Members Blogs
Helen Bassett’s Weblog
DCE Finals Camp/ Finals Performance 2007
Helen has been with Senators since 2005 and plays mellophone in the brass line.
Wednesday 26th September 2007
For some reason I was really hyped about the long, tedious coach journey ahead of us as I stepped onto the coach outside the Nightingale Centre in Eastleigh. It was 12 o’clock and the coach was leaving at 12.30…. as more and more people arrived I could feel that finals buzz already starting.
The journey contained the usual…. Rookie talent (a lot more risqué than usual thanks to our American members Ashlee and Josh!!), the fluffy bunny competition (sounds rude but involves fitting as many marshmallows into your mouth as possible), the cracker eating challenge….
I think I spent the whole journey in a daze really, the season had gone past so fast and it was finals time of year already. Okay, so as a corps we hadn’t had the best show two weeks before as our DCUK performance but as individuals we’d all improved so much in those two weeks, we’d all realised the potential for the corps, for the show and for ourselves. This was the time to push just that little bit more to finish the season with an explosive performance.
I’m sure many people will confirm that I am a bit of a geek and I spent a lot of time on that long, long journey practising visuals with other Mellos, going through my drill sets, singing the show in my head. Although there is no technical age-restriction anymore, 2007 was my unofficial age-out year and I wanted my 2007 finals performance to be perfect.
So we arrived a little behind schedule in Rotterdam, thanks to the Dutch traffic!!, and unloaded our belongings into the Mafkee Hostel. This is the same place that the corps stayed in 2006. The whole hostel was hired out for the Senators members, staff and supporters. It is a fantastic venue to stay…. A large dormitory room with individual beds, a bar, kitchen and shower area with cubicles.
Following a brief corps meeting, “Girls first in the showers tomorrow morning" was the last thing I heard Kerrie the DM shout before lights out at 12 o’clock. The Mello line had pushed all their beds together to make one massive Mello sleep-over area!! I heard Ellen whisper “sorry if I roll on you guys in the night, Chris tells me I do that all the time”, this was followed by a selection of giggles…. Oh dear we need to be awake and in the showers at 7am!!
Thursday 27th September 2007
I couldn’t sleep…. Drill sets going round and round in my head – got up around 6.30am. We were treated to a cooked English brekkie with a selection of cereals…. Decided to stick to toast as we had a long day or marching ahead of us!!
Arrived at the field. Thank god for the fabulous field-lining team…. They had got up extra early and the field was in perfect marching condition by the time we arrived. Same field we used in 2006…. Really good flat field. Started the day in sectionals…. You didn’t even need to say anything to know that everyone was focussed on the task ahead. Thursday for the Mellos was ‘Twin Day’. Our names are so similar, we hear the jokes weekly, and so decided to pair off and wear matching twin outfits. First off was the obvious set of twins Ellie and Ellie. They were wearing fame inspired outfits with black leg warmers, pink shorts, black headbands and sparkly boob tubes with their names on them in gems. Secondly there were the twins Becky and Ally… pink from top to toe including pink fishnets and customised t-shirts. Thirdly there were the twins me (Helen) and Ellen. We wore navy blue and red stripes top to toe including matching underwear!! Finally Bob (the only boy in the line) was paired up with our Mello drill tech John. We weren’t expecting great things from those two but they surprised us with Portsmouth football Tees, 3 quarter length shorts (probably normal shorts on Bob) lol and white sports socks.
A fantastic, but tiring first day of camp…. So many tweaks to the music and the drill. I tried to keep track of the changes and got to about 30 by mid afternoon. I had definitely marched more holes into my trainers by the time the tower call tea time. We had just over an hour to get back to Mafkees, eat some food and then get back on the coach ready for the evening ensemble rehearsal. The supporters treated us to a choice of spaghetti bolognaise or fish fingers, chips and beans.
Feeling revitalised and refreshed, we were ready to get on and tear up that beautifully lined field!! The Mello line had a few tricks up their sleeve first though. They called me to the large mello bed and presented me with a bag of goodies and told me to put it all on!! It turned out to be my comedy age-out outfit (a long standing tradition!!) and with my fave colour being green they had really gone to town. Green afro wig, green top, shorts, feather boa, leg warmers long stripy socks…. The list was endless. Unfortunately there is photographic evidence floating around!!
