Lost in Powys! For Tour 2006, we went to Llwyngwril on the Welsh coast.

This is a rough guide to what we got up to:

Thursday 16th March

  Depart by coach
  Concert in Guilsfield primary school
  Free time in Welshpool (for a cream tea and a pint)
  Go to hostel (Ty Gwyn in Llwyngwril) for tea (pasta)

Friday 18th March

  Enjoy Wales
  Rehearsal
  Lunch - Irish Stew
  Concert in Machynlleth county primary school
  Free time in Machynlleth (for some beer and Fish 'n' Chips)
  Evening concert in Machynlleth county primary school
  Return for a night of fun

Saturday 19th March

  Lunch - Chicken Stir Fry
  Free time in Barmouth (watch rugby and have a cream tea)
  Concert in the Harbour church, Barmouth for the RNLI
  Back to hostel for Tour Quiz 2006!

Sunday 20th March

  Cleaning Hostel
  Lunch - Bangers and Mash
  Afternoon concert in Guilsfield church
  Tour football on a playing field at Guilsfield
  Arrive in Cambridge for Curry at India House
  Ask Neil for Tour DVD 2004&5&6 

Tour 2006 will go down in history for its high levels of illness, but we weren't going to let the band lurgie get us down. Oh no! With a strong band of over 30 (31 to be precise) - plus Langley the bus driver - we took our brand spanking new coach (with DVD player and adjustable seats) to the highest and lowest points of West Wales, with a slogan to match our 'Soul Bossa Nova' theme tune, 'Lost in Powys.' JC questioned why we had a crocodile on the back of our green and white tour t-shirts, to which Neil exclaimed “It's a bloody dragon!” With that settled, we set off on our long journey on which David Pettit pointed out all the hills he could see and I attempted to film them…it's not a great advert for tour DVD 2006. On arrival at our first concert venue, a primary school in Guilsfield, we attempted to play 'Death or Glory' in time with a whole primary school of conductors and we obviously did a very good job as most of the band were asked for autographs afterwards. It was then onward to our frankly AMAZING hostel. As photographic evidence is my witness, this place was simply made for CUBB tour. Table tennis, pool table, space for John Shaw to roll his dice (we all know what for), an out of tune piano, activity playground, weird mathematical games, a big white board for late-night Pictionary, the standard freezing cold ladies showers, a beautiful view of the sea, a kitchen and dining area to fit all of us, a booze storage room that became a base for making cheese on toast, and the most memorable part of the hostel - a very thin, winding, brick edged road for Langley to reverse the coach up … backwards. I don't know how he did it with those sheep watching. I would have baaacked out myself. (Laughs at self) Friday was spent enjoying Wales according to Neil's itinerary. I really can't remember what we did, but I think that was the place where JC and Becky met a lady in a pub…and I guess we all ended up there drinking. Some people will have gone for tea as is traditional, and I think David took a few people on a good long hill-walk. This was the Primary school that amazed us non-welsh band members as the head teacher switched briskly between the Welsh and English languages and the children knew exactly what he was saying! Again the students conducted the band in Death or Glory, got very excited when they guessed the piece we were about to play about a panther…that is pink, then in the evening concert we had a jolly good group of dancers to accompany Clog Dance. I think that's a first in tour history. We returned to the hostel that evening for some hefty pictionary action where Rob was on fine form as usual (see the Hazel Rogers award for inappropriate behaviour). While this was all going on, a group of us decided to go on a short excursion to the sea. It was tough, as my ripped t-shirt goes to show, but after trespassing through a field full of sheep, jumping a barbed wire fence, and Mark doing a terrific roll down a very steep hill, we finally arrived only to find out that we could have walked straight through the caravan site and halved our walking time/injuries. But it was all about the company! Barmouth. Well it was the windy city on the day we arrived. With Steve Hardiman shaking uncontrollably with flu, we decided it would be a good idea to take him outside in what you might call fresh air. Becky and JC tried to have a game of football on the beach which was a stupid idea considering it was so windy that the sand looked like water moving under our feet. As predicted the ball ended up in the water and Richard went way beyond the call of duty to collect it with his shoes and socks on, while Ali and others decided it would be more sensible to take their shoes and socks OFF before they went into the below zero temperature water. It came to the concert of the evening. So well advertised, such a hype, everyone was ready, everyone was getting changed when Ben walks calmly towards me. “Did anyone put my cornet on the bus?” he says. “Because I don't have it.” Oh Ben. He was lucky I didn't do something to his instrument there and then to be honest. Thanks to Charlotte's amazing miming skills on the back row, Ben had a cornet and we managed to perform Fingal's Cave to our highest standard yet -the concert was very well received by the Oxbridge vicar. Back to the hostel for Tour Quiz 2006! Ok, name an animal beginning with the letter S. When we were surrounded by seemingly gravity-defying sheep, I really didn't think a snake was a strange answer but whatever! Highlights this year included building a Harvest-the-owl holding model out of spaghetti and marshmallows, John Shaw being the one and only, Chris Ashford being camera-man of the year, Jenny and Becky drummer drinking everything in front of them - including the turbo-Rosey, and, most incredibly, Greg and JC both deciding that if Goff Richards met the CUBB bass trombone section he would go “Ooh la la” and hit them over the head with a string of onions, in blankety band. Sunday sadly arrived and we packed our bags and hitched a ride to Guilsfield for our final tour concert. It all went very well and was followed by a girls v. boys football match in which JC's hat trick wowed the fans and the girls managed to win on a next-point-takes-the-match deal having scored terribly throughout the rest of the game. What an amazing end to what Greg would only describe as a chuffin brilliant tour.

Note:This is what happens when you ask Di to write 10 lines about tour…

As ever, we tried to record the tour by quoting some of the silly things people said on tour. This years highlights included:

“Trombones are a step down from tubas” - Di

“Oh dear, I best put my browsers back on” - JC

“Did anyone go out with the Bus driver?” - John S

“Use the whisk…” - John G

“So just because I went and slept with her I died?” - Jenny

“Goff Richards? Who's Goff Richards?” - Rosey

“If Goff Richards met the CUBB bass trombone section he would…” - Ben “Go ooh la la and hit them over the head with a string of onions.” - Greg and (miraculously) JC

“Well JC was a famous criminal, but he was lynched outside the town.” - Vera [Machynlleth local]