Local Band Go For A Tour in the Black Forest

Published on: 8 Sep, 2012
Updated on: 8 Sep, 2012

A local concert band have been for a hectic tour in the Black Forest and included a visit to Guildford’s twin town Freiburg.

South West Surrey Concert Band is a group of 11-18 year olds who meet every Saturday morning to rehearse a wide range of wind band music. They have regular concerts and every 2 years go on tour. This year SWSCB went to the Black Forest in Germany. Here is an account of the tour by one of the band members.

“We set off at midnight from Guildford Cathedral to drive by coach to The Black Forest. Our hectic itinerary included going to Titisee, Triberg, Schönwald and Freiburg – the city twinned with Guildford. Our 6 nights’ stay in Schwarzwald gave us the opportunity to hold 4 concerts, each at different venues. This left us plenty of time to enjoy trips to various tourist-spots and leisure parks.

On the 4^th day of our tour we set off early to travel into Switzerland to visit the Rhine Falls at Neuhausen. These powerful falls were even more exhilarating to experience from the boat which we took. We dried ourselves off from the spray of the waterfall and made our way back to the coach to embark on our next excursion, this time to Freiburg.

Arriving a few hours before our concert, we had time to explore the city. I was fascinated by the little canalised streams that run through the streets of the old city centre. The Gothic cathedral was magnificent to see from the outside but unfortunately I did not have the opportunity to go in. Early that evening the band played a concert at Wohlstift Freiburg – a retirement home, where we were well supported and greatly appreciated.

The tour was arranged to get us back to the UK in time for the Olympics. The Olympic theme was present in our repertoire; Olympic Spirit by John Williams, which is always moving to play. Other pieces included Mozart’s Horn Concerto (soloist Ella Finley) and a rock rendition of Bach’s Toccata in D minor (soloist Charles Johnson on drum kit).

The 18 hour journey home got us back to Guildford at 8pm on the evening of The Olympic Opening Ceremony. Hasty goodbyes meant that we were back in time to watch the magical event with our families.”