gave us a lovely rendition of ‘New York, New York’. Hopefully our audiences might get to hear him when we get back to doing our concerts. Theresa and the band are really looking forward to raising some money for charities again soon.

Last year we let you know about our zoom meetings via our news page. Well, we were really honoured to have the famous local singer, Sally, join us for our Zoom play and chat last week. She was very well behaved and polite and sang along to the music. Although the band are missing seeing each other, we have a fantastic time on a Thursday night and are all looking forward to getting back to rehearsals. A big ‘thank you’ to our Chairman Ray Lloyd for keeping us all going with his technical expertise!

All the Band were really upset that we had to cancel our Festival of Remembrance this year. A number of them did still play in services organised under covid restrictions or in their streets. Here is a video of Hannah who played for Torbay Council at the Cenotaph in Torquay which is 100 years old this year. She is playing from the roof of the Pavillion across Torre Abbey Gardens. It was a scary business as the maroon was let off right behind her and the cruise ships in the bay signalled the start and end of the silence.

Here are some photos of our percussionist Roger and his wife Sharyn who really went to town on the Clap for Carers evenings.