Lee Gardham with his award for personality of the year 1999. Presented by Danny Livings and Shane Elton.
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Lee Gardham with his award for personality of the year 1999. Presented by Danny Livings and Shane Elton.
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Andy Keates. Those of us that know him will never forget him. Lives in Wales now.
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Paul Sanders our Musical Director.
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Braintree Dimensions went to the 1999 Maastricht Festival.
"Itinerary"
Sunday April 4th 1999
Assemble at Springwood car park at 7.00am sharp.
Bring with you your passport and E1.11 (from the post office if you have not got one)
Uniform Complete, Band Jacket, Instrument or flag and one overnight bag. All items should be labelled.
We should arrive on the 10.45am Ferry Dover to Calais.
5.30pm arrive at the Novotel Hotel in Maastricht (0031)(0)(433****11)
7.00pm Dinner in Hotel Restaurant.
Monday 5th April
Breakfast in the Hotel
12 noon Buffet Luncheon and presentations to participating groups.
2.00pm the 1999 Maastricht Festival Street Show.
4.30pm leave Maastricht for return to England
It is planed that we should be back at Springwood between 12 and 1am, to confirm this please could you phone Mr Suckling 01376 ****** or my self on my mobile 07970 ****** or Helen Milton 04020 ***** after 11.00pm when we should be back in England.
It would be a good idea to bring some food for the coach journey. Money can be exchanged on the ferry.
Do not forget your passport. No passport you will not go.
For any more information or problems ring me on 01376 ****** Derek Bright. Band Manager.
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Braintree Dimensions put two Christmas Concerts on. Both were tremendous successes. They helped to fill the time of year that things tend to go a little slack. They did not continue into the third year as it was said that it robbed valuable time for the initial learning for the next years show music!!!
Entry ticket No. 067
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"Press cutting"
Twin Dimension
Identical twin sisters Charlotte and Abigail Ardley from Great Notley are celebrating after being made joint 2,000th members of the Braintree marching band, Dimensions. The 13-year-olds, of Great Notley, were given a commemorative badge to mark the ocassion by other band members. Charlotte and Abigail are pictured kitted out in their marching Dimensions uniforms.
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Youth band marches to Victory
Members of the Braintree Dimensions Youth Band have marched their way to victory at the British championships.
The 44 talented youngsters travelled to Wembley Arena in London with coaches of supporters who saw them scoop a gold award.
The cadets only missed the overall champion title by two points and performed two songs from the hit musical My Fair Lady.
Chris Amos, who helps to manage the cadets, praised his team for their marvellous result. "It is the first time we have entered the competition, and I think they did really well.
The competition was very stiff and the band did well to get such a good result.
"It was a very entertaining day." Set up two years ago, the Dimensions Cadet meet at Tabor High School every week to practice.
The youngest members are only six years old and most cadets usually progress into the adult squad.
"We will definitely be entering the competition next season," said Mr Amos.
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National Finals at the National Indoor Arena, Birmingham.
Six am, Sunday 24th October and the alarm bell rings. Oh no!!, I've only been asleep for just over two hours. I slowly surface from my warm bed and head for the bathroom. While in the shower still half asleep I start thinking once again about the long day ahead.
Have I got all the equipment I need for the day? Is my instrument clean? Did I pack my black socks? After checking all of the above and more (for what seemed like a hundred times) I finally control my stresses and head towards the car. One last check and everything appears correct.
I arrived at Springwood at 7:45am, its damp and cold outside but people had already arrived and started unloading their kit. I wondered to myself how many times overall uniforms etc had been checked. It did not seem long before we were asked to get into concert formation for warm-ups and we were running round the car park in order to wake ourselves up. With all of this out of the way we strolled to the start of show positions and started to run through the show. A few forgotten bits to sort out but on the whole the makings of a rewarding day ahead.
