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We are pleased to announce that Gunner Nicola High successfully completed her phase one basic training at Pirbright Training Barracks.

After twelve weeks intensive training in which Nicola was at one point admitted to hospital with an injury, she still managed to stay on course and marched proudly on her "passing out" parade with family, friends and band members all cheering her on.
Her passing out parade could almost have planned with Nicola in mind, as the band providing the music played a few of the pieces Nicola had played with Romford. After a well-deserved break she starts phase two training, being trained on heavy artillery!

Drum Major Marc Price had indicated to everyone early in 2004, that it was his ambition to win the National Title again and go one better this year and win the Drum Major League title as well. Last year he had won all but one contest which gave him a final placing of mid table. This year with the band only doing two qualifying contests before the Nationals, there was little room for error.

At the South East band contest, his first outing on the contest field this year he certainly had the elements against him with torrential rain making any kind of mace flourishing difficult. Despite this he gave a performance worthy of victory, even managing the odd throw of the mace.

The following week he again was victorious at the Halesowen Contest.

The Nationals approached and due to Marc's holiday commitments he had limited chances to rehearse the new routine. However Marc's presence brings out the best in the band. His understanding of the role and his ability to keep the band under control proved to be a huge asset. Sporting a new Glengarry hat, his performance was first class.

Much to the delight of everyone at Romford, Marc collected the National Class Drum Major award and most importantly (To Marc) the TYMBA Drum Major League Title.

Congratulations to Marc for winning the two titles and for achieving your goals for 2004.

The band was pleased to have four qualifiers in the finals of this award.

Sarah Twinn- 2004 Northern Heat Winner
Kirsty Evans- 2003 National Champion
Lydia Stringer 2004 Northern Heat Runner Up
Callum Orr 2003 Junior National Champion

First up to perform from the quartet of Buglers entering the Solo Competition was Sarah Twinn. Despite a difficult draw of number one she gave a strong performance, not without error, but setting a very high standard for the class.
Next to perform was Callum Orr whose reward for winning last year's junior award was the chance to defend the title. His job was made more difficult in that he couldn't defend his title in the junior class because he was now too old to play in that section. Despite playing against Buglers considerably older, Callum gave it his best shot and whilst it wasn't a winning performance, he will certainly be someone who will feature in the prizes in the future.
Third of the four to perform was Kirsty Evans who immediately showed why as defending champion she was reluctant to give up the title without a fight. With just a few small slips towards the end of the long test piece which all competitors found extremely demanding of stamina. She had certainly given a performance that would feature when it came to the awards.
The last of the four members representing the band was Lydia Stringer. Lydia had surprised many in the band on the quality of her playing, as she normally plays saxophone in the band. Lydia played with total confidence and finished off the class with a performance that also would see her as a contender when the prizes were announced.
The results are as follows

1st Kirsty Evans
2nd Sarah Twinn
3rd Lydia Stringer
6th Callum Orr

Well done to all four soloists. The band is proud of all four competitors and the result was a credit to the effort they put into performing.
Thanks go to Colin Handley for his help in preparing the soloists.

Congratulations to Kirsty Evans
National Solo Bugle Champion 2004

The Romford Drum & Trumpet Corps was represented in three different locations throughout Havering in the annual Remembrance Day parade and services.
The band led the military section of the parade from central Romford to the Memorial Garden in Main Road and attended the service. A wreath was laid on behalf of the band by Drum Major Marc Price.
Whilst this took place, Two buglers, Sgt Kirsty Evans and Cpl Sarah Twinn were speed off to Rainham and Harold Hill to play last post at the respective services. Upon completion of this task both players were back in time to rejoin the band as they lead the parade back.

The band was up bright and early on Saturday to take part in the Lord Mayors Show in the City of London. In probably the mildest weather for the parade in years the band enjoyed the experience of marching through the capital, with half a million people watching. The band normally parades with the corps of drums at the front, however this year for a change the band was led by the trombone section, who were happy to take up their position at the front.

The band has taken part in the parade for well over thirty years, during that time it has had varying degrees of TV coverage.
This year however the band achieved excellent coverage on the BBC including an interview on the march with the youngest member on parade, George Foreman.

