From the 20^th to the 24^th June ,the East Highland Concert Band (EHCB) joined forces with the Caithness Schools Wind Band(CSWB) for a Tour of South West Germany. An intrepid group of 47 youngsters and adults, led by Wendy Ritchie and Karen Anderson, joined a Scotbus coach which departed Thurso High School at 5am on Monday 20^{th. .}  Thankfully, everyone negotiated the Kessock Bridge traffic safely and made it safely to Edinburgh Airport for an uneventful flight to Basel, Switzerland . There,the group were met by Christoph Scherzinger, the director of the Breisach Music School who was to act as a liason during the tour.

The base  for the week was Breisach Youth Hostel, an excellent facility which offered unhindered views of France over the neighbouring river Rhine. After recovering from the journey, the bands rehearsed their programme on Tuesday morning and in the afternoon, had a chance to visit Breisach town and then take the tour coach  to  the wonderful view over the whole wine growing  region from a point called the Mondhalde. From there, where   Christoph and his band had also very thoughtfully provided refreshments,  everyone took in the view of the  whole Kaiserstuhl in glorious sunshine. From there,the bands were then taken from the heat of the sun into the coolness of the winery and  wine cellers in the village of Oberbergen. They were treated to a very educational tour including a walk though the winery and cellars which reached under the town and countryside. Christoph’s band ,The Jugend Kapelle Oberbergen , then acted as hosts in a pre-concert barbeque where the  youngsters were introduced to 6 different German sausages….!

  All 3  the bands then went on to  rehearse the 2 pre-arranged pieces: Highland Cathedral and Hoch Badnerland and the following concert was held the beautiful  Winzercentum, Oberbergen. There, a capacity crowd gave an enthusiastic reception to excellent performances by all.  It finished with a vote of thanks by the Mayor of the Region and presents were exchanged between the groups. The Jugend Kapelle Oberbergen were presented with an especially commissioned haggis charger from Tain Pottery and  then each  of the members of   EHCB and CSWB were presented with souvenier quarter bottle of wine and glass form the Jugend Kapelle Oberbergen. All in all, the bands could not have been made feel more welcome nor got off to a better start to the tour.

The following morning,after an excellent breakfast ,the group spent the morning in Colmar, France. This World Heritage Centre provided a beautiful backdrop to what is a vital essential to any tour …shopping! From there the group returned to Germany for the 1.40hour trip to the Black Forest and the venue for their second concert, Titisee Neustadt: the centre of all things touristic in the Back Forest. If you need a cuckoo clock ,Lederhosen or funny hat …this is your town! None of the commercialisation could however detract from the natural  beauty of the surrounding mountains and lake. The concert venue was an excellent too: an up to date band stand set in the Tiitsee  Kupark. Everything was set for a ideal second concert. At 4pm the band stuck up with Eye of the Tiger and  then ….the heavens opened! What had been a calm and deep blue lake was now a maelstrom and the players were presented with a view of stair rods of rain, forked lightening and the prospect  being drowned out by thunder! The White flag was waved after the third piece Les Mis(!) and amid much hilarity the bus was reloaded and everyone returned to the youth hostel for a welcome tea. Sometimes on tour, things just don’t pan out an expected!

The sunny conditions resumed again on the Thursday morning in time for the bands visit to Euroapark: Germany’s answer to Disneyland. Each of the countries in Europe are represented by small lands and   linked by a monorail . Our Bands played in ‘France’ and were well received by an extremely large, holiday German crowd and  then ,for the remainder of the day, the bands  were  free to be twirled, twisted ,dropped and dangled from great heights , from the wide variety of rides and roller coasters , all of which  apparently was ‘the best fun ever’………The tour concluded  with  high spirited evening back at the youth hostel with a barbeque, football, pool and a jazz session where  the members all three bands mixed freely and ended the tour on a high note!  The journey home on  Friday  was  thankfully straightforward and uneventful.

 

There are  a great many thanks to be made to a number of organisations and individuals without whose support the tour would not have been possible. The Caithness Music Festival, Caithness Educational Trust, Dounrey DSRL, Saints and Sinners Club, Scotland and James Arthur all donated sums of money which helped keep the cost of the tour affordable and available to all. Also, well done to the youngsters of the East Highland Concert who raised over £1500 by playing concerts, bag packing, selling anagram puzzles and ‘extreme’rehearsing at the Fyrish Monument.

Thanks also to undauntable team of tutors/house staff : Anna Aalders, Heather Hook, Rob Farmer, Keith Redwood and Lucy Roberstson whose resolute good humour in the face of all things unexpected was unflinching!

 

 Finally, the great success of the tour would not have been possible without the help and support of Christoph Scherzinger, his Jugend Kapelle Oberbergen and the warmth and welcome people of Oberbergen. Happily, it was agreed that the Oberbergener Jugendkappelle would come on tour to the Highlands and be the guests of the CSWB and EHCB in 2013  when the CSWB and EHCB will be able to offer their new German friends  a warm Highland  welcome.