In 1974 the Fort Saskatchewan Senior High School Band (with some members from the Junior High, and a few ringers from elsewhere) took the trip of the Erv Miller (conductor) years – to England and Holland.
We started in London and experienced some pretty ‘basic’ accommodation the first night (and that’s putting it mildly - it was some kind of youth hostel place that used to be army barracks in the Kensington area…near where Mum used to live anyway) until my uncle managed to find a university residence that we stayed in and that was much better! We visited Chelmsford and Cambridge (and possibly other places) from our base in London, then went up to the north-east of England to Teesside (near Middlesbrough) and played in a festival there. Stayed with wonderful people in a beautiful house. Managed to forget some stuff there which they sent back to Canada for us!
Next up was Holland, and we went to both Soest and Purmerend (playing in the International Youth Music Festival there) and also made a record at a studio in (I think) Amsterdam. The part of the trip I remember vividly is visiting some Canadian war cemeteries and seeing how well kept they were. All the people we met were extremely friendly, open, and still thankful for all that Canada had done for Holland during the Second World War! I have had the best impression of the Dutch ever since – and have never been disappointed.
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