TheMightyOak

Band Competition 2008

2008-10-28T09:49:00.001Z

Oh yes guys, it's that time of year again in which the band of TS
Sturdy took to the indoor arena at Burgess Hill, Triangle Centre to
perform our latest Band Competition Display.

From having a fantastic performance last year, in which saw our band
win Best Display and Showmanship, Best Percussion Section, Best Mallet
Section and also winning our class, the band members had slight more
pressure on them this year, to try to retain the Contest Class trophy.
After winning the trophy last year the band should have been promoted
to Championship Class, but due to a fifty percent change to our band
we opted and were allowed to compete in the same class.

The Class remained the same from last year, competing against the same
four bands (TS Unity, TS Intrepid, TS Swiftsure, TS Glorious), and my
word all four bands had improved tremendously from last year. With
the competition being tougher, we went out and performed an exciting
and well worked display. Our music sounded great and the display went
without a hitch, so well done to all the cadets for all the three
months of hard work.

Next came the Presentation...............

Presentation and Results 2008

It was a fantastic day for TS Sturdy as we retained;
Best Display and Showmanship
Best Percussion Section

and we also picked up;
Best Drill and Deportment
Best Wind Section

and yes....... we get to keep the Contest Class trophy for one more
year as we were announced as Contest Class Champions once again for
2008.

Congratulations to all the band members for doing a great job. You're
making history guys so keep on going..... WELL DONE

_______________

Posted by Graham

NTC Band Competition 2007

2007-11-03T10:57:00.001Z

What a busy and hectic few months for the band of TS Sturdy (hence why the late post for Wales).

The band in the last couple of months have been planning and improving a musical display for this years National Band Competition. With five new songs to learn and an entire new routine from last years competition, the cadets had alot to learn and memories.

This year TS Sturdy entered the competition into Contest Class (middle class) up against four very experienced bands: TS Swiftsure, TS Unity, TS Intrepid, and TS Glorious.
Through the month of October saw us practicing hard on our usual band nights and also our weekend practices too (mostly Sunday's).

Going into this years competition the cadets were very confident, we didn't have a very big band (seven cadets and three adults) and with the average age of the cadets being only ten, the musical talent and drill was quite exceptional.

So the big day arrived, Sunday 28th October 2007, the National Band Competition at Burgess Hill, The Triangle Centre.
All Sturdy band members met at our headquarters early in the morning, around 7am, with a few butterflies in the air for some cadets (and officers for that matter). We drove off to burgess hill to arrive at the centre around 8.30am, having booked the band in, we waited in the balcony seating area over looking the indoor arena.
Planning those last routine manoeuvres on the markings on the floor, we found that it was time for us to get ready for our display.

Uniforms were on, trumpets were tuned and the inspection had taken place, it was now our big moment to shine for the audience. Waiting in the tunnel ready to march on, one last word was to be said to the cadets from the Band Master "Enjoy the moment". In a matter of minutes we had marched on, completed our display and marching off with our heads held high. The routine and music was brilliant, everyone performed fantastically well and those two months of practice was over in a matter of 10 minutes.
Now that was all to be done was to enjoy the day, watching the other bands perform until Final Muster (Results & Presentations).

Presentations and Results

All the bands were formed up and anxiously awaiting for the results for this years competition. What was about to happen was truly amazing and has gone down in Sturdy's history as a first.

The band this year walked away with winning:
Best Display and Showmanship - (The routine part)
Best Percussion Section
Joint 1st in Best Mallet Section

And to top it all off, we walked away with a massive shiny trophy winning first place.
(Its the very first time, in the 20 years of sturdy's band history that we've won this trophy, what a massive achievement for the cadets of TS Sturdy)

As Band Master, i congratulate you all in a fantastic job. You all worked extremely hard and the efforts have certainly paid off.

Well Done

Posted by Graham

Wales 2007

2007-11-02T19:34:00.001Z

Its now been over two months since the Nautical Training Corps descended into the Fire Breathing Country of Wales, and I've only just got round to posting an update onto the mighty oak. (What have i been doing i hear you all ask), well more on that in the next post. (Which will follow very shortly).

So, 22 cadets / officers from TS Sturdy and TS Intrepid made there way to Cynon Valley Activity Centre for 4 nights in the Brecon Beacons. Leaving West Sussex on Thursday 16th August around 6.30pm to arrive at the activity centre around 11.30pm, (what a noisy 5 hour trip it was).

We had loads planned for the cadets over this long dry (ha ha) weekend, but with the excitement of arriving to another country our first challenge was trying to get them to go to sleep. I think we finely managed to get everyone to sleep approximately around 1am on Friday morning (Ouch).

With a number of grumpy / grouchy cadets on Friday morning (i guess they didn't take too kindly to be woken up around 8am then), we spent a more relaxing day. Having a few team building games and hikes around the surrounding area of the cottage, hoping to tire them all out ready for perhaps another sleep less night.

Saturday saw us all making our way to the National Coal Museum, called "The Big Pit". To descend 300ft with a real coal miner to show what it was like for thousands of adults and children who worked at the coal face. Its a great learning experience for the cadets as in those days alot of children at the age of 8 would of been working in the pitch black underground opening doors for the miners. Not something alot of the cadets would of liked to of done, when they were asked.

After spending most of the day at the museum, we made our way back to the cottage to eat some grub and to get ready for the talent competition in the evening.
We saw five groups of cadets perform a variety of acts, we had singers to play's, magic tricks to even the officers performing a out of tune sing song, (We're going to Ibiza. With a slight change of words in places). Im sure that's not going to be forgotten in a hurry.

With Sunday upon us, and the weekend rapidly coming to an end we took the cadets on a small hike to see some fantastic waterfalls. Unfortunately we couldn't take them to our usual waterfall as it was declared too dangerous for the public earlier on in the year, but we didn't let that get us down as Julie the organiser had plenty more up her sleeve (well not literally). We made it to the waterfall just after lunch where the cadets were all able to have their pictures taken beside it and also for them to take a number of pictures too. (Please see website for updated Wales pictures). With a brisk walk back to the minibuses, we were able to get back to the cottage in time to have an indoor BBQ....... Lovely.

