The Regimental Band of 7th Battalion wins at Feilding Bands Festival

By Lance Corporal Rick Henderson

The 32-strong band of the 7th Wellington (City of Wellington's Own) and Hawke's Bay Battalion, won a Gold Award and Best Entertaining Band out of 13 Bands at the 2010 Feilding Festival of Bands in May.

7th Battalion's band in full swing (AW-10-0722-23).

The festival provided an opportunity for the band to benchmark against the best of the Brass and Symphonic/Concert Bands from the lower North Island.

The Trentham-based band last participated in the festival in 2008 but came away empty handed. After Army commitments prevented them from competing last year, they were ready for another crack at the title, this time under the baton of Deputy Bandmaster, Lance Corporal Rick Henderson.

Settling into a six piece programme, the Band started with a medley of tunes from the movie Back to the Future. The tempo then slowed down with a moving rendition of Yellow Mountains before the Battalion's Drum Corp, led by Deputy Drum Major Corporal Mike Sullivan, set the audience alight with two pieces including Army of the Nile and Glenn Miller's St Louis Blues March. These were followed by the upbeat and superbly executed Trombone Rag. The coup de grace, (for the other Bands competing, that is), was Queen's Bohemian Rhapsody, which highlighted the thorough enjoyment the Band has playing with one another. It even saw Wayne and Garth from the movie Wayne's World gatecrash what increasingly became a party atmosphere.

Comments from the Adjudicator, Kenneth Young, included "...nice balance-it's not often that trumpets and reeds balance so well..." and (on St Louis Blues March) "...I think I'd prefer this one played... twice! Perhaps again as an encore?" And during Bohemian Rhapsody, when the two long haired-louts from the Drum Corp came on stage to "dance" while the conductor put down the baton and picked up the mike to sing - "Well I certainly didn't expect that!".

Good on-stage morale and musicianship were key elements of the band being awarded the Gold Certificate and the prestigious accolade of Most Entertaining Programme. The judge attributed the win to the band not only providing an excellent programme but clearly enjoying themselves in the process.

The band has several dates in its diary for the coming training year, including a concert at the Southward Car Museum, the Wellington Christmas Parade and a weekend of training and concerts with the New Zealand Army Band. It will also participate in Chunuk Bair Day and Armistice Day commemorations.