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NEWS 104 bands parade Markethill for KVFBUpdated 09 February 2010 05:19:18 PM by Simon. Friday 5th June saw 104 bands head to Markethill for the Kilcluney Volunteers annual parade.As ever the cars were parked well outside the town, with our own bus having to be abandoned at the side of the road until we were able to get changed before it could move off. Similar to previous years, we decided to take our time getting ready before we made a move to start the parade. It was a wise decision as I think we queued for a shorter length of time later on in the night than bands who moved off earlier. I didn't get to see many bands, and was disappointed to hear that the Loyalist Fusiliers, Armagh were taking part in the parade and had already finished by the time we arrived. I've always been a big fan of the band with their discipline and appearance when out on parade second to none, and the way they can play the tunes at the pace they do is always great to watch. To coincide with their 20th anniversary this year, the band has decided that this years 12th July parade in Armagh will be their last ever. It would be great if the band could perform a U-turn and decide to get back on the road as I think they'll be sorely missed on the band scene. It was another near full turnout for the band, with 9 in the colour party, 3 drum majors, 18 drummers, 2 bass drummers and 42 flutes. It was the biggest turnout ever from our flute corps and the number of missing members could be counted on one hand which is a tremendous turnout. From the first tune that the band played I was certain that it was going to be a great performance from the whole band. From the colour party right back to the flutes was excellent, with the pace and volume well balanced from all sections. Coming past the judges we played Silver Hill and Royal Flush, these are two tunes that have come on really well in the past few months even though we have been playing them since last year. Once past the judges it was onto the part of the parade were the bands meet. On this stretch of the parade we met Dunamoney with the two bands enjoying a good blow off session between one another. With both bands coming from opposite ends of the country and having our parades on the same night, its not often that we see each other at parades and I thought that they looked excellent with their white trousers setting the whole uniform off. When we both passed it was a sea of noise in the middle with both bands giving 110%. From the bottom of the town onwards the great performance of the band continued with Airfoce Blue, Copland Road and Rathfriland Town sounding excellent with the crowd giving us a great reception at the top of the hill. On the final stretch of the parade we finished with Marching On and Davy Sprocket to cap off a great performance and everyone in the band was delighted with how the night went. The parade finished with the host band parading the town and they were out in their new uniforms for the first time as well. Their new uniform is of a similar style to the previous uniform, with black jackets and trousers and gold braiding and "chain mail" on the shoulders and definately looks well keeping to their style. Although I didn’t see many bands, I heard that the standard was very high in all categories and that it would have been hard to pick a winner from the bands on show. Our own band picked up first place in Colour Party, Style and Appearance and Marching and Discipline. Pride of Ballinran were the main winners in the Melody section picking up the majority of awards. Clogher had a good night lifting Bass Drum, Drum Corps and Blood & Thunder with Dunloy taking home Best Overall band.
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