The big day had arrived, the day we were all going back home (Hooray as all the officers cheered). All the cadets helped clean the cottage from top to bottom to say our fare wells for the last time.... Well for this year anyway, to head off to our last port of call "The Show Caves Musuem".
We all took a trip into a number of wonderful caves that had been made thousands of years ago and voted Britain's finest natural wonder.
Stalactites and stalagmites were found all over the caves and a amazing waterfall awaited us in the Cathedral Show Cave. Once the show caves had been visited, we headed towards the dinosaur park where the cadets were able to play and learn about the 140 million years domination by these creatures.
Next to the gift shop for the last chance to buy the parents a gift from our long and tiring adventures, to then find ourselves heading back home to West Sussex.

A big thank you to all the officers / instructors, especially Julie for running and organising this trip.

Hope everyone that attended enjoyed the weekend and hope perhaps see you all next year for 2008's trip to Wales.

Posted by Graham

Band and Wales

2007-08-03T19:01:00.001+01:00

Here i am with nothing to do, (that's unusual) thinking 'well i haven't posted anything on the mighty oak for awhile, so here's another update'.

Massed Band

Last couple of months has seen TS Sturdy and our sister ships TS Implacable and TS Intrepid getting involved in a number of mass band parades. Lions Carnival held in Lancing and Broadwater Carnival held in Broadwater (surprisingly). :)

Both parades went extremely well, even though we had a number of key members missing. The West Sussex South Massed Band lead both parades with around 30 members attending in each.

If we didn't think the long parade was enough, the band went on to play in the arena on both carnivals just to wear us all out even more. Well done for all the trumpeters who managed to keep on going for those extra few songs.

A BIG well done for all band members who performed, as you all did a fantastic job.

Wales

Well... the big trip is nearly upon us, a four day trip to the Brecon Beacons (Abedare) to a youth cottage that caters for 30 people.
We have loads planned for the long weekend, so everyone better get as much sleep as possible before hand as its a non-stop adventures weekend, (I know i certainly will be).

Leaving on Thursday 16th around 1800hrs and arriving in Wales around midnight its one long, noisy trip (a lot different on the way home though, i cant think why).
We spend loads of time educating and entertaining the cadets as well as the instructors throughout the four days left.
Then leave Wales on Monday 20th to arrive back at Chichester around 1830hrs.

Hope everyone is looking forward to it, the team of TS Sturdy instructors definitely are.
That's all from me now, look out for the post after Wales to see how the weekend went.

Posted by Graham

Kayaking and Founders Day

2007-06-15T18:37:00.001+01:00

These couple of months have been extremely busy for the cadets and adults of TS Sturdy. Seeing two kayaking tuitions been and gone and our most important day founders day parade.

Kayaking

Back in May saw the kayaking tuitions get off to a great start with 16 cadets in attendance across the region. Many of the instructors needed to refresh their memories on how to get in and out of kayaks as it had been eight months since the last tuitions. Once all in their kayaks the day went brilliantly, many thanks to the instructors helping out.
We split the cadets into two separate groups, one on the water learning kayaking skills and the other group on the shore learning water safety and all their is to know about kayaks. When an hour and half was up the groups swapped round.

The tuitions in June saw 12 cadets in attendance and the day ran the same as in May. Im hoping that all the cadets have thoroughly enjoyed the tuitions so far and hopefully may see them for the next in July.

Founders Day

A bright early start for all our members having to meet in Chichester at 0715hrs on Sunday 10th June. I haven't woken up that early for ages. We set off for Preston Park in Brighton to arrive their ready to be on parade.
A big well done to all the band members and ships company who turned up, you all looked fantastic on parade and our band sounded excellent.
Like every Founders Day the temperature has to be in the high 70's, and there was no change to this years. Half blues was ordered before the parade which was a blessing to say the least.
This year saw a change to the usual founders day as we had our patron 'Rear Admiral R.J. Lippiett CB MB' on parade and inspecting every ship. The Rear Admiral said that "all the ships looked brilliant and a big well done to all the cadets on parade".
Once the parade was over the cadets had the opportunity to walk around the stalls to spend some of their money. Are you still playing with your puppet flamingo and tigers, Jess, Heather and Emily?

Throughout the day saw displays and bands in the arena with our west sussex mass band performing before sunset at the end of the day. A big well done should go out to Simon from TS Implacable who on his own done a fantastic job in playing sunset. Had more confidents than me that's for sure.
The day came to a close around 1645hrs a long day out in the heat, especially when you have little hair and no sun cream on, oops.

Thank you to every instructor, committee member who attended and helped out, i wouldn't of done it without you.

Posted by Graham

And now, the time has come, and I must face the final curtain

2007-05-23T16:24:00.000+01:00

Yes I am afraid the rumours are correct, as Graham mentioned I am indeed off to start a new life in Wales.

I was going to do a run down of all the major memories I have from being involved with the NTC for the past 20 years or so, but to be honest you'd still be reading it well into the middle of next week if I did, so I shall keep it mercifully brief.

I shall remember everyone involved with TS Sturdy, and indeed our whole Region, with very fond memories, Andy Clarke's bouncing infectious enthusiasm (not to mention his classy choice of headgear and motor vehicle. We all love Ernie really), Graham's uncanny ability to be the most natural Commanding Officer seen in many a year (and his ability to pull stupid faces when a camera is within a 500 metre radius of him). The old C/O and current Chairperson (my dear father) and his unbeatable respect he had for the cadets, and they had for him.

I shall, of course, be popping back down this way to visit family and friends every so often, and will naturally be keeping track of you through the website and this blog, so Graham had best keep updating it regularly!

I would like to wish Graham, the officers, Committee Members, parents, and most of all the cadets, the very best of luck with everything in the future.

Ian xx

Hot News

2007-05-11T21:03:00.001+01:00

Good news everyone, the Commanding Officer has been let lose on the Mighty Sturdy Blog.

As your all aware, Ian Emery - creator of The Mighty Oak will be leaving us at the end of May (good luck in Wales Ian), so someone has to keep the sturdy blog up-to-date.

So watch this space!!!

Posted by Graham

Feeding time at the zoo

2007-02-25T20:09:00.000Z

Isn't it good to see the Chair and Vice-Chair of the Ship's Committee getting on so well.....

