On 23rd May 2003 the Haslemere Town Band and friends departed for a 5 day visit to our twin town Horb-am-Neckar. Horb has a military band with whom we stayed. There were several social events including a trip to a local brewery (fitted in well with the overall tone of the trip) as well as a concert or two. See Twin Bands for more information on Horb.
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Fun was certainly the order of the day with our visit to Horb in May. The trip was so eventful I don’t know where to begin, but here are my recollections of a few truly splendid days,
It all started at Erricson Training Centre car park, wasn’t the coach driver a sociable chap! Well we weren’t going to let him spoil our trip were we, at least he got us to the airport on time! I think it took him longer to turn the coach round in the car park at Haslemere than drive to Stanstead!
Thanks to Graham Ingram arranging weight displacement and luggage trade off for the bigger instruments, checking in went very smoothly although there were a few worried faces as the larger instruments disappeared from sight! (see Peter, pictured above thinking its ok for Claire, her cornet is probably in her rucksack) and Graham’s drum sticks are in his back pocket, Luckily and with considerable relief It all came together when we landed in Germany and everyone was re-united with there most trusted possession, we then had a short ha ha! coach trip to Horb, with Richard’s children Checking in at Stanstead: doing a splendid job of keeping us awake so we didn’t miss any of the scenery!!!! Old friends were reunited on arrival in Horb and we were all pleased to get to the homes of our host families or, in my case and a few others, our hotel.
We then sampled our host’s truly magnificent hospitality with a reception at the Horb Band Room with food and drink, and drink, and drink – I think all band rooms, hic, should have lager, hic, on tap, hic, don’t you! The odd song was forthcoming with our good friend Phil German as song-master, ably assisted by Trevor, Chris, Terry Burns and chiefly yourselves (no pictures available of the evening for fear of prosecution)
We were offered a tour of Horb on Saturday Morning with a local Teacher/Historian guide thrown in.
He was superb and before we set off he gave a comprehensive talk, in very good English of how the town of Horb had developed from medieval times, through many battles and changes of leaders and Local Governments
The Tour of Horb:.
Jean, Nan, Charles & his good lady, with Johnny
prepping for his own snap:
.
Some knew what was in store and made the most of a sit down before we set off to see the beautiful church
Trevor, Chris & Graham: are they really the three likely lads who led the singing last night?
And then on to see tremendous fortifications at the top of
the hill, well Plateau as described by our guide, stopping at several places of
interest en route or should that be ein rutten! (French and German, whatever
next, my English is bad enough without trying to be multi-lingual). When we
stopped at one point to hear about some local history and building techniques we
all headed for shade as the sun was extremely hot, making those suffering
dehydration from the night before even more thirsty!
Winston, Pete & others: taking stock or just
looking forward to a cold beer?
It was then down to the real business of the trip; Playing some music with our Hosts,
The rehearsal in the afternoon was the first chance for some of us to meet and hear Horb Band,
Horb band rehearse:
And what a truly wonderful bunch they all are, making some delightful music both on their own and jointly with Haslemere Band. Although the latter took considerable organising from both Oliver and Graham, but it all came together for the evening concert - didn’t they do well!
Haslemere Band in the wings: Phillip
obviously enjoyed himself the night before, caught here taking forty winks just
before we were due to play!
Both bands rose to the occasion at the concert putting on
an incredible performance both separately and jointly, the result, an extremely
good concert, enjoyed by audience and band members alike. Oliver commented that
watching June playing the Timpani reminded him of the television advert for
batteries where the rabbit is banging the drum, June’s new nickname, you guessed
it - Duracell June!
Haslemere & Horb Band in Concert this photo
appeared in one of Horb’s Newspapers along with a glowing report of the concert!
After several encores the concert closed and It was off to get changed ready for the barbecue, to be held in the band room as the weather did not look too promising, we all enjoyed a little drinking, a little eating and a little singing. those singing appeared to enjoy a little more drinking than those not singing!, sounds familiar, but a good time was had by all!
Sunday Morning Market Concert
What a Front Row
We are not feeling grey, this is another picture from one of Horb’s newspapers in black and white this time! note we all have the same valve down at the same time - Impressive!
A dull and rainy Sunday morning was brightened by the music of Haslemere Town Band, visiting from England, well that was the report in the paper and how right they were.
Oh Yeah! Oh Yeah! Oh Yeah!
Graham chose a varied and appropriate programme.
Our rendition of singing in the rain was greatly appreciated by the audience with them performing dancing and the twirling of umbrellas.
Drinks and a Light snack were provided and the afternoon
was left free for us to relax, followed by a get together in the evening at The
Ship Restaurant. (I am still waiting for my meal to be served – those on the
same table as myself will understand!)
8.30am Monday morning, we were on the coach to Fisherwerke
who were our hosts for the morning with a guided tour of their impressive works
where they produce eight million articles every day of varying descriptions from
fixings for the building industry to coat hangers and toys, on the way there on
the coach we climbed high up the Plateau (I’m sure it’s a hill) and at one point
Marianne commented that she thought we were up in the clouds. Nan quickly
replied that she thought Marianne always was up in the clouds, bless!!
Fisherwerke also provided us with a splendid lunch and a visit to the shop where
we could make purchases of Fisherwerke products. I have not published any
photographs of the tour by their request but here is a photo of our host who
arranged the visit and is in charge of training at the Fisherwerke Factory.
Our Host at Fisherwerke Factory:
Back on the coach and off to the Kronen-brauerei in Hochdorfer
Arriving at Kronen-Brauerei:
to see the process of brewing lager, well we had consumed a considerable quantity, it was only right to see how it was made wasn’t it?
It was a most interesting tour and it was good to see that we hadn’t completely depleted the local reserves of Lager! Although we had done our best!
Lager in the making:
No June these are not German Timps! I’m sure you knew that anyway didn’t you!
We were given a talk and offered samples of different drinks that were made at the brewery and Peter did a splendid job of translating for us.
Peter Sauter Translates: (quite at home in
Horb) thank you Peter.
After a few drinks some people tell all sorts of stories! I leave you to draw your own conclusions as to what Tony’s wife is describing below!
Caught on camera:
It was then back to Horb to get ready for our farewell evening.
We were treated to more food and drinks and presents were exchanged by both bands along with speeches, brilliantly translated again by Peter Sauter.
Singing prevailed with Graham Ingram, Phil and Terry leading a wonderful rendition of Swing Low Sweet Chariot with actions, in some cases, speaking louder than the words and then ably assisted by Trevor and Chris a somewhat muddled version of one finger one thumb keep moving, with various solo’s including Country Roads from Dan and Rivers of Babylon by yours truly was rounded off with some Uhm Pah Pah music played by members of Horb Band, a truly memorable evening! And so to bed!
Farewells were the order of the day on Tuesday.
Goodbye and Thank you:
On to the coach and off to the airport with a short stop for some last minute purchases of souvenirs!
Phew, did we really do all that in four days, yes we did and I can’t wait for the next time!
A Big Big Big thank you to the organisers, Dave Miller, Jean Turner, Graham Ingram anyone else who was involved plus a special thank you to Peter Sauter for his translating.