Every year we look forward eagerly to attend our local Autumn Festival, which took place last weekend - Saturday 16th March. It's an event with something for everyone - a fun-fair for the young one's; breakfast in the park; sporting fixtures like the foot-race from the University of New England to a park on the creeklands and a bike race; lots of musical performances; a lengthy parade that primarily showcases Armidale's rich ethnic diversity and social institutions; and a foodies' paradise - little stalls run by different ethnic foods. In the case of the latter, one could sample foods from such places as Turkey, Iraq, Bhutan, Thailand and Vietnam, among others.
The breakfast, as usual, started at 7 am and ran through to about 10 am. During this time the Armidale City Band entertains people with lots of well-known numbers from film, or traditional national themes. We arrived at about 7.30 am to find the band in full flight, but with a very small audience!
The breakfast cost us $10 each and was provided by cooks sourced from organisations like Rotary and Lions. It consisted of pancakes topped with fried eggs, ham and sauces and a drink - coffee, tea, and orange juice. The cooks did a great job and the meal was delicious.
Fortunately the numbers at the tables soon soared as people dragged themselves out of bed or arrived running from the university. We met up with many friends and acquaintances and had some good conversations - enlivened by great playing from the brass band.
After finishing our meal and discussions, we - me, Dot and her friend, Jane - headed off for a walk around the CBD looking at various shops, many with Autumn sales. We were filling in time until the Highland Bands started performing in the city's pedestrian Mall. Here they are preparing for their session and being rounded up by the guys in bearskins and spectacular uniforms. The podium at he far end of the mall with the blue canvas roof is where I sat for the performance - with the city's post office on the right. By the way, I made video and sound recordings of some of the music and I'll send out some of those clips to family and friends later on.
Here we are assembled and ready to go.
And here the band-leaders are about to commence the show. There were two leaders because the Armidale Pipe Band was on the left and another was on the right. The latter was based around players from Coffs Harbour - about 2.5 hours away on the coast. However, they also took on board several pipers from such places as Glen Innes and Inverell. That's hardly surprising given their Scottish names! I've just had an interesting thought. Armidale is also a Scottish name - the village on the Isle of Skye that is the HQ of the clan McDonald. And other little places include Dundee and Glencoe! So perhaps our regions should be called New Scotland rather than its official 'New England'.
Here they are performing. Alas, I provide no sound. The works would be familiar to most of my readers - typical Scottish fayre. They brought home to me many memories of my numerous Scottish visits. Some of the works played I'd first heard at a Highland Games at Portree - the main town on the Isle of Skye. But over the years I've also visited the Isle of Mull in the inner Hebrides, the Outer Hebrides, the Trossachs, Inverness and all the way up to Cape Wrath, the East coast around Aberdeen, Balmoral and the Cairngorms, and even - when at university - climbed Ben Nevis, Britain's highest peak. En route I visited many distilleries and tasted the various Whiskies. On other occasions I've visited Edinburgh and Glasgow many times, with attending the famous Military Tattoo in the former standing out as the most exciting. And in Glasgow the thing that remains in my memory as another exciting occasion was attending the launch of the Queen Elizabeth the Second on Clydebank. I stood mid-way along the hull of the vessel and could see under the ship's hull as it towered above me on the stocks. While my memories flood back, I might mention two other events that surprised me. When walking across the Isle of Ulva I came across a ruined crofting village and a memorial - constructed by the Australian Government - noted that this was the birthplace of one Lachlan Macquarie. Anyone recall this guy? And, in the middle of the nearby Isle of Mull I came across a mausoleum that hosted his remains - also maintained by our government. I wonder how many Australians know of these memorials to one of the nation's most famous pioneers. I recommend a visit to Mull, which is also a departure point to two other very famous nearby sites: the monastery of Ioana and the Isle of Staffa with its famous Fingal's Cave. In part the latter's fame relates to visits by Queen Victoria and Albert who came to view its columnar basalt, and to Felix Mendelssohn who wrote his famous Hebrides overture after his own experience there. Staffa was, in the 19th century, a focus of the Romantic movement. And Iona's monastery is the resting place of nearly 50 Scottish kings including - if I recall correctly - one Macbeth.
When the pipe bands finished their main performance we walked around around the Mall looking at ethnic food-stalls, various other vendors, and people campaigning for our up-coming State election. Then various pipers showed up in little clusters to perform various other works.