Shuffleboards and Slideshows

2007-02-23T21:26:00.000Z

Well last Sunday, the fund raising Shuffle Board evening, was a huge success, around 50 people were present for the event, raising £250 for the Ship's funds. Being a scorer for a game I hadn't seen before was hard work, but at least I had two bottles of Old Peculiar to keep me warm throughout the evening!

Band Practice was good, the bell lyres have mastered Magnificent Men so that's another song to add to our playlist, and we managed to get our Vice-Chair, Kevin, involved in the break-time game of football. I think he enjoyed it, judging by how much he was sweating after 20 minutes or so (I can hardly talk, mind you, I was just as bad).

Wednesday night was the rehearsal for our Presentation evening this coming Wednesday. I was pleased to see the picture slideshow I had spent most of the weekend creating worked a treat, the props everyone had brought along seemed to do the job, and we're all set for the big event.

And I'd just like to say Happy Birthday to Andy Clarke , our good friend from TS Intrepid, who became a year older yesterday. Whether he's a year wiser or not, I'd best leave that for him to answer :-).

Puck it.

2007-02-18T19:09:00.000Z

Raising money for our funds tonight, holding a shuffleboard evening in lavant. Bit worried as i'm a scorer and have never seen it before but here goes nothing!

Quick Update

2007-01-26T22:15:00.000Z

Firstly, congratulations to our Commanding Officer, Graham Turner, who qualified as an Archery Instructor over the weekend just gone. This means that Sturdy now have three qualified instructors, and the Region as a whole has eight, plenty enough for future events featuring archery.

And we're now working towards our Presentation Evening, to be held on Wednesday 28th February at our HQ (and it also happens to be a certain person's 27th Birthday, thanks for booking that date Graham! lol). The officers and cadets (although they don't know it yet) are working on something a bit special for it, so stay tuned!

And on a different note, keep an eye out on CPO Andy Clarke's blog http://catcouk.blogspot.com/. Whilst Andy is busy working on his tan in Lanzarote with his University course, I've got to do his blog update this Sunday. What on earth I'm gonna waffle on about is anybody's guess. Suggestions are welcome!

No rest for the wicked....

2007-01-05T22:32:00.001Z

Hello everyone!

Two things:

1. Celebrating the New Year with my girlfriend who knows how to send pictures to my blog using my mobile phone, whilst wearing a silly hat, is always bound to end in worldwide (as if) humiliation, although admittedly not for the time. Or indeed the last, coming to think of it.

2. Not even 7 days into '007 and we're already off and running. Graham and I are on an Archery Instructors Course all this weekend, me to refresh my knowledge from the course four years ago, Graham to learn from scratch. May try and take a few pictures of us trying to look like professionals. Watch this space.

Alarm clock is set for 7:20 tomorrow, so I'm off to bed.

Happy new year

2007-01-01T00:21:00.000Z

To all visitors. Love from ian via Nicola

Happy New Year!!

2006-12-27T21:02:00.001Z

Well the Sturdy website is one year old now. Happy Birthday to us!

And what a year it's been. 15 band engagements, 6 Kayaking Days, 5 weekend camps, 3 sponsored walks, 2 boating weekends, and a year-long deck night schedule. And we think 2007 will be even busier. I'm beginning to wonder how we're gonna manage to fit everything in!

My outstanding memory of the year has got to be the Band Competition. To go from a band that didn't have a performing bell lyre section at the start of 2006, plus we didn't exactly have a complete percussion section a mere two months or so before the competition itself, through to winning Best Wind section and joint-winning Best Bell Lyre section was truly amazing.

And now it's onto 2007, Happy New Year everyone!

Ymca

2006-12-16T21:43:00.001Z

Making a fool of themselves

Carols and Christmas Crafts

2006-12-07T22:18:00.000Z

And there I was thinking everything is supposed to ease off heading towards Christmas. Chance would be a fine thing!

Firstly, for those who have got totally confused and bamboozled by the distinguished gentleman featured in the last post, not mentioning any names naturally (evening Naomi, by the way), it is of course our esteemed and very honourable Commodore Bill Smith, who along with his lovely wife had joined the officers, committee members and partners for a Xmas Dinner at the Nags Head in Chichester.

A good time was had by everyone, and Mr Smith received a personal tuition into the use of blogs, so if you happen to be reading this Bill, good evening Sir (stands to Attention and salutes)! (PS, thanks to Sam Vine for the picture of Mr Smith chatting to a dashingly handsome young man who may just have written this blog entry!). I was slightly disappointed when Mr Smith, who despite having worked at the Nags Head for years and was therefore treated like royalty, he was still unable to get me an extra Yorkshire Pudding from the carvery. I guess even royalty don't get everything!

Well done to the C/O Graham Turner, by the way, as he managed to get up the following morning early enough (about 8am I heard) to help our sister ship TS Intrepid, despite not going to bed until he had dropped me off at almost 2 in the morning. No wonder he looked a bit drained when we met for the TS Sturdy band engagement late on the Saturday afternoon.

-----

Saturday evening and we met up, along with TS Intrepid, for the Chichester Christmas Lights Switch-on. A full turn out for both bands, most of which dressed splendidly in Christmas lights, tinsel and even a Xmas tree on my bell lyre harness (god knows what happens if a squirrel fancies making a home in it though!).

The two bands led the procession in two directions, half going via East Street, half via North Street, to convene at the Market Cross. Here we merged into one band, ready for the lights to be switched on (by the Chichester Mayor, at the time in Ravenna in Italy, by live video link would you believe), and then we marched as a Massed Band back up North Street, past the Dignitaries in the Assembly Halls and returning to the minibus in Priory Park.

Whilst the bands did sound fantastic, looked great and were a credit to the ships involved (as always), there were a few comments afterwards regarding the general organisation of the whole event (which was outside of our control, I'd like to add). When we were massed as one band at the Cross, there was no secure area where we could wait, so we were squashed into a tiny space, with shoppers hustling and bustling everywhere. Because of the wait we naturally grounded instruments so that we weren't carrying them around unnecessarily, and you'd be amazed at just how impatient people can be, trying to squeeze in between the band instead of just walking the five yards extra to go around them. Quite apart from the financial aspect of it all (expensive instruments everywhere), it's a question of child protection.