Arriving back at the field we were rearing to go. It was a very intense rehearsal – it really felt like we had pushed up a level. The Mello techs John and Kev were really on our backs the whole time…. Our errors were so minimal now that they were beginning to get really picky!! The final performance of the day was a hard slog – no energy, strained muscles, every single part of my body ached, it was freezing cold but I was boiling hot from running around that field. I got such a buzz – best performance of my life, must’ve been my green attire!!
Friday 28th September 2007
The penultimate day…. Oh no – woke up to the sound of rain!! The instructors re-scheduled rehearsal to fit in with the weather, didn’t want the members catching flu before the big day. The hornline were taken by coach to the flyover near the finals stadium. We spent some time here making some movement changes to the drum break. It was good to get some sectional time to go over this section of the show as this was the part I was least confident about.
A couple of hours later and it was looking brighter. The hornline re-joined the corps at the astro turf field which was adjacent to the rehearsal field from the day before. Driving into the sports complex I was feeling pretty sick. Not even a full day left of rehearsal – then finals, then the end of the season for 2007. I’m sure the mello line will confirm my superstitious nature. This began on the Friday when driving into the car park to see a picture of a diamond on the wall. I was certain this was a good luck sign as our 2007 was based on a pack of cards. Getting off the coach I saw a picture of a club and knew this was definitely an omen!! As usual I was being mocked by a few of the non-believers who said I’d never see a spade.
Friday for the mello line was mello shorts and hornline tshirt with lucky socks and finals camp pants day!! We did look we smart (even if I do say so myself). Our mello drill tech John was taking video footage of us during the day for us to check for our individual mistakes, we found as a line that it helps to wear similar outfits to pick out our drill shapes on the video.
After a gruelling visual block and a quick lunch break, the hornline set up in the horn arc for music warm up. The arc was set facing the sports stadium and so we could hear our sound bouncing back . We were given two minutes between warm-ups and I looked over to see a dutch workman with a spade over his shoulder – I couldn’t believe my eyes…. Only the heart to go!!
At around 6pm we made our way back to Mafkees for our evening meal. The supporters were treating us to a full roast dinner, now I’ve got to be honest (no offence meant to the cooks) but I absolutely hate roast dinner …. Luckily there was a Subway (yum yum my favourite) next door to the hostel so me and a couple of other non-roast dinner lovers made the short stroll along the road.
Upon arrival at the astro turf stadium for the evening rehearsal – the horn line set up for a musical warm up. It is a tradition for the hornline to play the ballad to the ageouts and as I was the only one, Craig, the horn caption head, invited me into the circle of brass. I must admit I was listening in to the mello line the whole time – they sounded awesome, it was a very special feeling.
To see a video of the warm-up click here!
During the evening visual block Craig, our drill caption head, was keen to point out the large clock at the back of the field – this was a constant reminder of the count down to the end of the final rehearsal of 2007 – we were going to make it a good one.
The final performance of the evening was pretty emotional. We practised the full march on through to the march off. There were some groups of Dutch supporters cheering us as we finished the show – it was a good feeling performing to an audience, really helps you to raise the bar. As a corps I don’t think we could tell if we’d all been holding back slightly, hoping not to peak too early – it was a good run, not perhaps a finals performance – but an improvement from our previous one.
Finished rehearsal pretty late – must’ve been after 10pm. Mello line were on Shako duty – boooo – we worked as a team and got it done in super speedy time so we could get back on the coach to rest our achy bodies.
The mello line had one other little trick up their sleeves before bedtime, they presented me with an ageout book with photos of me marching from when I started back in 1993 up until the current day. It was decorated with cards to fit the 2007 show theme and had been signed by members of the corps and staff and also close friends I have marched with during my time in band. Okay – I admit it - they got me welling up!! My ageout (although not a technical ageout anymore) really meant a lot to me and it was made so special by the members of the mello line. I also had some other gifts, drill books, drill charts, a lucky teddy and an ageout locket in the shape of a heart – the final suit!!