With the bandmaster and show director both pleased with our efforts, we were dismissed and told to board the coach for our journey towards Birmingham National Arena, the venue for today’s finals. After what seemed like ages, but what was only actually over two hours we arrived at the services for the good old 100 run, upon exit I found that most of the marching members had fallen in for drill practice at the car park and were going through their paces. An audience of both supporters and members of the general public had built up by now. After about ten minutes with some tired legs (I hope we don't march the show that fast) we boarded the coach again for the final part of our journey. Within no time at all we arrived outside the N.I.A and started unloading all our equipment and headed for our reception room heavy laden. The room we were allocated was the size of a shoe box and totally impractical for some forty marching members with everything that we would need for the day. However we put on a brave face and put all our belongings in a pile in the middle of the room "stay where you are" Dan shouted. "We are going to try and sort something else out" but an official beat him to it and came to tell us that they had found a bigger room which we could use (not sure which one but quite obviously the dressing room of one of the Gladiators.)
Time for a quick walk around and to mingle with other bands, I popped my head through the open door to look at the area where we were going to perform (not a good idea), very large and lots of people watching. Time passed quickly and we were back in the dressing room getting changed no turning back now, it's now or never. We exited the room and found our places in the corridor waiting to be called by the officials, off we marched round to the tuning up area. We all wished each other well and tried to focus our minds to the next twenty or so minutes ahead. Once again time passed quickly and we were on our way to the pre-arena. All that separated us now from the crowds was a huge black curtain.
The announcer congratulated the last band for their performance and then announced our entrance, the crowds supporting us went wild I have never heard such a welcome in my life!! We marched to our starting place and then Sam took her salute, we were
off and the impact of our opening tune "Little Shop Of Horrors" had the crowd dancing in their seats, onto "Somewhere That's Green" and again cheers were still heard, the third tune "Mean Green Mother From Outer Space" flew by and we were into our last tune "Suddenly Seymour" before we knew it. A brilliant number with lots of feeling and demand from the marching members, we had finished our final set and the crowd were on their feet. Personally my first standing ovation! !
The final salute was taken and our show was over, we all left the arena totally exhausted but pleased with our performance, the instructors met us and told us wherever we came they thought that it was one of our best performances ever. That's good enough for me I thought to myself.
After watching a very enjoyable afternoon of banding we were back in the arena for the muster, Championship class being announced first, the distribution of trophies was split everywhere and we came fifth in our class, not the result we would have liked but still good enough to get us to premier status. Next came the result for the most entertaining band of the day at championship level" Braintree Dimensions". It took what seemed like minutes to sink in but again the crowd on their feet and the place erupted.
What a result!! !
After all that's what it's all about, entertaining our public and enjoying ourselves!
By: Glynn Bentley
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Could it be the Band Manager?
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So, how long have you been marching?
Have you ever wondered what happens to you if you get addicted to marching bands? or if you have been involved in marching bands so long that you do the following 20 things without even knowing...
1...You hear music and you start marking time.
2... You walk behind someone and you're in step with them.
3... All your friends are in the band.
4...You don't mind changing on the coach.
5.. Every boy/girl you're interested in, is in the band.
6.. You like wearing your uniform.
7... You can put your uniform on in less than 1 minute.
8...Your uniform fits.
9... People worry when they see you without your instrument.
10...When "armed guard," means a girl with a pole instead of a guy with a gun.
11..You dress the lunch line, and urge others to do the same.
12...Your instrument has a name.
13..You walk backwards on your toes.
14...You see your band more than you see your family.
15.. You think evening practices should last half-hour longer.
16..You think your plume is alive and give it a name.
17...Numbers past 4 aren't important.
18...You roll-step through the bar so you don't spill your drinks.
19...Someone starts to clap and you automatically jump to attention.
20...When you get the jokes on this list.
Whilst M J Suckling, Tracey Livings and Glynn Bentley, Marxmen Group and others that have contributed to this page try to ensure that all information given is correct, at the time given, they cannot take any responsibility for any errors or misleading information that may occur. M J Suckling, Tracy Livings and Glynn Bentley, Marxmen Group and others that have contributed would assume the ownership of the portrayal style of any intellectual material that this page may contain. © M J Suckling, March 2004.