And also, after the lights had been switched on (2o minutes or so late), we marched back past the Assemblies Rooms to our meeting point at Priory Park. Thankfully we had enough instructors and parents to line the edge of the band on our return journey because the police had drifted off to other duties for the night and were nowhere to be seen. Just a couple of things that will be discussed in the forthcoming officers meeting, and perhaps a few suggestions shall be put to the event organisers to make it easier and more enjoyable for all concerned next year.

-----

And finally for this entry (they will get shorter in future, honest!), we had a Christmas Craft Night on deck last night (Wednesday). Christmas card and calendar making, Christmas logs and all sorts were available for the cadets (and officers, Graham Turner!) to make.

Two hours, three metric tons of glue, and some great fun later, and everyone's happy, there were some fantastic Christmas Logs that had been made, Christmas Cards that can put Clintons to shame, and some very happy cadets. Our thanks go to Mrs Pauline Emery (my mum!), Celia Burgess and everyone else who contributed equipment, paper and all the accessories that were used on the night.

----

So basically all that's left for this year is one band practice, our Christmas party, three band engagements in Chichester, and the Regional Xmas Disco (always a good laugh), and then it's another year - 2007. We've fitted so much into this past year that the End of Year Summary will have to wait for another post, but as a final one, I wonder if anyone has such a novel idea for a hatstand as this picture.

More to the point, is anyone going to actually own up to possession of this little blue creature, perhaps the latest new recruit on our books!!!

Quiz for the day

2006-12-01T20:16:00.000Z

Sturdy officers christmas meal tonight. Quiz for today, ten pence prize - who is this distinguished gentleman?   Answers later. When we're recovered!

A Brief Catch Up

2006-11-20T23:11:00.000Z

I had kind of hoped that once we got past the stresses and strains (all worthwhile, admittedly) of the Band Competition then things would quieten down, we could then cruise up to Christmas relaxing a bit.... How wrong I was! In the past seven days we've taken part in Remembrance Day, Held our usual band practice, had a Recruitment Evening (archery, rifle shooting and other games), and been Ice Skating and to the Explosion Museum in Gosport. Phew!! Took my breath away just reciting all that lot! Anyway, I shall provide a brief rundown of each event individually.

----

Remembrance Day was held for us, as always, in Selsey. A sunny and surprisingly mild (for early November) Sunday morning greeted us as the Band, Ship's Company and Colour Officer prepared themselves. Once the indoor ceremony had been completed we formed up outside, with the procession formed smartly behind us, and marched down to the Cenotaph. The laying of the wreaths took place at the Cenotaph, the two minute silence was observed, and we led the procession back down to the local branch of the Royal British Legion, where we were warmly welcomed with drinks and sandwiches. I must say, that the cadets were impeccably behaved throughout the whole of the day, they paid great respect to those who gave their lives for peace, and they were a great credit to TS Sturdy and the NTC.

Photos of the band in Remembrance Day were taken by my talented and beautiful girlfriend Nicola (she'd kill me if I didn't give her credit for it somewhere!) and are in the Band Gallery on our main website.

---- Band Practice on Tuesday night was a fairly standard affair, except we're now trying to learn Christmas Carols at a rapid rate before we feature in the Xmas Lights Switch on in Chichester on 2nd December. Our sister ship from Lancing, TS Intrepid, will be joining us and so are trying to learn the same tunes, and CPO Andy Clarke was absolutely spot on when he said Little Donkey "...came from Beelzebub's own satanic fart...". It is a very strange carol to play in a Marching band. I bet the Royal Marine's never have this problem....

----

Anyway, 24 hours after the band practice, and we were ready for the TS Sturdy Recruitment Evening. We invited all our current cadets to bring a friend along for the night, we had rifle shooting, archery and other games on the go.

As I am one of the two archery instructors, I didn't see much of the evening outside of the archery range we had constructed in the second hall. We had four new recruits that night, everyone seemed to enjoy themselves, and I was pleased to realise that we could still instruct archery even after a break of some six months or so (well, it was a good illusion anyway....!). With a bit of luck those four new recruits will stay on, perhaps even bring their friends as well, and we'll continue to keep building on the cadet numbers into the future.

We now have an Archery Gallery, made up of some pictures from the Recruitment Evening, plus other pictures from various locations over the past months. You can access the Archery Gallery from the Activities Page on our website.

----

And so to the final episode in this piece - the Regional Trip which took place yesterday. Ice Skating in Gosport was first up, 2 hours of what can only be described as hilarious fun, but painful if you happened to fall over.

I was pleased to find that I am actually better at ice skating than I remembered (first time on the ice in about nine years I think) and was quite happily cruising around for ages, helping the cadets when they got too close to the ice for comfort, pretending to help the officers when they fell over, and trying not to laugh too hard when some fell over much more than others (Evening Andy, by the way!).

I should have given some thought to the concept of pride coming before a fall, but sadly I was too busy enjoying myself, getting faster and faster, increasing my speed round the corners and everything, when finally, my come-uppance arrived! Went round a corner at a fiarly fast speed, went to push off with right foot, and I believe the front groove of my left boot dug into the ice.

Next thing I know, I'm doing Superman impressions, head first, and the ice is coming up to meet me very quickly!

SMACK! I hit the deck rather hard, landing mainly on my hand, left hip and left knee (which are still aching today, by the way). My left elbow is driven into my ribs, winding me a good one, and I slowly slide to an un-ceremonious halt on a packed ice rink.

As I struggled to my feet, some bloke who saw it all said, with remarkable restraint, "the whole building shook when you hit the floor mate". Thanks pal! I must remember to go on a diet before I go ice skating again!

Anyway, two hours of sliding around on ice was more than enough for everyone, so after a spot of lunch we headed off to the nearby Explosion Museum. where we were entertained by videos, interactive displays and other challenges to keep us occupied for an hour or so. After the exercions of the ice skating I think everyone was pleased to be going at a slightly slower pace!

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So that's about it for the past eight days or so, except you may have noticed that there have been lots of pictures with the last couple of entries. This is because I have a new mobile phone, and it has a brilliant new feature that enables me to take a picture with the built-in camera, attach some text and send it direct to a blog. This enables me to update the blog live and direct from whatever event's we are on. So you can expect more entries and more photos in the coming months.

Hang tight mr clarke!

2006-11-19T13:04:00.000Z

Regional trip today. The explosion museum later, but first ice skating. Hopefully will have more pictures and videos online later.

