An Ode to the Area

'Twas 17th of March, that fateful day
When we turned up at the 'Dolphin' ready to play
The preparation had been simply a dream
With Maestro Graham's leadership, surely the cream

He gave us so much room in our musical quest
That all we had to do was to play to our best
With the shadow of Grimey' (Graham's old Band)
Being used to make us the best in the land

The rehearsals had all been approached with Zest
Everyone attended and gave it their best
The bandroom work had all been done
"Nothing left to Chance" "Don't give them a crumb!"

'Drawn number 1' in the Championship Section
The Band soon captured the audience's attention
From the start of the piece here was the evidence
That each and everyone were full of confidence

The contest piece chosen was 'Whitsun Wakes'
We played it with gusto (and very few mistakes!)
This Michael Ball piece was a pleasure to play
Surely this was going to be our day

From the start to the finish the Band sang out fine
Leaving the 'others' with a mountain to climb
The sound of each section being brought to the fore
Not a note out of place (just read the score!)

Each Soloist played their parts with lots of style
Jillian, Sue, Mal, Anthony, Clive & Co, We'll win by a mile!
With Mal on the Sop hitting his top notes with a glide
"No Bugles in this Band", we all thought with pride

From the rich sounding Basses, the sweet sounding Horns,
To the articulate Cornets and forthright Trombones
From the Euph's and Baritones to the Percussion and all
We filled with sound that difficult hall

So bring on the others, we said without fear
We listened with joy to what we could hear
'Big Boys music' is that what it was called?
And Bugley Blips and Blobs was what filled that hall

And so to the results, we waited with 'Hope'
But what 'resulted' was beyond our scope
"You were 3rd" said the judge, to our dismay
What had he been listening to? Was he there on the day?

For some in the Band it was too much to bear
And a pair of them marched up and let off 'hot air'
A peaceful demonstration, that's all that was meant
But some made a meal of that unfortunate event

Our so-called 'friends' soon jumped on the bandwagon
Making fun, sticking their large unwanted noses in
But we'll not forget those who stood by our side
And we'll all still represent FISHBURN with pride

They'll not grind us down, no matter what the judgement
And we'll all stick together in total agreement
That Fishburn's the Band we all love and adore
It'll make us determined to win next time all the more!


John Gill
April 2002



"I shall th'effect of this good lesson keep.
As watchman to my heart."
        William Shakespeare (1564-1616); English dramatist.


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