Review of the 'Invitational' event in Peterborough

The Glassmen and several European corps performed last Sunday at the East of England Invitational in Peterborough. Many drum corps fans attended the big event. A review by Anna Storey. The Glassmen and several European corps performed last Sunday at the East of England Invitational in Peterborough. Many drum corps fans attended the big event. A review by Anna Storey.

Well here we are the next day! From Warren's and my point of view here is how the day went. I will try and address a few points brought up on the DCUK Discussion Group and our guestbook.

The whole day apart from being absolutely fabulous overall could best be discribed as a day of 'if only'. If only the Jubal truck (with the Glassmen's equipment in) had not broken down on the A1 ten miles south of Peterborough, we would have had no immediate delays to the beginning of the day which then pushed the whole programme back considerably. Unavoidable as the Glassmen still needed to keep to their timetable of sleeping, eating, clnic, eating, warm up etc this was immovable. I do think the time issue was a shame as I was sad to see people have to go as their coach hours ran out. We had to practically force Dave Milton onto his coach as he was so apologetic at having to leave before retreat but really Suzanne and I were gutted that Lancers missed out on the great end to the day, they had learned their music for ensemble piece and didnt get a chance to play it. Can't say anymore about that it was a great pity.

The show was very enjoyable, the Finnish band Narpes had also been our guests this weekend and they were just blown away by what they saw. Distant Thunder I think will admit that their show was not their best, but considering how much work and running around before the weekend a lot of the members had to do for the show, it was a wonder a few of them were still awake!

We managed to feed The Glassmen and Narpes 2 meals yesterday from 2 large barbeques and no electricity at all. A great feat by all accounts from our team there but as always the kids were so appreciative that the hard work is worth it!

The venue was chosen in the first place as it fitted the bill perfectly for budget, space, location and the fixed date we had to work with. I know some people felt it was not up to scratch but believe me months were spent driving around looking a venues and doing costings and so EOE it was!

DCUK had their stall and were always going to have their stall as a British Federation. BYBA I understood were also to have a stall but obviously did not in the end and I truthfully cannot say why, maybe Jean Paul knows. (I think it just didnt happen, nothing contensious at all in that as far as I am aware).

We would have liked to have had other things going on too, perhaps other Corps doing things and other stalls etc but within the agreement between the sponsor, The Glassmen and us this was not to be and that is fair enough. We have learned a great deal from organising this kind of show, it is a completely different animal to organising a contest which we are used to. Bringing a DCI corps to Europe and certainly the UK is costly for everyone concerned, and the corps has to try and sell as much merchandise as possible at every show.

When the show ended after the wonderful ensemble and encore, Distant Thunder's equipment had to be stored at the ground so that we could take The Glassmen's equipment back to Bedford. So eventually we got to Bedford,the staff to their hotels and the kids to their accommodation. Warren got to bed at 04.20! So today we have been retrieving more equipment from Peterborough and the last will be back tomorrow (Jubal's truck is now mended). The Glassmen were up at 08.00 for stretch outs and breakfast and then after a morning of what looked like ridiculously hard work in such heat, they had lunch and went off to London for the rest of the day. They will be back tonight for supper at 10pm! Tomorrow they are rehearsing and doing a small parade for a Disabled Children's athletics meeting at Bedford, meeting the Mayor, having a farewell barbeque with Distant Thunder at lunchtime and then driving off to catch their planes back to the US.

So tomorrow teatime, Suzanne, Warren, all the DT helpers, our fantastic cooks and bottle washers will return home and back to normal corps rehearsals! (I shall be on the sofa by 6pm with a large glass of red!) BUT who cares?? We don't - it has been a fantastic weekend, we enjoyed Sunday immensley it was a relaxed yet exciting day and everything came together (well nearly everything) well!

Thanks to everyone for their kind emails today and and we are not too proud to say that yes EOEI was excellent but we also learned a lot too for another time!

Regards
Anna