Robin hood we ain't!

2006-11-15T20:14:00.000Z

Part of a recruitment drive, we're teaching archery tonight. Bit manic so far. More information later!

Remembrance day 1

2006-11-13T09:48:00.000Z

The new committee vice chairman joined us at remembrance day. You looked very smart kev!

Band Competition - The Big Day!!

2006-10-31T13:07:00.000Z

If you've read the previous post then you'll have some idea how much effort has gone into the Band Competition. Not just by the officers and cadets, but also by Committee Members and parents in one way or another.

The big day had arrived, meeting at 0700 on a Sunday morning is not something that we do very often (thankfully), and I don't know about anyone else but I had been getting butterflies in the stomach since late Saturday afternoon, had a pretty rough night's sleep, and felt a bit naff as soon as I woke up in the morning!

one minor hiccup in the early morning preparation, illustrated beautifully by the conversation between the Commanding Officer and myself when we arrived at the meeting point:

Graham: "What's up?"
Me: "erm... we kinda forgot something...."
G: "Let me guess, your cap?"
M: "Nope, slightly bigger than that"
G: "Mark's snare drum?"
M: "Erm, not quite. bigger than that too"
G: "Dunno, I give up, what did you forget?"
M: "Celia, the Colour Officer!"

A vehicle was promptly dispatched to collect the poor Colour Officer, and we were on our way.

Anyway, once we had got changed into our uniforms (at which point, for some bizarre reason, the butterflies and nerves disappeared from me completely, presume my uniform is some sort of strange security blanket!) it was the big moment, marched out to the music of "The Longest Day" (strangely apt title, considering!), formed up in the arena, Graham reported to the Commodore, and then we were off.

I'll be honest, I can't remember a huge amount of what happened out there. I was vaguely aware of what sounded like the TS Sturdy Cheerleaders in the audience (it turns out it was a combination of the Committee Members and parents of our cadets, and the cadets from the other ships in our region cheering us on), but the main thing that stuck in my mind was how quiet it felt out in the arena. We've practiced in halls and gyms etc that have the 'echo effect' which actually helped us to understand the volume levels we were producing. We had nothing of that in the arena, due to the size of the place I guess, and it felt almost eerie. We just worked with the conditions to the best of our ability.

The marching routine went smoothly and looked great, the diamond formation in particular (see picture) looked better than we had achieved in any of the practice routines, the music sounded good, and we marched off with our heads held high (not to mention with a lot of inner tension easing off rapidly). We were on a high like I haven't felt for years, We had actually done it! Woohoo!

Not a lot of rest for the wicked, as they say, we had enough time to throw some food down our throats (not down our fronts, thankfully, as we were still in uniform), before cheering on our Colour Officer and Colour Escorts as they performed their routine out on the arena.

In many ways performing the Colour Routine is harder than performing in a band, because in the Colour Routine there are only three of you, there's nowhere to hide, every minor mistake is in full view of everyone, and you don't have the luxury of being able to concentrate on the music to block out anything that's happening in the audience. Large amounts of respect to Celia, our Colour Officer, and the two Colour Escorts, Luke and Emma (who incidentally really did have busy days, they were in our band too!).

Anyway, once all that was over it was time for the final muster and prize giving. All the bands marched onto the arena (was a bit of a squeeze, thankfully I had remembered the anti-persperant!), and the awards were read out.

Best Wind Section - TS Sturdy (woohoo!). Incidentally, this proved a theory that we've had for years - you do not need a huge brass section to win this. The other bands in our class had larger numbers of trumpeters, clarinet players etc, but our five members of the brass section played quite brilliant, well controlled music and took away the first prize. My personal congratulations to Graham, Chrissie, George, Michael and Joe for their outstanding achievement.

Best Bell Lyre Section - joint first between TS Sturdy and TS Unity (Cue heart attack from myself, as after seeing the age and experience of the opposition, I thought we'd miss out on this one. Up in the audience, a Mrs P Emery of Chichester, my mum, squealed!). I can't begin to describe how happy I felt for the bell lyre team (and myself, admittedly). It was a fantastic achievement considering we didn't have a bell lyre section at the beginning of this year. Jessica and Lyka have worked their socks off for this band competition, and deserved every award they got. I was incredibly proud of their achievements.

We were awarded third place in our class, a mere 11 points behind TS Unity, with TS Implacable taking away first place, in what was one of the most closely contested classes in years.

To say that the entire band were bouncing off the walls with excitement would be the understatement of the century.

A few items of note:

Many, many congratulations to our sister ship TS Intrepid, who were competing in the novice class after many changes in their band from last year. Not only did they walk away with seven of the 10 available awards, they were also crowned 2006 Novice Class Championship!! A fantastic result, and their best EVER Band Competition result. Well done!

A big thank you to all the officers, committee members and parents for their support in the lead up to, and during the day, of the Band Competition. As usual, we couldn't have done it without you!

And, ultimately, the final thank you must go to the cadets, who were truly brilliant, and a pleasure to work with.

Band Competition - Background

2006-10-28T23:00:00.000+01:00

Tomorrow is the Nautical Training Corps Band, Colour and Fanfare Competition, held at the Triangle Centre, Burgess Hill.

As you can imagine, the Band Competition is a major event for us, one of the top three or four events in the year, along with Founders day, St George's Day and Remembrance Sunday (more on that last one in a few weeks). It's the one opportunity in the year that most of the bands in the NTC can receive awards and where perseverance, effort and team work can really be rewarded.

So, the band have been working incredibly hard towards this one performance that matters, we started planning the routine and some tunes back during the latter part of August, including a tune that we haven't played for years (Sky, or more commonly known as Tocatta and Fugue by JS Bach). Graham devised a challenging but really sparkling routine, including envelope manouvres, cross overs and other elements, it certainly wasn't just 'follow my leader'!

One thing I must mention at this point - in previous years we would have had cadets (and some officers!) complaining about practicing too much, which is kind of understandable, as the practices are usually very hard work, and especially when weekend practices kick into gear, it can get very draining. tempers may get frayed, patience can sometimes get stretched to breaking point, that sort of thing.

We didn't have that this year. Every single cadet and officer gave it their all during the sixty or so hours of practice clocked up during the three months leading up to the contest. Every routine was tackled with concentration, energy and enthusiasm. Every single song was played, examined, and enhanced where possible, whether with volume control, harmonies or alternative melodies devised.