Nicola High

After eleven happy years with the band Nicola's last rehearsal on Thursday 28th October was both a sad and happy affair.
Whilst the band will most certainly miss her as a player and as someone with a great sense of fun, we are also proud of her achievement in being accepted into Royal Horse Artillery.
Nicola joined the band in 1993 with her elder brother and sister. After a short spell on cymbals she progressed onto the cornet, where she made steady progress and in 2003 was promoted to the rank of Corporal.

Nicola joins a long list of former band members deciding to follow a career in the Armed Forces, ironically the last member to leave the band to follow this career was her sister Jennifer. The Bandmaster Paul Binder wished her every success in her career and made a presentation on behalf of the band to Nicola of an engraved hip flask.

An emotional Nicola thanked the band and promised to keep in touch, she hopes to come back and play her cornet whenever possible.

"Band Spectacular-Queens Theatre 19th Sept"

The band played before a packed out audience along with the Royal British Legion Band(Romford). The concert hosted by the London Borough of Havering was to celebrate the successful year both bands had achieved. After an opening section by the Massed Bands. The Romford Drum & Trumpet Corps took the stage under the direction of their guest conductor WO1 Bandmaster Paul Norley from the Royal Military School of Music. Despite only limited time to rehearse Paul Norley demanded high standards of playing of which the band were keen to demonstrate. With the tight control of the Conductor and the concentration of the bandmembers, the band gave a memorable performance which was of the highest standard. Mr Norley complimented the band on their professionalism and expressed a wish to work with the band again.
After a break the Royal British Legion band gave an equally impressive display which proved the this Borough has two of finest bands in the country. The audience was treated to another massed set, finishing with a rendition of "Land of Hope & Glory". The general feeling afterwards was that the evening had been a great success and should be repeated again in the future.
The Romford Drum & Trumpet Corps would like to extend their gratitude to Mr Brian Ford from The London Borough of Havering and Mr Paul Norley for his work with the band.

"Boogie Woogie Bugle Girls"

For the Northern Heats of the Solo Bugle Contest, The band was allotted two places. Therefore an internal competition within the band was organised with the top two representing the band at the Northern Heat. Sarah Twinn and Lydia Stringer were the successful contestants and were drawn to play 1st and 2nd. With little time to prepare as the coach arrived late, the girls were performing within 15 minutes of arriving. Despite this panic Sarah Twinn was the overall winner, with Lydia Stringer coming 3rd, also qualifying for the finals in December. An achievement all the more remarkable as Lydia plays a saxophone in the band! They both join Callum Orr and Kirsty Evans at the National Finals, who pre qualified as last years National Champions.

Halesowen 27th June

The band entered its second competition in a week at the Halesowen Band Contest, West Midlands. To win a competition a band realistically need's to win three of the five categories and do reasonably well on the other two to ensure an overall result. For the first time since returning to competing last year the band achieved a clean sweep of all five awards. In addition the band's Drum Major, Marc Price enhanced his growing reputation further, by winning the Drum Major Award.

Hornchurch 20th June.

The band continued its winning ways at the South East England Band competition. Whilst the weather conditions were not looking good, up until Romford performed, the worst it got for some of the other competing bands was a slight shower. As the band entered the arena it was subjected to a torrential downpour which only eased as the band left the arena after performing. Despite this distraction the band won prizes in Inspection, Drill, Wind Section Award and General Musical Effect. The band's Drum Major Marc Price took the award for best Drum Major. This culminated in the band taking the overall title of Champion Band of the day.

Band performs in the USA

On March 9th, a band of 55 arrived in Chicago for a week long visit. The first day couldn't have gone any better with a concert at The Marist High School, Southside Chicago. With an audience of 1400 pupils and a TV crew to add to the pressure, the band was determined to impress our very kind hosts. The band was delighted to be so well received and the school paid the band a huge compliment with a standing ovation at the end of the band's performance. After a couple of days of sightseeing, the band prepared for its participation in the two St Patrick's Day Parades it had travelled to perform in. In complete contrast the weather on the Downtown Parade was quite warm. For the SouthSide Irish Parade it was extremely cold and the city lived up to its nickname of "Windy City" The parades were truly memorable experiences and were made even more special by the media attention the band was getting. For the record the band appeared on TV four times in a week. After more sightseeing and shopping the band returned to the UK, tired but delighted at the success of the first visit to the USA.