In the evening we went to a remarkable performance by an Australian Army Band based in Newcastle - c. 100 km or so north of Sydney. Like the Armidale City Band mentioned earlier, this was mainly a brass band and we expected mostly military style music. The event was staged to raise money for farmers struggling to stay afloat financially in one of the worst droughts in a century.
Instead of military music, we were entertained with lots of Hollywood music and famous Jazz numbers aided by a great female singer ... wearing a military uniform. In addition, more pipers joined in the performance from time to time.
At one point, we had a break to buy drinks and the show restarted with individual musicians moving around the auditorium playing their instruments - but all in sync.
Finally, they all came together on stage and finished the performance with great zest. It was an exciting occasion from excellent performers. A great night out and something quite different to usual.
AS
The breakfast, as usual, started at 7 am and ran through to about 10 am. During this time the Armidale City Band entertains people with lots of well-known numbers from film, or traditional national themes. We arrived at about 7.30 am to find the band in full flight, but with a very small audience!
The breakfast cost us $10 each and was provided by cooks sourced from organisations like Rotary and Lions. It consisted of pancakes topped with fried eggs, ham and sauces and a drink - coffee, tea, and orange juice. The cooks did a great job and the meal was delicious.
Fortunately the numbers at the tables soon soared as people dragged themselves out of bed or arrived running from the university. We met up with many friends and acquaintances and had some good conversations - enlivened by great playing from the brass band.
After finishing our meal and discussions, we - me, Dot and her friend, Jane - headed off for a walk around the CBD looking at various shops, many with Autumn sales. We were filling in time until the Highland Bands started performing in the city's pedestrian Mall. Here they are preparing for their session and being rounded up by the guys in bearskins and spectacular uniforms. The podium at he far end of the mall with the blue canvas roof is where I sat for the performance - with the city's post office on the right. By the way, I made video and sound recordings of some of the music and I'll send out some of those clips to family and friends later on.
Here we are assembled and ready to go.
Here they are performing. Alas, I provide no sound. The works would be familiar to most of my readers - typical Scottish fayre. They brought home to me many memories of my numerous Scottish visits. Some of the works played I'd first heard at a Highland Games at Portree - the main town on the Isle of Skye. But over the years I've also visited the Isle of Mull in the inner Hebrides, the Outer Hebrides, the Trossachs, Inverness and all the way up to Cape Wrath, the East coast around Aberdeen, Balmoral and the Cairngorms, and even - when at university - climbed Ben Nevis, Britain's highest peak. En route I visited many distilleries and tasted the various Whiskies. On other occasions I've visited Edinburgh and Glasgow many times, with attending the famous Military Tattoo in the former standing out as the most exciting. And in Glasgow the thing that remains in my memory as another exciting occasion was attending the launch of the Queen Elizabeth the Second on Clydebank. I stood mid-way along the hull of the vessel and could see under the ship's hull as it towered above me on the stocks. While my memories flood back, I might mention two other events that surprised me. When walking across the Isle of Ulva I came across a ruined crofting village and a memorial - constructed by the Australian Government - noted that this was the birthplace of one Lachlan Macquarie. Anyone recall this guy? And, in the middle of the nearby Isle of Mull I came across a mausoleum that hosted his remains - also maintained by our government. I wonder how many Australians know of these memorials to one of the nation's most famous pioneers. I recommend a visit to Mull, which is also a departure point to two other very famous nearby sites: the monastery of Ioana and the Isle of Staffa with its famous Fingal's Cave. In part the latter's fame relates to visits by Queen Victoria and Albert who came to view its columnar basalt, and to Felix Mendelssohn who wrote his famous Hebrides overture after his own experience there. Staffa was, in the 19th century, a focus of the Romantic movement. And Iona's monastery is the resting place of nearly 50 Scottish kings including - if I recall correctly - one Macbeth.
In the evening we went to a remarkable performance by an Australian Army Band based in Newcastle - c. 100 km or so north of Sydney. Like the Armidale City Band mentioned earlier, this was mainly a brass band and we expected mostly military style music. The event was staged to raise money for farmers struggling to stay afloat financially in one of the worst droughts in a century.
Instead of military music, we were entertained with lots of Hollywood music and famous Jazz numbers aided by a great female singer ... wearing a military uniform. In addition, more pipers joined in the performance from time to time.
At one point, we had a break to buy drinks and the show restarted with individual musicians moving around the auditorium playing their instruments - but all in sync.
AS
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