Penzance Youth Wind Band Exchange to Nevada Union

We arrived at Fort Mason Youth Hostel in San Francisco at 4pm on Thursday 25^th October. After unpacking, we walked down to Fisherman's Wharf for some famous clam chowder in a sourdough bread bowl and none of us were disappointed. We managed to keep everyone going until about 8pm when some of the younger members were falling asleep on their legs.

On Friday we left the hostel at 8am in order to catch the "Early-bird" cruise to Alcatraz. I stopped at Bakery Boudine to get some loaves of bread in case any one got hungry after the rather small breakfast from the Hostel. All the members were thoroughly engrossed by the tour of the prison. After Alcatraz we caught a bus into downtown San Francisco where the members had free time to get lunch and explore the Chinatown district. After this we walked to Union Square and members had more free time to explore and shop. We then caught an old-fashioned style tram back to Fisherman's Wharf taking in some of the spectacular views on the way. In the evening time we met up with Ken Carter at Pier 39 for our evening performance.

The next morning we had a slightly more leisurely start then set off to walk to the Golden Gate Bridge. After being told that it was a half hour walk we soon realised that it was actually a lot further and the general consensus from the kids and the adult chaperones was that the views from where we had reached were good enough and there was no need to go further. So we caught another bus back to Fisherman's Wharf for lunch.

The afternoon was spent travelling to Grass Valley. The weeks' events at Grass Valley started on Sunday at 11am with a "pot-luck" lunch at the Memorial Park. This was meant as an official "hello" from all the home-stays and to break the ice for the kids and their hosts. It was a matter of minutes before they were all down on the baseball field first attempting to play American football and then with us trying to teach them all Rugby!

After a day of shadowing NU students and a select few taking part in a live radio interview, we all headed to the civic hall in Nevada City for the Civic reception where I was presented with a proclamation letter from their town Mayor Sally Harris. The proclamation stated that the week of October 29^th through November 2^nd, 2007 is "Penzance Youth Wind Band Week" In turn I presented Sally with a letter from Mayor Frank Granger of Penzance.

Tuesday and Thursday were performing days. On Tuesday we performed at the elementary school Deer Creek in the morning and then the middle school, Seven Hills in the Afternoon. These performances gave many of the band (including myself) their first experience of signing autographs! The head teacher told us how the kids were all "raving" about us and how they wanted to play this and that when they were older. On Thursday we performed at Lyman Gilmore in the morning, Scotten in the Afternoon then back to Nevada Union for the big evening concert where we combined our band with two of Ken Carters bands. The evening was a huge success. Ken conducted this elementary band combined with ours in an arrangement of Beethoven's Ninth and then our band joined Kens advanced band in Declaration Overture. Then I conducted PYWB with the advanced band for "Loch Lomond" then for the final number all three bands combined to create a band of over 100 in total and I conducted "Soul Bossanova" I also had the pleasure of presenting and reading out the letter from the Mayor of Penzance to the Vice Principal of the college.

On Friday Steve Roddy (my host) took us on a tour of the area. By complete chance we were extremely fortunate to have a native Californian as our bus driver. Steve asked him to talk to us a little about the history of the area from his perspective. We all (including Steve) felt extremely humbled by his stories. The band members were all very moved and Mike (the driver) allowed us to take part in giving something back to the land and handed out bits of his cigarettes for everyone to throw back into the river which we all did with the most solemnest of ceremony. On the walk we sampled wild plum and grape and were warned about poisoned oak. In the afternoon we visited the gold mine in Nevada City and learned about the conditions in which the miners worked, many of which were Cornish. We also learned about the contribution that our Cornish descendants made on the development of hard rock mining in California.

Departing on Saturday was an emotional experience for all, and this highlighted the intense bond that we had made with our hosts. Although the members of PYWB gained a great deal musically from the trip - rehearsing with Ken and the bands, playing in the concerts and at the football game on Friday night, they have probably gained more in the friends they have made. Not only our American friends but in the bonds that we made with each other. The band will change and members will move on, but what we all have and will keep forever is a warming memory of this very special time we had together as a group and the bonds we have made. Countless members or their parents have commented that this was a "life-changing" experience for them. This expression can often be trivialised but I think in this case it is not.