It's not just the band that have worked their socks off for this competition either, the Colour Officer and new Colour Escorts were also entered, in order to receive the official assessment which will enable Sturdy to parade their Colours at official public events, such as the upcoming Remembrance Sunday.

So let's see what happens tomorrow. Don't know about anyone else but the butterflies started kicking in a few hours ago!!

I've started so I'll finish...

2006-10-01T23:20:00.000+01:00

We held a quiz night last night, in aid of raising funds for our region. Was a fantastic turn out, almost fifty people from across the region, plus the regional commander and the Commodore, formed up into eight or so teams for rounds varying from numbers to sports, general knowledge to names of jobs (I kid you not).

For example, did you know that the world's biggest producer of tyres is neither dunlop, goodyear, michelin or the rest, but is actually Lego?! I pondered on if there are hundreds of lego tyre factories dotted all over the world, perhaps even with little lego men and women working in them?!

Anyway, great night was had by all, and I would just like to point out to the forever-smiling Mr Andy Clarke of TS Intrepid that it's probably best not say to anyone "we'll wipe the floor with you" before a quiz, as it's always gonna come back and bite ya!

Start of the final round - Andy's team were in front, my team were in joint second, a mere point behind. Absolutely everything to play for, game on!

12 questions (appropriately called "Your Last Chance"), much brain scratching and more than a few stabs-in-the-dark later, and the final results were:

2nd place... Andy's team (faces are looking painful, but I managed to disguise mine by saying I had indigestion, those pickled onions where nice though).
1st place, by a mere single point, was my team!

Admittedly the whole point of the evening was to raise money, and have lots of fun, but Andy was very graceful in defeat (until he reads this blog entry anyway).

Next stop.... band competition, one month from now!

In The Pits

2006-08-19T17:36:00.000+01:00

Visit to the Big Pit today, apart from having a great day (it really is a superb place, can't recomment it enough), it did give some officers the chance to model some very striking headgear...

Do the welsh have a name for a "Full English Breakfast"?

2006-08-19T09:00:00.000+01:00

Alarm call at 07:15, on duty watch for full fried breakfast (don't think we're allowed to call it a "Full English" whilst in Wales, I believe it's still a jailing offence).

After breaking into the full-steam-ahead kitchen production line (with the help of another instructor, Rob, without whom I would have probably burnt down the kitchen, most of the Adventure Centre, and been starving all morning long), we battled our way through the 30 eggs, six cans of tomatoes and mushrooms, hash browns, and more bacon than a large herd of pot-bellied pigs.

Have to admit it tasted fab.

"Now cadets, there are two types of droppings in this world. Sheep, and .....eggs!"

2006-08-18T14:00:00.000+01:00

Gentle walk, just exploring the close local countryside, chatting to the sheep, avoiding the sheep droppings, a few group photos, then back to the cottage for hot drinks and a few card games.

Then another group challenge - the dreaded Egg Drop! Divided into groups, the cadets (and one team of officers) were challenged to make a package out of everyday objects they could find inside and outside of the Adventure Centre.

The package had to be designed to contain a standard egg, and be strong enough to protect the egg when dropped onto a hard surface. Once the preparations where complete each team had to launch their egg from a height of 15 feet or so.

Whilst I would dearly love to report that no eggs were damaged in the making of this exercise, I was never a particularly good liar! Two were fatally injured in the preparations (one by me!), and another succumbed to it's injuries in the drop later in the rubbish bin.

The morning after the night before

2006-08-18T12:35:00.000+01:00

Group exercises all morning, just to act as ice breakers for the cadets, and an gentle first morning for the officers.

Now it's lunchtime, and the first bit of cooking for my watch and me. Baked beans on toast. In essence, it's simple, but when you think it's for a total of 21 people, it becomes a bit more of a task.

We turn the kitchen into a make-shift production line. 13 tins of baked beans and 42 slices of toast later, and everyone's fed, ready for the afternoon.

To sleep, perchance to dream!

2006-08-18T08:30:00.000+01:00

Arrived at the cottage at midnight, managed to unlock the place and disable the alarm without alerting the local constabulary. Hot drinks and home-made chocolate brownies all round (thanks Julie, they were great), and all the cadets tucked up in bed by 01:30....

Except they were rather excited and restless after the long trip, and didn't go to sleep until well after 2am. Don't know about the other officers but I finally fell asleep around 3am, only to be woken up well before 0800 by a bad combination of heavy rain, thunder and wide awake cadets, don't they ever need sleep? Sadly it appears not....

Only good things about the lack of sleep, it made the coffee taste that much nicer, and the steaming hot showers were lovely (even the three spiders in my cubicle agreed).

Noswaith dda

2006-08-17T22:05:00.000+01:00

Just came over the 2nd Severn Bridge, bid farewell to England and Noswaith dda (Good evening, for the unitiated) to Wales.

When we left Chichester at six it was quite a pleasant evening, but now it was pouring with rain, howling a gale and a awe-inspiring thunderstorm going on overhead.

Not the warmest of welcomes I've ever encountered. Hope it's not a sign of the weather to come.

Late Nights and Websites

2006-08-12T14:56:00.000+01:00

The Sturdy Website Phase 2 is finally online. Woohoo!! (I can relax a bit now).

It includes new pages, new downloads, new lots of other stuff that I can't remember (because I finished it at about 1am this morning.....), have a look yourself at www.ntc.org.uk/sturdy.

My thanks in particular must go to CPO Andy Clarke, TS Intrepid and all-round HTML expert, for his guidance, humour and general abuse in the numerous hours that I've been staring blankly at my laptop trying to figure out what on earth's gone wrong.

Next stop is a certain place called Wales. Sturdy are going to the Brecon Beacons on Thursday for a long weekend. the laptop and camera are going with me, and if I get a sniff of a wireless network the next blog entry may be direct from Brecon. Fingers crossed!

Short one

2006-07-31T22:01:00.000+01:00

And no, before you ask the title of this blog entry is not about me!

Just a short note to say a few things - congratulations to Julie and Graham who successfully completed their minibus driving last week. That means we now have a total of four minibus drivers, vital for our long weekend away in Wales in three weekends time (two minibuses, main and reserve drivers for each).

