Inspired 2015 | Page 18

CASSINO BAND 2015 has been an incredibly busy year for the Cassino Band. Whilst full of activity it has been extremely enjoyable, and the band has had the privilege to attend and perform at some prestigious events. These included a charity concert for the Army Benevolent Fund in Wooler, Armed Forces Day in Berwick, Amble Harbour Day for the RNLI Lifeboat Appeal, and Eden Camp Museum for the WW2 Escape Lines Memorial Society, to name but a few. Band members also held training programmes at annual camp and a separate band training week at Otterburn in October. They travelled overseas to Italy and spent a week in the Tenna Valley, playing at local villages. Where they were joined by members of the WW2 Escape Lines Memorial Society, who were participating on a Freedom Trail, re-tracing the steps of escaped prisoners of war during World War Two. 2015 has also seen a significant achievement within the band, Cadet Sgt Coxon was promoted to the appointment of Cadet Bandmaster. This appointment is highly sought after and cadets must display a number of abilities, not exclusively in music. All cadets and instructors are looking forward to another busy year in 2016 with some exciting opportunities lined up, including establishing a new recruitment team, re-launching the BTEC Diploma in Music, fundraising and a possible trip to Poland. Cassino Band parade on Wednesday evenings (19.00 to 21.00 hours) at Kingston Park Army Reserve Centre. Anyone interested is encouraged to come along for more information. You need not have any musical experience, we will teach you. The band can be followed on Facebook and on Twitter (@CassinoBand). PIPES & DRUMS In the past year our cadets have been country-wide with the North East Pipes, Drums and Highland Dancers. From attending Army Cadet Force Association concentrations at Inverness and Edinburgh, to performing at a range of events, parades and weekends away. The band comprises cadets from both the ACF and Combined Cadet Force (CCF), and also welcomes Air and Sea cadets. In February they took part in their first march at Alnwick, leading the Tyneside Scottish commemoration parade, whilst earlier that day cadets had competed at the NE Piping Championships. Here they cleared up taking 1st, 2nd and 3rd places in all but one category that our cadets were eligible to enter. Come April saw the largest contingent go to camp at Inverness, with five proud cadets joining the National Cadet Pipe Band. These same cadets performed at Falcon Square (Inverness) and at Dingwall, whilst in May they beat the retreat on the Esplanade of Edinburgh Castle. They have taken part in a large number of concerts, from playing in care homes, community halls and music festivals, to fundraisers and at high street parades. They led the parade at Coldstream for the Waterloo 200 commemorations and again at Alnwick Castle for Northumbria ACF’s beating the retreat. Their parade at Lesbury commemorated Piper Laidlaw VC and on Remembrance Sunday the full band played at Newbiggin-by-the-Sea. Whilst pipers and drummers also attended a Remembrance event at the Northumberland Church of England Academy (NCEA) on Armistice Day. Events had also been held in Morpeth on the Sunday evening and at Newsham in Blyth on the Saturday. As always a very, very busy weekend. There are now 18 dancers, all of whom either drum, bugle or pipe as well as dance. They have performed at a number of venues over the past 12 months, including joining the band at Bradford CCF’s annual review, where they were inspected by 4 Infantry Brigade’s Commander, Brigadier Jeremy Strickland. Special mention should be made of Drum Major Thomas Barnes who is ranked World 10th under-18 solo drummer, and is England’s number one. Whilst Cadet SSgt Tom Jones is a Level 4 Piper and Cadet Sgt Minjie Li a Level 5 in the Scottish Qualification Authority levels (1 to 6). Want to learn the highland bagpipes, side, tenor or bass drum, bugle or dancing? No experience necessary, we will teach you. The band parades on Mondays in Ashington (19.00-21.00 hours) at the Northumberland Church of England Academy. 18