MUSIC
THE GERMAN TOUR — this time together relaxing on our own was a very special day within the tour. In Miinster our hosts were parents of pupils at the Schillergymnasium. Again, everyone was so friendly and helpful — I remember the Director of the gymnasium carrying the coach driver's luggage. Our pupils were given a little experience of German schooling and then a reception and sight-seeing at the town hall, two more concerts, an afternoon at a swimming pool — unusually still open as the weather was still perfect — in fact we did not see a cloud until the return to Hamburg. Living and working together as a group created such a corporate feeling reflected in all the performances. It was a real lesson to all of us to see what potential existed within the group. Clearing up at the end of concerts was done so quietly and efficiently with everyone helping. When we returned the choir, chamber choir, barbershop and band were infinitely better groups, the level of commitment higher, it was such a joy to see this and especially to see it carry over into the pupils' attitude to performance within School.
I had been with a band on tour in the year of my teaching practice a few years ago but had never taken a musical group abroad before. How fantastic it was. The choir and band trip to Germany had been planned for a year and a half. Taking a large party abroad — there were over seventy of us — is a little daunting but having such help from a tremendous team of staff made things run smoothly. Derek Paterson was the organisational inspiration thinking of all the details large and small in every aspect of the tour. Robert Jeffs, Jacqui Finney, Chris Hall, Judith Taylor, Sue Horton and Jose Honing were all such a help and Jeffrey Gray's work in conducting the Band and co-ordinating the Barbershop group quite outstanding. We had decided to limit the coach travel as much as possible and so took a long ferry from Harwich to Hamburg. Arriving at Bremen we were given a very warm welcome by the Gospel Choir and for the next two days entertained lavishly. At the first concert the enthusiasm of the reception as in the later concerts from the very first piece acted as a spur to higher and higher standards as the tour progressed. On the way to Miinster we stopped at a leisure complex with excellent swimming pools and had a grand picnic 32
