Congrats to Brian Mottershead on his first story in The Chester Chronicle this week... Brian is the new PR officer for the band, and is already working hard on this year's campaign. This is the first story of many to come! As we saw during our successful PR campaign leading up to our 150th concert last year, this is an important role and Brian needs your support - he needs news, stories, photos - anything to do with the band or band members. What do you do when you're not banding? Let Brian know and he'll use it to promote the band :) If you've any news, queries, questions then Brian is your man. He can be contacted by email on [email protected] Budding Training Band conductors should also use this email address to learn more about our Training Band, and to arrange a visit to 'check us out'.

Note that the Training Band has a new Coordinator - Tony Blain. Tony has been a supporter of the Training Band since the early days, his daughter Kirsty plays horn in both bands. Tony took over the band accounts part way through last year, and was voted in as TB Coordinator at the recent AGM. More about Tony in future news items. Good luck Tony in your new role. We're also still looking for someone to lead our Training Band musically too. We're looking for enthusiasm, energy, enthusiasm, sense of fun, commitment, energy, etc Musical knowledge is useful, but you don't need to have conducted before - although existing conductors are more than welcome. Send an email to [email protected] to arrange a chat or visit to the Training Band to see what it involves. Contact details for Tony will follow. Alternatively just turn up at 6.30pm on a Monday night at Mickle Trafford Scout Hut and have a chat with Tony. (not April 26th as the TB is playing out).

Members... Remember if you have a band e-mail address - get it setup! You could be missing out on important information... If your stuck, confused, lost and need a hand then e-mail [email protected] (if you can) or talk to Rob MacDonald at band. If you'd like a band e-mail account, then also get in touch with us and we can get it setup for you!

Checkout the events listing - just been updated.

Concept for Living now want the band on Saturday and Sunday (not Monday). This means that on Sunday it's Chester station first and then off to Tatton as quick as poss. Also means we've Monday off :) Can you please send Les home and mobile details pls - he's had major IT probs and lost the lot. Final details from Les at rehearsals....

Upton School U15 Netball team are the Chester District Champions. Congrats to: Lauren, Lizzie, Helen, and Chloe!

G'day, I've recently had a complaint that I have been ''very quiet'' lately... so I feel it's time to update you all!! Not to make you all jealous or anything, but I have spent the last 3 days on a 4WD Safari on Fraser Island & I don't know where to start! Ok, day 1 might be a good idea.... DAY 1 Early this morning we were put into groups of 9 & given a briefing by one of the local rangers. After checking all the camping equipment, collecting our food & loading up the roof of the Land Cruiser with all our gear we left Rainbow Beach & caught the barge over to Fraser Island - which takes around 5 minutes. We headed along the 75km stretch of golden beach up to central station where we spent some time checking out the rainforest. Next we went to Eurong - the closest place to civillisation on the Island. It has a bar, a convenience store, a few accommodation places and.. thats about it really. We carried on along the beach to Lake McKenzie - a fresh water lake with the most gorgeous coloured water ever! (By the way.. you cant swim in the sea surrounding fraser because of the sharks). Spent a few hours swimming & sunbathing & afterwards we decided to set up camp on the beach. We put up the tents, built a campfire and cooked tea - which consisted of steak, salad & potatos.. with a bit of sand for added texture. We partied into the night with the other campers & had a few visits from the local dingos. DAY 2 Got up around 7am, packed up everything & headed North to Eli Creek which was nice for a swim! Next we passed an old shipwreck sticking out of the sand which was pretty fascinating. We carried on along the beach & stopped at the champagne pools for another swim. We walked to Rainbow Gorge which is a massive sand dune with different coloured sands. After we walked to the top of Indian Heads where we could see some wicked views of the coast line & beach. We were supposed to camp back at Eurong but we left it too late & couldnt get beack because of the tides so we went to another place to camp on the beach For dinner we had stir-fry, noodles, veg & chicken, again with a sprinkle of sand for good measure - it was an absolute feast. There we lots of people fishing & camping nearby, so we joined them in the evening & got to talk to the locals. Around midnight we decided to go & explore the nearby sand dunes - 2 people were allocated to be on Dingo watch for the duration. DAY 3 We left around 10am & went to a local picnic area for breakfast. We had ''Aussie Bird in the Nest''... basically toast with a hole in the middle with a fried egg. By the time we'd washed up etc it was 12pm. We were supposed to catch the 3pm barge back to Rainbow but we stupidly decided to go back to Lake Mckenzie first because it was so beautiful & we all wanted another swim. This resulted in us missing the barge. Ooops.. We had to bomb it down the beach to make sure that we could catch the last barge at 5.30pm. At one point I wasn't sure we'd make it because the tide was coming in & we had to find an access point which took us onto higher ground. Luckily we found it in time & after rescuing a sleeping bag & trainer which flew off the roof, we arrived at the barge point with around 5 mins to spare. The people back at the hire company were pretty cool though & even though we were 3 hours late, they didn't mind too much. I can safely say it was one of the best weekends I've had in OZ so far & now I'm off to empty the sand out of my ears, nose & everywhere else. Sorry about the essay. If you made it this far congratulations. Hope all is well. Haven't heard from you all for a while, what's going on?? Lots of Love from me to you, xxx Christine (TB Euph!)

Mon 5th April: Training Band and main band as normal Fri 9th April: no rehearsal Mon 12th April: no rehearsal Fri 16th April: main band Mon 19th April: TB and main band back to normal

The main band mailing list is now back in action! If you don't think you have subscribed - or you are subscribed under the wrong address contact me ASAP. You should have received an e-mail from the system today - if you haven't then please e-mail me with your details including who you are if I don't know you! E-mail: [email protected] Thanks, Philip

A few words from our Musical Director Derek Mitchell: Well done everyone for your performance of Viscaya at Blackpool the other week. I am well satisfied with our position of 8th out of 20, and look back on this as a basis to build on. I thought the adjudication to be fair and constructive. Although this result was a team effort, I would like to mention some induvidual performances. Without our training band we would be struggling to contest. So well done to Chris, Amy, Lauren (cornets), Lizzie (percussion), Kirsty (horn), all training band members who have progressed to the senior band. Donna Jackson, for doing so well on 1st trombone, having been 'thrown in the deep end' so to speak, and Ian Clowes on 1st baritone, who I consider our most improved player this year. We now have to prepare our concert programmes. So plenty to look forward to, with new musical items having been purchased. Once again, thanks to Everyone, and let's carry this forward to rehearsals on Mondays and Fridays. Derek Mitchell March 2004