75th D Day, Stokes Bay June 2019

Wow, we sure have been on a rollercoaster ride of events recently.

A few weekends ago saw us present in our South Pacific Shore leave style uniforms - i.e. Hawaiian Shirts and Bobo hats like the US Navy playing a Glenn Miller concert near Coventry.

Then Last weekend we travelled to Gosport for the 75th D Day embarkation event and my oh my what an event it was. Absolutely fantastic doesn't quite coin it enough.

From start to finish, the crowd of guests were incredible, we played an afternoon Glenn Miller dance and I have to say that the cheering and whistling from the 800 strong audience was quite overwhelming such that I struggled to hold back a tear or two. They kept cheering and cheering to the point I started to feel awkward as I wasn't quite sure what to do, it really was a sight to behold.

We then played a Glenn Miller big band dance in the evening at the same - off the scale with an extremely large Marquee that was packed full of happy folks.

I think we need to always remember that the reason we have these joyous times of freedom and fun is exactly for that and those who gave so much and paid it forward.

Whilst we all revel in the camaraderie and 'good times', I can't help feeling for those folks who would have been just like me or my sons going through abhorrent conditions and in many cases, not even fully understanding why.

I look at some of the youth and others today and bow my head in disbelief and sadness at the flagrant disrespect and lack of depth and integrity - not all are like this of course and so pleased it is a relatively minor few, but as they say, a few bad apples. - However, now isn't the time for all of this and I know so many folks feel the same.

So, back to the weekend - coordinated by Pike and Shot events and Red Kite Management and Gosport Borough Council, it has to go down in our band history as one of the more memorable purely because of the fabulous people of Gosport and others of course who made us feel so truly welcome and we were humbled by their great appreciation of us attending.

All in all, a truly memorable weekend and here is a little video reminder from us of the weekend. Thankyou Gosport!! https://youtu.be/6ECzHrBIjUU