Lincolnshire Hospitals Band visit to

Monster, Holland on the 16th, 17th and 18th April 2004

Lincolnshire Hospitals Band new twinning with the Dutch band Concordia came about as a result of discussions between Mike Barron, a prominent figure in the Hykeham Lions Club and Chairman of our band, and his Dutch counterpart, Peter van der Weijden.

The coach left Lincoln at 5a.m. duly laden with musicians, instruments and music; stopping at Gonerby Services to change our drivers, then continued onto Colsterworth to pick up another band member. We stopped at Medway services at 8:30 for a 20-minute break, then proceeded onto Dover, where we caught the 10:45 am ferry to Calais, arriving at 12:15pm after a comfortable crossing. Having put our watches forward 1 hour we set off to Monster, arriving slightly later than expected as we hit heavy traffic and road works on route.

Our hosts were anxiously waiting our arrival at the local Secondary School, as was Ewan Robson our Musical Director and his partner Tracey Gilbert. We were warmly welcomed and after unloading luggage and instruments we were taken inside for drinks and snacks. We then met our host families and were taken to their homes to unpack and freshen up.

We returned to the school at 8:00pm for both bands to rehearse and, after refreshments with our host families, we retired for the evening.