On Sunday just gone the West Sussex South Massed Band performed (for only the third time ever) at Selsey Launch Day. Despite a slight dip in band numbers (it is the height of summer holidays after all), we looked and sounded great. It all added to a long but enjoyable day.

And next stop is the Sturdy website Phase 2, hopefully the website should be fully updated with new information, new pictures and a whole load of other stuff in the next few weeks. Then I can relax for a bit!

Despite it all.....

2006-06-12T23:11:00.000+01:00

... Despite the early morning alarm call (six o clock for me, rendevouzed at the HQ just after seven, in Brighton just after half eight)...
... Despite the immense and oppressive heat (somewhere in the high 80's, even first thing in the morning)...
... Despite the hectic schedule (finished the march past just after twelve, back in the arena for our Regional Band display at half twelve, finally getting some lunch just before two)...
... Despite some quite frankly shoddy organisation regarding the main ceremony...
... and despite me completely forgetting how to play Men of Harlech half way through the Regional Band Display...

... Despite all of the above, Founders Day 2006 for TS Sturdy (and indeed the whole of our region) was a great success. Sturdy had 18 in the band, with another five marching behind with the Ships Company. That's the biggest number of cadets we've had at Founders Day for many a year. The Dress and Turnout was excellent, the drill and deportment was good (despite some rather unfriendly bumps and holes in the field) and the music sounded superb.

Finally, just want to add my personal thanks and congratulations to everyone involved in TS Sturdy, and a particular congratulations to the cadets. They've endured a lot of hard work and shouting from all angles over the past few weeks, and they deserve a lot of credit for a great performance at the end of it! Well done!

The Fun and the Hard Work

2006-06-08T21:24:00.000+01:00

The 'fun' aspect of this entry was last Sunday, our second Kayaking Training Day on Chichester Canal. With a slightly reduced number of cadets we were able to get them all on the water at once, saving immeasurable time and effort getting everyone on and off the water every hour or so.

I think everyone enjoyed themselves. Due to growing experience and confidence of all instructors and cadets involved it was certainly a much easier and less stressful day for the instructors (and thankfully I remembered the sun lotion so avoided the dreaded sunburn!), and we must stress our thanks to the wonderful local police officers who came to our assistance when we started getting abusive language from a small group of local drunks. Thankfully no cadets were under threat at any time during the incident, and the unruly group were dealt with swiftly and safely.

The Hard Work Bit? Well that comes this weekend, with the NTC's Founders Day. This is the day when the whole of the NTC come together in one place (Preston Park in Brighton) to celebrate the founding of our humble organisation in 1942. It's the most important parade in the year for us, and the only time each year where all of the NTC meet at the same place.

As you can imagine, despite all the new members in the band we have been working hard to get the marching and the music up to scratch. After a lot of blood, sweat and tears (and that was just the officer making the tea) we think we're there, but we'll still be crossing our fingers when we march on (although how that'll affect the trumpet players is anyone's guess!).

Full report and possibly photos will follow early next week (once we've fully recovered!).

Tents, Rain, and ..... flying eggs?

2006-06-03T21:28:00.000+01:00

As you may have guessed by the title, we were on camp over the recent Bank Holiday weekend. Us and TS Intrepid joined our sister ship Implacable on their camp at Walton Firs.

Despite Mother Nature's best intentions to ruin the weekend, the cadets and officers all had a great time (even if some of the officers, myself included, were feeling more than a little tender by the time we packed up on Monday morning.

As to be expected, I took loads of pictures, even if they were restricted to mainly just the Sunday, when Mother Nature was actually smiling on us for a change (thank god, teaching archery on a wet Sunday morning would not have been particularly pleasant). And as usual, I haven't had a chance to tweak the pictures and upload them to our website as soon as I get the time and energy (both of which have been lacking recently, seem to be picking up every bug and infection going at the moment).

Oh, and the flying eggs? Let's just say we found a rather novel way of both testing the strength of the excess eggs that were in the canteen tent, and giving our throwing arms some useful practice. I never realised eggs could be thrown about sixty odd feet, be caught and still stay intact before!

No rest for the wicked, we're kayaking again tomorrow (hopefully less painful that the last episode, see previous entry if you're a touch confused). Oh, and happy birthday to my wonderful sister, who hit the big 30 last Friday (so now she can't lie about her age!).

The Morning After

2006-05-08T12:24:00.000+01:00

Woke up this morning, body aching like I was 90 years old instead of just 26, struggled to get out of bed, dressed and into work on time, and generally been in a bit of a sleep-craving daze all morning.

What caused this Monday morning to feel so harsh, I hear you ask, was it an all night drinking session with some old school friends? A bottle of wine too many with the girlfriend perhaps?

Err.... no. Six and a half hours of sitting in a kayak down on Chichester Canal.

We held a regional kayaking day yesterday, the first of hopefully a series of days over the coming summer. Whilst my body suffered (it's been about eight months that I've even gone near a kayak, let alone sit in one all day long) I have to admit it was fabulous fun (even if I did stare at the cadets' obvious complete lack of fear with envy in my eyes, I remember being absolutely terrified when I was kayaking at that age). I believe that, phsycologically as well as technically, most of the cadets made more progress in one day yesterday than I did in about three months.

All I need now is the after sun lotion (my arms are redder than Larry The Lobster) and deep heat to ease my aching bones. Somehow I don't think I'd be able to get physiotherapy paid for by the Ship's Committee.

A few words on websites

2006-05-06T23:38:00.000+01:00

Through the local grapevine and jungle drums, I've been hearing recent rumours about a voices of disapproval regarding websites within the NTC. Admittedly these have been in the great minority, but I feel as though the plus points of having a website need to be highlighted:

When we were compiling the history of TS Sturdy for the History page of our website, we were disappointed to find out the information was sadly lacking. We found out that there was an original TS Sturdy formed in Kent in 1962, but that was about it, and we knew precious little regarding the start of the Chichester branch. We assembled what information we could glean from various sources and published the website anyway.

A few months later, we had an email, completely at random, from a man now in his fifties. It transpired that this gentleman was a cadet of the original TS Sturdy, from when it was formed in 1962 until the end of that decade. He was able to supply us with lots of information and images about the original TS Sturdy, and this additional information and new images will be incorporated into the history section of our website during it's next update in the coming weeks.

