May 5th 2015
The day started off with breakfast at the barricks, which
meant cornflakes and bread, yum! We gathered all of our equipment and uniforms
and loaded up the buses for the busy day ahead. After a sleepy hour long drive
to Wageningen we arrived at the site for the Liberation Day parade. Once at the
marshelling area, we unloaded the truck then endured multiple types of weather
in a very short period of time. At lunch time we made our way through the
enourmous crowd of veterans and festival goers to the lunch tent at the other
side of the park. You can probably guess what the lunch was… ham and cheese
sandwiches! (FYI parents, I promise you that by the end of the week we will
never want ham and cheese again.)We walked, no, ran back to the buses in a torrential
down pour but ultimately it stayed sunny for the parade! Before stepping off we
had the opportunity to interact with other local bands and take in the
excitement that surrounded us. When we finally stepped off there was a lot of
marking time, however it all payed off because marching down the streets of
Wageningen filled us with a sense of pride as we saw all of the smiling faces
that we passed by. Half way through the parade another floud of emotions came
over the band as we marched by several Canadian and European veterans that
fought for freedom. It was also an extremely fufilling experiencing to see our
Prime Minister and some of the Dutch Royal family applaud us as we marched
passed. When the parade was finished we had a very fast turn around and had to
load everything on to the buses and stay in uniform so that we could arrive in
Beekbergen on time. Once there we quickly formed up and stepped off in a timely
manner. At first we thought that not many people were attending the parade as
we only see the odd person lining the streets. However, as we continued
marching in to town we noticed a crowd beginning to form. Although we didn’t
know it at the time, the entire crowd fell in behind the band and marched with
us to the liberation festivities. We made our way to a brand new soccer field that we were given the
opportunity to open. Once there, we preformed several stand-still pieces and
marched around the field. The crowd seemed very appreciative of our presence.
After the performance we marched to a replica of a WWII liberation camp where
we were fed a delicious dinner that consisted of rice, spring rolls and pork
sauteed in a peanut sauce! Once we had finished our meal we loaded up the truck
and headed back to the barracks/Hostel. Everyone was extremely tired and
excited to get in to our comfortable beds and get a good nights rest, dreaming
about ham and cheese and the experiences that we have to look forward to.
Lauren Woolfrey – Saxophone – 4 years
Gillian Wilk – Saxophone – 6 years
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