Welcome
to
MMBlog!
Medina Marching Band: The Blog.
MMB Awards Evening
Saturday, 21st March
2010
Photo's and reports of our awards evening coming
very soon.
2009 The Best Band Memories
Sunday, 1st November
2009
With so many events, parades, carnivals and concerts
in the last few years, you can imagine quite a few
memories have been captured by many people from in
and around the band. Below are just a small
selection of those photos taken in the last few
years. Oh by the way, some of us have gotten a
little older since these were taken!
Click on a photo to enlarge
2009 Titchfield Carnival
Sunday, 25th October
2009
Our 1st outing to Titchfield a couple of years ago
proved very wet and windy! However the weather was
much kinder to us during this years Titchfield
carnival.
With a mid-morning journey to Titchfield our band
members were on top form and looking forward to the
day. The coach made a couple of stops during the
journey to collect band members who were prepared to
interrupt their holidays to be with us. So with a
packed coach we looked forward to a good day. On
arrival at Titchfield the coach was unloaded and a
base established in Titchfield Community Centre
where we prepared ourselves for our first carnival
parade whilst having a little time for a lunch.
For a village that looked virtually empty on our
arrival, it was almost unbelievable to see huge
crowds cheering us during our first and latter
performances. Its also fair to congratulate
Titchfield Carnival Committee on an extremely very
well organised event, from the food and drinks that
were arranged for us between performances, the
marshals making way for us through the crowds and
all the help from the stewards during the day. It was a agreed by
all the band members that the 2009 Titchfield
Carnival was one of the most enjoyable and well
organised
carnivals this season.
We hope to publish further photos as soon as they
are sent, but here is a flavour of the day during
the preparations, and some of the characters we met
along the way!
"When we arrived yesterday I wondered if we had
arrived at a ghost town it was so quiet with no
people hanging around the streets. Having not done
this carnival before I wasn't sure what to expect so
i was starting to wonder what the carnival was going
to be like, to my surprise when it came to carnival
time the place was full with people banked up all
the way along the route, as we marched up to the
start people were really taking an interest in the
band and commenting on how smart we looked and when
we started we didn't disappoint, musically this was
probably the best performance of the year and an
excellent turnout to go with it the two new tunes
added to the pack were played with confidence as if
they had always been in the pack a real credit to
everyone for the work put in since September."
(Kevin
- Band Member, Corps of Drums)
Click on a photo to enlarge
YBO/MMB Celebration of Harmony 2009
Saturday, 1st August 2009
Jugendblasorchester and Medina Marching Band in
harmony!
Our friends from Coburg arrived Saturday 1st August for a week
of fun, laughs, re-kindled friendship and
performances. This was the fourth time the two bands
had met in recent times to not only celebrate with
joint events but to re-establish the links between
the Island and Coburg.
2009 was the second year to see our friends from
Coburg, Germany making their trip the our Island and
like their first visit, had a lot to pack into their
time here. The young German band members were soon
thrust into a joint concert to a packed Medina
Theatre. The next event would involve marching with us so a
special evening was planned for both bands to relax
and enjoy each others company, however, all was not
as it seemed, as, with a sudden announcement we
found all band members from both bands, learning
marching moves in preparation for Shanklin Carnival.
Lets just say, the seriousness soon dissipated into
laughter and silliness!
As it was Cowes week it seemed fitting the band made
a visit to the yachting capitol of the world. Not
only did the band have chance to look around Cowes
and soak up the atmosphere, an invitation came for
the band to perform too!
The weeks events soon came to a close with a trip to
Alum Bay and a display of fireworks saw a fitting
end to a bright and colourful week of joint
performances, fun, and re-kindled friendships.
2009 Alton Show
Sunday, 5th July
2009
An early morning, an early ferry but what a day!.
After last years weather all but washed us out, this
years Alton show turned out to be the complete
opposite!
Every seat was taken on our coach journey to Alton
and on arrival it seemed as though history was going
to repeat itself as some spots of rain started to
fall, but this didn't last for long as whilst all
the kit and instruments were unloaded the sun shone
and it proved to be a great day.
With two performances, a strong band, a packed
showground and appreciative audience there was
nothing that could put a dampener on the day. The
arena had seen lots of previous activity with heavy
horses, dogs, carriages and stunt bikes making the
ground very difficult to perform on, however,
both performances went extremely well and everyone
gave their all! We also had time to enjoy some of
the entertainment with flaming
stunts, pipe bands, cattle and dog displays to keep
us amused. Oh and a little time for some posed
photos!
Click on a photo to enlarge
Yarmouth Old Gaffers Festival
Sunday, 31st
May
2009
Celebrating 50 years of Gaffers racing in the
Solent!
Once again MMB were on parade and in concert at the
Yarmouth Old Gaffers Festival, this year celebrating
their 50th year of Gaffer yacht racing in the
Solent.
Phew! What a hot day! On arriving in Yarmouth at
12:00 the band members had chance to grab an
ice-cream and drink to cool themselves down and
prepare for our two performances. All band members
wore their heavy red tunics and braved the heat for
a tremendous performance winding through the narrow
streets towards Yarmouth Square where we played to a
packed audience. We had a couple of hours to cool
down once again where we repeated the performance
and helped wrap up the festival for another year.
Click on a photo to enlarge
RBL Brentwood joint rehearsal
Sunday, 1st February 2009
Although it was a very early morning we were looking
forward in our visit to our friends at RBL
Brentwood. A ferry, and a fairly long minibus journey took us
to Essex where we received a warm welcome from the
members of RBL Brentwood. Making us feel very
welcome we got on with joint rehearsals and practice
both in their purpose built practice rooms and their
large hall. As you can see by the pictures, we all
enjoyed the day and hope this can be repeated during
the year.
Click on a photo to enlarge
Pictures and photos are welcome
Thursday, 1st
January
2009
Lots of pictures for reports and reviews.
If you have pictures of the band you'd like to share, just e-mail them
to the webmaster. If you prefer and with your
permission they can be lifted from your social
networking site. Contact the webmaster on
medinamarchingband@onwight.net
Who are we?
Thursday, 1st January
2009
I say! Who do you think you are?
Medina Marching Band is a military styled youth
marching band based on the Isle of Wight in the
United Kingdom. The band is primarily made up of
young people with various backgrounds, upbringings
and musical knowledge. The band caters for total
beginners and more experienced players alike who
desire the opportunity to play a traditional musical
instrument in a traditional setting. Medina Marching
Band has band members with ages starting from as
young as 8 years old and can even boast many entire
family memberships.