---

A good friend of ours, Andy Clarke, has been in charge of the website of our sister ship, TS Intrepid, for the past five years or so (and doing a wonderful job in it as well if I say so myself, go have a look, there's tons of information available). We had asked Intrepid if they wanted to join us for our St George's Day parade through the centre of Chichester (photos from this will be in the gallery in due course, by the way). As TS Intrepid didn't have a St George's Day parade booked anywhere they agreed and so it was all arranged and everyone was happy.

A mere fortnight before the event, Andy received an email through their website, asking if Intrepid could stand in at the last minute for the St George's Day Parade in one of their local towns, and they had been let down by another band. Whilst it was obviously too late to change arrangements for this year's event, there is every chance that TS Intrepid have now gained a booking to lead the St George's Day Parade nearer to their home next year.

----

Whilst the new information about the original TS Sturdy is no doubt interesting, the simple fact that our sister ship now has a new band engagement for next year, purely down to the fact that they have a online web presence, cannot be ignored.

Put simply - say a cadet at school, or even a parent of a cadet whilst at work, has an idea, a question, or perhaps just a comment about the running of the Ship, they can log onto our website, and leave a post on our forum. If this facility didn't exist, then most likely that idea, that thought or question, would have been forgotten about by the time they get to the next Deck Night (and speaking from personal experience, it's happened to me on many occasion!).

There may be those, both inside and outside of the NTC, who believe that a website is unnecessary for a youth group with such steeped traditions and histories such as ours, but I feel that in this world where new technologies such as computer games and the internet have threatened the very existence of youth organisations as a whole, by embracing and using some of these new technologies we can strive forward and prosper for years to come.

And....relax!

2006-04-25T09:32:00.000+01:00

Well despite the ever-increasing rainfall that was hounding us for the entire second half of our journey, the Gun Run Challenge went very well. No serious injuries, a gang of surprisingly enthusiastic cadets ready and willing to pull the Gun Carriage vast distances, and a journey completed absolutely right on our estimated time of arrival (unlike last year's, when we arrived at the car park two hours late.... whoops!). Got some great pictures of the challenge, and they will appear on our website just as soon as I've sorted them out and uploaded them. We don't know how much money we raised as we're still awaiting all the forms in from the cadets, more on that in the near future hopefully.

Admittedly it's not the most relaxing way I can think of to spend Easter Saturday (that would involve lazing around the house, drinking beer, watching football and eating chocolate in large quantities) but it was a laugh, even when the rain did decide to follow us all bleeding afternoon....

We had eight days to recover from that before we were out on the roads again, this time in rather more formal attire, leading the St George's Day Parade through Chichester. There were six hundred odd scouts/beavers/guides/god knows what else - there were too many to keep track of who was who. Made us glad that we stood out from the crowd more.

As I was in the band, it was down to my dear dad to be Chief Photographer for the day. Therefore I don't know if we'll get any pictures decent enough to put on our website (we tend to have heads or various other body parts missing from the pictures when dad is behind the lens) but any that can be passed fit for publishing will be uploaded in the near future.

Got a quiet weekend coming up (first one in about a month!), just in time for my dad's 50th birthday on Bank Holiday Monday. Happy half-century old man!

Easter

2006-04-14T15:19:00.000+01:00

So over the past six days or so we've had our Regional Activity Day (where I spent all Sunday teaching Archery to about 30 odd cadets, great fun admittedly!), band practice (two hours of organised chaotic noises, most of them from the band instruments but not all), and a leisurely (yeah right!) hike round Chichester Canal. Thank god for the Easter Break!......

...Except, we're doing a ten mile Gun Run Challenge Easter Saturday, pulling our Gun Carriage from Chichester down to The Witterings. Thankfully we're being sponsored for doing it, for two reasons:

1. It raises money for our funds, to enable us to take the cadets out more often, buy new equipment, band instruments, that sort of thing.

2. We'd be start raving bleeding mad if we didn't get something out of it!!

And then it's St George's Day Parade next Sunday, so no rest for the wicked eh?!

Happy Easter to all!

Who?

2006-04-02T19:46:00.000+01:00

Okay, so who are we? Or more specifically at this present moment in time, me?

I'm Ian, a Fourth Officer (4/O) with TS Sturdy, a training ship based in Chichester, West Sussex (that's in England, for anyone reading this outside of the UK!). We're essentially a naval-based youth organisation, but for anyone who wants to read the general idea about what we do, check out our website.

I'm still toying with the overall concept of this blog. Whether it's just a personal one for myself, an 'official' voice for Sturdy, or an 'insider' view on what it's like being an officer in a youth group such as ours (great fun usually, but lots of hard work). No doubt as the blog evolves, then the overall concept and aim will become clearer.

We may use this blog to illustrate certain issues that wouldn't be mentioned either on our main website or on our forum, and probably include details into the background behind these issues. Overall, this will be a more informal communication between us and you, the reader, who hopefully will feel free to leave any comments or questions as they arise.

And speaking of you, the reader, who is this blog aimed at?

You may be a parent of a cadet, curious as to the ideas, knowledge and understanding behind the officers and instructors who run the Ship.

You may be a cadet, instructor or officer at another ship within the Nautical Training Corps, and interested in seeing aspects of life from another Ship.

Or you could simply be a random person browsing the Internet, and having stumbled across this random blog completely by accident.

Whoever you are, and wherever you are reading this, welcome!

Why?

2006-03-30T20:19:00.000+01:00

Why should we have a blog?

It's a bit of an ugly word isn't it? Doesn't exactly roll easily off the tongue. But if you're one of the many people who's eyes glaze over at the mere hint of anything to do with technology, perhaps a blog may be the window into the online world that you are looking for.

Put simply - a blog is simply like an online diary, it lets you write your thoughts and share them with the rest of the world, and you need to know nothing more technical than how to move your mouse.

By removing the technology barrier, it means that more people can take part in the debate, and this debate is now more informal, more relaxed. We can reveal things that wouldn't usually fit in elsewhere. Or maybe our personal thoughts about recent events.

But who's we? and is anyone actually reading this?

More on the last two questions later!

Prologue

2006-03-28T15:52:00.000+01:00

The first blog for TheMightyOak, all hail!

Will think of something else to write shortly. Back later!